Major Ports of India | List of 13 Major Seaports of India | EDUBABA (2024)

Major Ports of India

There are 13 major and 185 minor seaports located in the 5,600 km long coast line of the mainland of the country. The major ports are controlled by the Central Government while the medium and minor ports are included in the concurrent list of the constitution and are managed and administered by the respective states.

The major ports located on the eastern coast are Tuticorin (Tamil Nadu), Chennai (Tamil Nadu), Ennore (Tamil Nadu), Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh), Paradip (Odisha), Haldia & Kolkata (West Bengal), and Port Blair (Andaman & Nicobar Island). while the maior ports located on the western coast are Kandla Port (Gujarat), Mumbai (Maharashtra), Navasheva (Jawaharlal Nehru Port), Murmagoa, New Mangalore (Karnataka), and Kochi (Kerala).

1. Kolkata Port : Only riverine port in India. Known for twin dock systems viz., Kolkata Dock System (KDS) on the eastern bank and Haldia Dock Complex (HDC) on the wester bank of river Hooghly.

2.Paradip Port : Located at confluence of riverMahanadi in Bay of Bengal in Odisha. It wasthe first major port on East Coast commissioned in independent India.

3. New Mangalore Port : Located at a site calledPanambur in Karnataka at Gurupura riverconfluence with Arabian Sea.

4. Cochin Port : Located on the Willingdon Island on the south west coast of India. Located onthe cross roads of the east-west Ocean trade.The port is called natural gateway to the vastindustrial and agricultural produce markets ofthe south west India.

5. Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (Nhava Sheva): It is also known as Nhava Sheva and is thelargest container port in India, handling aroundhalf of containers of all major ports. It is locatedon eastern shore of Mumbai harbour offElephanta Island and is accessed via Thanecreek.

6. Mumbai Port : One of the oldest modern portsof India. It is the largest and most importantseaport along the western coast of India.

7. Kandla Port : Kandla port was built afterpartition as the Karachi port on western coasthad gone to Pakistan. It is known for handlingmuch of the crude oil imports of India.

8. Vishakhapatnam Port : Vizag port is locatedin Andhra Pradesh and is known for bulk ofCargo handling on east coast.

9. Chennai Port : Chennai Port is the largestport in the Bay of Bengal and second largestport of India after JNPT. It is largest port ateast coast.

10, Tuticorin Port : This port has been nowrenamed as V. O. Chidambaranar Port. It islocated in the Gulf of Mannar. Tuticorin isthe only port in South India to provide a directweekly container service to the UnitedStates.

11. Ennore Port : This port is now named asKamarajar Port Limited. It is first corporateport of India and is registered as a publiccompany with 68% stake held by government.

12. Marmagao Port : Marmagao port in Goa isleading iron ore exporting port of India.

13. Port Blair : It is the 13th and youngest majorport of India declared in 2010. The port is ofstrategic importance to India as it is closer totwo international shipping lines viz. SaudiArabia-Singapore and U.S-Singapore.

Two New Ports :The government has decided to set up two newmajor ports, one at Sagar in West Bengal andother at Dugarajapatnam in Nellore district ofAndhra Pradesh. The date of completion of thePhase-I of the project at Dugarajapatnam is 2018and for Sagar 2019-2020.

These ports are managed by the Port Trust of India under the Major Port Trust Agreement.