When Jawaharlal Nehru laid the foundation stone of the kandla port, the vision was truly a grandiose one. while one cannot deny the achievements of this port, Akram Hoque of B&E also warns of critical shortcomings
Gandhidham, a small city in Gujarat, bears tesimony to what ports can contribute. Around 350 km from Ahmedabad and 1101 km from New Delhi, it would have been just like any one of those hundreds of cities in India that you possibly wouldn’t hear about in a span of a lifetime. The reason why it isn’t, is quite evident from a near unnoticeable signboard I come across as I step into the city from the railway station. It says, “Kandla Port Trust welcomes you.” In Gandhidham, this is not merely a corporate branding initiative. It actually is an apt reminder of how much the Kandla port means to the city. Alhough the Kandla port was commissioned in the year 1930 by Maharao Khengarji III (the ruler of the then princely state of Kutch), it was the great visionary Sardar Patel who realized the need to explore the possibility of establishing a deep-sea port to cater to the vast hinterland. And Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru laid the foundation stone for the new port of Kandla in 1952 with a mission to make it a major logistics hub, which would render professional, cost effective and value added services to its customers. Some of its defined objectives were to provide efficient and economical port services, create facilities of international standards and facilitate quicker turnaround of vessels, besides pursuing a slew of social development and environment friendly initiatives.
As per official data, the cargo handling capacity went up by 11.29% in 2008-09 and reached 72.22 million tonnes per annum against 64.89 million tonnes in 2007-08; the highest-ever cargo throughput by any Indian port. The management aims to scale it up further to 100 mtpa by 2012. It also handled the highest amount of crude oil at 35 mt in 2008-09, as compared to 20.27 mt in 2007-08.
The Kandla port also has some major strategic advantages. Firstly, a vast hinterland of 1 million sq. km. can be easily accessed from Kandla. Secondly, it has the highest Liquid Storage capacity in the country. Thirdly, tropical and dry climate conditions with scanty rainfall enable relatively uninterrupted operation around the year. And most importantly, it is the nearest to Middle East and Europe. Omprakash Dadlani, PRO of Kandla Port Trust, tells me, “All these strategic advantages have made us one of the best and highly demanded ports in India. We have recently been honoured with the ‘Best major port of the year’ award for 2008-09 by the Ministry of Commerce.”
Gandhidham, a small city in Gujarat, bears tesimony to what ports can contribute. Around 350 km from Ahmedabad and 1101 km from New Delhi, it would have been just like any one of those hundreds of cities in India that you possibly wouldn’t hear about in a span of a lifetime. The reason why it isn’t, is quite evident from a near unnoticeable signboard I come across as I step into the city from the railway station. It says, “Kandla Port Trust welcomes you.” In Gandhidham, this is not merely a corporate branding initiative. It actually is an apt reminder of how much the Kandla port means to the city. Alhough the Kandla port was commissioned in the year 1930 by Maharao Khengarji III (the ruler of the then princely state of Kutch), it was the great visionary Sardar Patel who realized the need to explore the possibility of establishing a deep-sea port to cater to the vast hinterland. And Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru laid the foundation stone for the new port of Kandla in 1952 with a mission to make it a major logistics hub, which would render professional, cost effective and value added services to its customers. Some of its defined objectives were to provide efficient and economical port services, create facilities of international standards and facilitate quicker turnaround of vessels, besides pursuing a slew of social development and environment friendly initiatives.
As per official data, the cargo handling capacity went up by 11.29% in 2008-09 and reached 72.22 million tonnes per annum against 64.89 million tonnes in 2007-08; the highest-ever cargo throughput by any Indian port. The management aims to scale it up further to 100 mtpa by 2012. It also handled the highest amount of crude oil at 35 mt in 2008-09, as compared to 20.27 mt in 2007-08.
The Kandla port also has some major strategic advantages. Firstly, a vast hinterland of 1 million sq. km. can be easily accessed from Kandla. Secondly, it has the highest Liquid Storage capacity in the country. Thirdly, tropical and dry climate conditions with scanty rainfall enable relatively uninterrupted operation around the year. And most importantly, it is the nearest to Middle East and Europe. Omprakash Dadlani, PRO of Kandla Port Trust, tells me, “All these strategic advantages have made us one of the best and highly demanded ports in India. We have recently been honoured with the ‘Best major port of the year’ award for 2008-09 by the Ministry of Commerce.”
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