Port-led economic growth and bringing down logistics cost to EXIM Trade are focused areas for the Government. With this perspective, setting up global benchmark and reduce congestion at JNPT to enable faster cargo movement have been accorded great priority by the Ministry of Shipping.
In this background, Shri Sanjay Bandopadhyay, IAS, Add. Secretary, Ministry of Shipping, visited JNPT to review the overall development and understand the challenges and identify solutions to create seamless facilities for the stakeholders. During his visit Shri Bandopadhyay held discussions with JNPT chairman and other senior officials.
The ministry is keen to focus on expansion of JNPT and development of various infrastructure projects such as SEZ, Dry Ports, road connectivity and harnessing modern technology to create positive environment for the trade. MOS is also concentrating on digitization which can help Indian ports to be at par with the international markets.
Shri Neeraj Bansal, Chairman-in-Charge, JNPT shared an overview of various initiatives under the Ease of Doing Business and other measures being implemented at the port. The port which currently is handling 4.8 million TEUs will double the capacity after the completion of phase-2 of fourth terminal. JNPT is also focusing on expansion of liquid cargo terminal, shallow water berth to increase the cargo handling capacity. Shri Bansal also informed about the financial performance of JNPT which recorded operating profit of Rs 1140 crore, which is the highest among Indian major ports and shared the future projections of port’s performance in the coming years.
Further he said, five new tank farms have been auctioned which will add more profits for the port and will increase the storage capacity. The Direct Port Delivery (DPD), Direct Port Entry (DPE) and Inter Terminal movement of Tractor Trailers (ITT) initiatives have helped the trade by reduction in dwell time and road congestion.
Shri Bansal also informed that JNPT has been working on a new software system for liquid terminal which will showcase online berth availability, transparency, storage capacity, window period in advance which will benefit the trade. Port is also improving dredging capacity to get mother vessels at terminal.
Shri Bandopadhyay visited port terminals to get a first-hand experience of operation of the port and the ongoing future capacity building projects along with Ease of Doing Business initiatives taken by the port.
