India considers ports exclusively for coastal shipping

The Indian government has announced it is considering the establishment of a number of small ports, private ports for coastal shipping, taking another step towards improving supply chain services has taken a hit in recent years amid port infrastructure bottlenecks and growing cargo volumes. In a policy document released last week, the Ministry of Shipping said it is weighing a plan to build a clutch of new low-cost, non-major ports as part of its much-publiciaed “sagar mala” project designed to upgrade port connectivity systems. The ministry said that low-cost, non-major, or private, ports could be established to cater to coastal traffic exclusively and cited the U.K. and Japan as models in its report titled “Vision for Coastal Shipping.” The ministry said long wait times at major ports are hurting vessel productivity and that faster turn times are imperative if the government intends to promote coastal shipping as an alternative to other inland modes of transport. “It is estimated that coastal vessels in India spend about 70 percent of their total time in ports and only 30 percent of their time in actual voyage. Such delays render coastal shipping uncompetitive against other modes of transport,” the ministry said.