‘Non-major ports have a vital role to play’

The non- major ports,contributing 43 per cent of the cargo, have to play a crucial role on the east coast in future, according to experts attending the maritime business summit here recently.

Visakhapatnam port chairman MT Krishnababu said that during the past decade or so, healthy competition had developed between the major ports and non-major ports and it was good for both. “A monopolistic situation is never welcome and the major ports are also gearing up for competition as a result. During the past two years, in particular, the major ports are faring well in comparison with non-major ports. In Visakhapatnam, we are benchmarking ourselves and improving our performance on all parameters all the time,” he said.

Concor Chairman and Managing Director V Kalyanarama said all the ports were taking steps for containerisation of cargo, but still a lot of ground needed to be covered on the front.

Amitabh Verma, Chairman of Inland Waterways Authority of India, spoke about the work being undertaken on the five national waterways and the associated problems. “Of the five national waterways, NW-1, NW-2 and NW-3 are already operational and work is going on on the remaining two. We have formed a joint venture with the Andhra Pradesh government for developing NW-4 passing through the State. In the first phase, development from Muktiyala to Amaravati near Vijayawada (the new capital) will be undertaken and then from Vijayawada to Kakinada. That will be the first phase of the project, costing more than ₹4,000 crore. Later, the work on the NW-4 up to Tamil Nadu will be taken up,” he said.

Visakhapatnam Port Trust Deputy Chairman PL Haranadh spoke about the importance of coastal shipping and how it could be used to transport coal within the country.

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