Maritime Directory

Calcutta, India, India

Calcutta port started operations in 1870. It was initially designed by the then British Government in line with the Port of London, to take care of its business and colonial interest. Despite innumerable odds faced by the port since its inception, it used to enjoy a premier position amongst the major ports of India and accounted for nearly 50% of the sea-borne trade till independence. However, with the rapid industrialisation in Western India concomitant to gradual deterioration of the industrial sector in Eastern India, the glory of this grand port has been outstripped. Calcutta port, the only riverine major port in India has two docking arms the Calcutta Dock System (CDS) and Haldia Dock Complex (HDC). CDS with its impounded docking arrangement, is located within Calcutta city and connected to Bay of Bengal through 156 nautical miles long navigational channel through river Hooghly. The Hooghly channel, longest ever riverine waterway used by ocean-going vessels, is infamous for its traps, siltations and known to maritime world as one of the highly unpredictable and risky navigational route. HDC is located at the bank of river Hooghly and Haldi, has started operations in 1968 as a satellite port of CDS. It also operates through impounded docking arrangement due to low river draft. The port serves to a vast hinterland, which includes states of West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, Eastern Uttar Pradesh, states of North-East India and the two land-locked nations of Nepal and Bhutan. Future plan Calcutta Port has outlined expansion plan for handling 50 million tonnes of cargo by 2000-01. The port is considering a fourth oil jetty to handle projected POL traffic.

West Bengal, India, India

New Delhi, India

Port represents a collection of physical facilities and services designed to serve as an interchange point between land and sea transport. It is a single organizational unit with multi-dimensional activities integrated within the logistics chains for providing services to maritime trade. In India there are 12 major ports and around 181 minor and intermediate ports, which handles more than 300 million tonnes of cargo per annum. The port sector has witnessed large-scale investment through government and private sector for modernisation programme. In the new era of liberalisation and privatisation, functionality of ports is changing from their traditional role as an organisation in charge of all port activities to become a coordinator of these activities. High degree of competition has resulted into reduction of excess labour, aggravated by the trend towards intensive investment of capital at seaports through private sector participation.