Upcoming Vizhinjam and Vadhawan ports can dock ultra large ships, says Government

India TradeLanes Staff
Delhi:
The upcoming ports at Vizhinjam in Kerala and Vadhavan in Maharashtra have natural drafts of over l8 metres that would enable ultra large container and cargo vessels to call, thereby boosting the government’s efforts to make India the world’s factory by improving the container and cargo throughput, the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways informed Parliament.
The container throughput of Indian ports stood at l7 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in 2020 whereas that for China stood at 245 million TEUs for the same period. The combined container throughput across top 20 major global ports stood at 357 million TEUs during the period 2020.
Currently, India lacks landside mega-port and terminal infrastructure to deal with ultra-large container ships. Ports need deeper draft, several large cranes, better yard management capability, increased automation, larger storage facilities, more inland connectivity and enhanced labour productivity, the Ministry said.
Ultra-large container ships seek speedy unloading of the large volumes they carry. To develop global standard ports in India, the Maritime India Vision (MIV) 2030 has identified initiatives such as developing world-class mega ports, transhipment hubs and infrastructure modernization of ports. It estimates investments worth Rs1,00,000-1,25,000 crore for capacity augmentation and development of world-class infrastructure at Indian ports, the Ministry added.
The upcoming ports at Vizhinjam (Kerala) and Vadhavan (Maharashtra) have natural drafts in excess of l8m that would enable ultra large container and cargo vessels to call on the ports thereby boosting the efforts to make India the world’s factory by improving the container and cargo throughput.