Expanding seaport potential

The Indian government has just approved the decision to develop the new deep-water port Vadhavan, with an estimated cost of up to 9.14 billion USD, and is expected to be among the "top 10 ports in the world ".

Speaking to reporters, Indian Minister of Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw said that Vadhavan port will be built on the west coast of India, about 150km from the financial capital Mumbai (Maharashtra state), and is an important part of the plan to connect India with Europe by sea and rail routes through the Middle East.

Vadhavan Port will include terminals for handling “large ships” and terminals for tankers carrying petroleum, automobiles and other imports, with an annual capacity of 298 million tonnes. The new port will have nine container berths, each 1 km long; four multi-purpose berths, each 250 m long and four other berths for handling liquid cargo; potentially creating direct and indirect employment opportunities for about 1 million individuals.

According to The Economist, most Indian voters see Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s greatest achievement over the past two terms as reforming the country’s infrastructure. Tens of thousands of kilometers of highways have been built, dozens of high-speed intercity trains and urban subways have been opened, and more Indians are flying.

Mr Modi’s government has ambitions to turn India into a manufacturing and export hub as a link in the global supply chain. World-class ports, in particular, are needed to realise those goals. The maritime sector accounts for 95% of India’s trade by volume and 65% by value.

India now has dozens of major ports with capacity more than doubling in the past decade, from 745 million tonnes to more than 1,600 million tonnes. The number of hours between arrival and departure of a cargo ship has fallen sharply from 127 hours in 2010-11 to 53 hours in 2023. India has risen from 54th place in the World Bank’s “logistics performance index” a decade ago to 38th in 2023. These achievements are the impetus for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to continue his port expansion plans in his third term, soon to make India a global manufacturing and export hub as expected.

KHANH MINH

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/mo-rong-tiem-nang-ve-cang-bien-post745574.html