Report points to slow capacity addition in major ports

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture remarked pointed out to the slow pace of capacity adddition in major ports and said this was lagging behind capacity addition in private ports.

In a report tabled in the Parliament, the committee said the government’s aim to raise the capacity of the 12 major ports to 1,229.24 million tonne (mn t) by 2017 is a distant dream.

While the total capacity of all the 12 major ports is 696.53 mn t, the capacity of the non-major ports stand at about 600 mn t. Non-major ports witnessed 200 mn t growth in capacity from 2011-12.

The report noted that the 12 major ports could not attain the targeted capacity of 1,016.55 mn t by the end of 11th Plan (2007-12).

The shipping ministry’s target of 3,130 mn t capacity by 2020 by major and non-major ports also came under attack from the standing committee.

The committee questioned the criteria for fixing the ambitious target saying it “does not know on which grounds the Maritime Agenda 2010-20 has been fixed.

The 12 major ports in the country are Kolkata (Haldia), Paradip, Visakhapatnam, Chennai, Ennore, Tuticorin, Cochin, New Mangalore, Mormugao, Mumbai, Jawahar Lal Nehru and Kandla.