Busiest Sea ports of South Asia By Srimal Fernando (FEDS -South Asia )

 

Busiest Sea ports of South Asia

By Srimal Fernando South Asia Correspondent 

Foreign Exchange Diplomatic Society of South Africa  

 

Visit :  http://thediplomaticsociety.co.za

South Asia’s busiest ports are experiencing tremendous growth in transshipment and increment of cargo volume during the last two decades. As volume of trade in South Asia grows, countries in the region have been developing port facilities to stimulate their economies. The emerging ports in India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh and the Maldives are widening their maritime connectivity and introducing habour development strategies in the recent years.

India is home to 13 major ports and 200 minor habours a long coastline, spanning 7600 kilometers, forming one of the biggest peninsulas in the world. In 2007, the thirteen major ports in India handled over 74 percent of all cargo. Mumbai, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), Chennai, Kandla, Kolkata, Mangalore, Visakhapatnam and Port Blair in the Andaman and Nicobar islands are some of the busiest ports that links India with rest of the world. 

The Ports of Mumbai and Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) are world-class habours that led to increase in container volumes going in and out of India. According to the Indian Ports Association in 2009-20010, the Ports of Mumbai and Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) witnessed a tremendous growth in vessel traffic accounting to 4735. Started way back 125 years ago, Chennai Port is the other major maritime habour in India. It is the second largest port of the country, behind Mumbai Port. Kolkata is the oldest operating port in India with two distinct dock systems and deep water dock. Apart from this, there is around 80 major riverine and minor jetties, and a large number of ship breaking berths. Kolkata port handles more than 46 million tones of cargo traffic a year. Kandla on the Gulf of Kutch in the State of Gujarat is one of the busiest sea ports  on the west coast of India. The Port of Kandla Special Economic Zone (KASEZ) was the first special economic zone to be established in India and in Asia. In 2010 the amount of cargo handled at the Kandla port rose to 79.5 million tones, a 10.10 percent rise from the figure of 2009.

Sri Lanka is geographically situated just a few nautical miles off an important sea lane between the Suez Canal and Malacca Straits, in the Indian  Ocean. Annually an estimated 35,000 ships, including 4,500 oil tankers use this maritime route. It serves as an important port terminal in Asia due to its strategic geographic location in the Indian Ocean. Colombo Harbour is one of the busiest ports in the world, and ranks among the top 35 ports. The Colombo Port currently has three container terminals. At present, the Port of Colombo alone handles 15 per cent of transshipment cargo in the sub-continent region. South Harbour adjacent to the Port of Colombo is experiencing a harbour construction boom. This new port, once constructed will be the best transshipment cargo handling hub in the South Asia. The new harbour of  Sri Lanka known as the Magam-pura Port in the Hambantota district  is the second  largest port, after the Colombo port. This habour will service ships traveling along one of world's busiest shipping lanes. The world's fifth largest natural deep-water Harbour at Trincomalee is the third major port that will be redeveloped.

Port of Karachi and the Port Muhammad Bin Qasim are the busiest transshipment ports in Pakistan.  Annualy 25 million tons of cargo is handled at this natural deep-water port of Karachi. Port Qasim is the second busiest port in the country. It handles 35 percent  of the nation's cargo.  Chinese construction crews with hefty investments are building a sea port in two phases in Gwadar situated at the entrance to the Persian Gulf.

Chittagong and Mongla are the principal seaports in Bangladesh. It is on the Ganges delta region. The Chittagong Port, which is 9 nautical miles from the shore line of the Bay of Bengal, witnessed a tremendous growth in cargo handling accounting for 3 million tones in 2009. Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) is responsible for the management of the habour.  The two major ports are an important maritime connection to ports situated in the Bay of Bengal.

The Maldives maritime strengths and port development reflect the fact that a majority of its trade is seaborne. The Male’ Commercial Harbour is the main port in the country handling international   maritime traffic. The Male port cooperates with neighboring ports to foster business.

These Sub-continental coastline ports have transformed the region into an important transshipment hub with shipping, logistic services; refueling, refinering, bunkering, dry docking for ship repair and building facilities with tax free zones. These attractive ports are also emerging as the world's new cruise destinations. History suggests that the maritime trade had greater interaction in this region for centuries. The strong economic development in many South Asian countries has led to increasing cargo volumes, international trade and maritime connectivity with the world. These regional ports open up a host of opportunities for investors to tap into the markets of South Asia.

 

 

 ( Source : http://thediplomaticsociety.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=264)