The ports under Gujarat Maritime Board have seen their cargo handling capacity surge by 20% from 198 million tonnes in 2007-08 to 235 million tonnes in 2008-09. This has been made possible by new expansion projects initiated during the fiscal. And with more expansion plans in the pipeline, the capacity of these ports is set to improve further.

The thrust of GMB’s strategic expansion plan is that the time is ripe for ramping up handling capacity, especially with Major Ports facing congestion and limitations in expanding facilities. In 2007-08 while ports in India had capacity of around 750 million tonnes, the total traffic handled by both Major and non major ports stood at around 720.38 million tonnes.

Capacity is thus clearly inadequate to deal with future traffic demand. Most Major Ports suffer from very high capacity utilisation. The current situation, therefore is an opportunity for Gujarat ports to fill in the growing gap between demand and supply.

(Sourced from Exim News Service)