India Mulls Exclusive Ports for Coastal Shipping
By Aiswarya Lakshmi
Thursday, September 10, 2015
Indian Government is planning to establish low-cost Non-Major Ports along coastline under the Sagarmala project in an effort to boost coastal shipping and reduce wait times.
Currently due to the concerns over lack of berthing facilities at Ports ships in India are forced to spend 70 per cent time in waiting and only 30 per cent in voyage.
As a short-term solution, the government has endeavored to prioritize expedited berthing procedures to facilitate the faster movement of cargoes.
"We are considering a plan to build a clutch of new “low-cost, non-major” ports as part of its much-publicized “sagar mala” project designed to upgrade port connectivity systems," a policy document released last week by the Ministry of Shipping said.
Asking all 12 Major Ports to accord priority berthing to coastal vessels to enable shippers to transport goods from one port in India to another Port irrespective of origin and final destination of the cargo, it said it has also drawn a long-term action plan to address the issue.
Sagarmala is a priority project of the Narendra Modi Government designed for port-led economic development, for which the Government had given nod in March. The government has earmarked $105 million for the first phase of infrastructure development under its sagar mala project.