GAMMON INDIA LIMITED

Source: NHAI Website http://www.nhai.org
The Port Sector in India
India has approximately 7,517 kilometers of coastline and is strategically located on major global maritime
trade routes. (Source: Ministry of Shipping Annual Report 2007-2008) The Government controls 12 major
ports, which in turn handle approximately 72.00% of India's port traffic. A number of minor state-owned
ports and private sector ports handle the remaining traffic. The productivity of Indian ports has improved
over the past five years, with a reduction in average pre-berth detention and turnaround time. However, it is
still quite low by international standards mainly due to operational and labor inefficiencies and high tariff
rates. India is expected to face port capacity constraints in the absence of major capacity additions. Traffic is
expected to grow at approximately 10.00% per annum during the 11 th Five-Year Plan with containerized
cargo and coal being the fastest growing commodities. Most major ports are operating at more than or near
saturation levels of their handling capacities, resulting in high pre-berthing detention and turn around time
of vessels.
Considering the traffic growth and constraints ports face today, the Government announced plans to double
the traffic handling capacity at major and minor ports, which is expected to entail an investment of
Rs.913.30 billion by the year ended March 31, 2012.
Traffic in Million tones Major ports Minor ports Total
Capacity Traffic (Fiscal 2009) ........ 509 228 737
Actual Traffic (Fiscal 2009) ............ 530 208 738
Capacity expected (Fiscal 2012) ..... 1,002 574 1,576
Traffic expected (Fiscal 2012)......... 708 350 1,058
Source: Department of Shipping
The National Maritime Development Programme (“NMDP”) is a comprehensive programme to develop,
strengthen and rejuvenate the maritime activities in India and encompasses all related areas such as ports,
shipping, dredging, inland transport and personnel management. The port sector projects under the NMDP
will involve a total investment of approximately Rs.558,040.00 million. According to the Ministry of
Shipping, Road Transport and Highway estimates, the traffic at ports in India is expected to increase to 1.1
billion metric tons by the year ended March 31, 2012 and 1.2 billion metric tons by the year ended March
31, 2014 compared with 738.0 million metric tons in the year ended March 31, 2009. According to the
Ministry of Shipping, public investment will be primarily for common user infrastructure facilities in the
ports such as deepening and maintenance of channels, construction of breakwaters and improving rail and
road connections, whereas private investment will be in areas where operations are primarily commercial in
nature such as construction, management and operation of berths/terminals in various ports. (Source: Press
Information Bureau website http://pib.nic.in/, accessed August 7, 2009)
The following table shows the major port capacity from 1951 to 2009:
(MT)
750
600
450
300
150
0
Source: Planning Commission
Major Port Capacity
1
9
1951 2002 2007 2008 2009
Capacity in MT Capacity added per annum
59
39
(MT/Year)
50
12
40
30
20
10
0