A P Maritime Board – a promising development…

India has a coastline spanning 7517 kilometres, forming one of the biggest peninsulas in the world. It is serviced by 12 major ports and about 187 non-major ports. In order to develop and modernize ports the Govt, has an on-going project called ‘Sagarmala’.

The afore-said ports are located in the coastal states and island groups. Major ports are autonomous bodies, managed by Board of Directors under the overall control of the Central Government through the Ministry of Shipping. The Coastal states administer the non-major ports either through State Maritime

Board (Gujrat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal) or through State Government departments.

The new state of Andhra Pradesh is naturally endowed with a coastline of 974 km, the second longest in the country, and strategically located to enable it to become a natural gateway to the Eastern hemisphere.

Besides one major port, administered under the Major Port Trusts Act, i.e. Visakhapatnam port, the State has so far declared 14 non-major ports for development, administered by the Director of Ports, Government of Andhra Pradesh (GoAP). The 14 ports are – Bhavanapadu, Meghavaram, Kalingapatnam, Bheemunipatnam, Gangavaram, Nakkapalli, Kakinada SEZ, Kakinada Port (Kakinada Deep Water Port and Kakinada Anchorage Port), S.Yanam/Rawa,Narsapur,Machilipatnam,Nizampatnam, Vodarevu and Krishnapatnam.

Of the 14 ports, 3 are already operating under PPP concessions by private investors, namely Gangavaram Port, Kakinada Deep Water Port and Krishnapatnam Port. As of March 2015, these ports handled approximately 80million tonnes of cargo. Added to approximately 60 million tonnes of cargo handled by Vishakhapatnam Major Port, the state’s coastline contributes to approximately 12% of India’s cargo throughput.

The Government of India plans to establish a major port at Dugarajapatnam. One more port (Machilipatnam Port) has been awarded on PPP basis by GoAP to a developer and is proposed to be developed as an all-weather commercial port.

The coastline of Andhra Pradesh has several advantages, some of which are enumerated below:

v  Availability of favorable sea-side features, including deep draughts and protected shore-fronts at many of the identified port locations.

v  The natural alignment of the coastline that makes it poised for greater competitiveness in handling cargo arriving from/destined to the Eastern hemisphere.

v  Availability of shore-front and land-side advantages in several Greenfield locations which are relatively unobstructed by urban sprawl, and with ability to expand as large ports.

v  Connectivity backbone along the coastline in the form of the South-Eastern leg of the Golden Quadrilateral network (i.e. NH5), and the Kolkata-Chennai railway route which is already operated as an electrified double line trunk route.

The state shall constitute a dedicated Andhra Pradesh Maritime Board (“Board”) which shall be responsible for integrated planning, development and monitoring of all ports including concessions. Until the constitution of the Andhra Pradesh Maritime Board, the various functions proposed to be discharged by the Maritime Board shall, in the interim, be discharged by the Director of Ports of the State Government.

In the recent, ‘Make in India’ event, the Coastal State of Andhra Pradesh had highlighted its abundant coastline, existing port capacity, planned infrastructure and port development, and pitched hard as an investment destination.

Earlier experience has shown that Coastal States having maritime boards have performed better with regard to development and administering of non-major ports. Hence, AP Maritime Board is a promising development for the long term benefit of the trade, port and shipping industry.