Following investments in mechanisation, the container turnaround time at Indian major ports has decreased to roughly 26.5 hours, down from 45-odd hours in 2013-14, according to Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Sarbananda Sonowal. The Centre has brought in private companies to take up development in the sector, with an emphasis on port-led development, according to the Minister. “The turnaround time for containers at Indian ports has improved to 26.5 hours. We also do not have container backlogs, as other foreign countries do. So I’d say we’ve done well as a service provider,” he remarked.
Sonowal also launched the mobile application of Sagarmala. Incidentally, India’s cargo traffic at India’s 12 major ports during April-March, 2020-21, decreased 4.6 per cent to 671.82 million tonnes (from 704.56 million tonnes in 2019-20) primarily due to the pandemic. However, numbers are expected to cross 700 million tonnes this fiscal with economic activity normalising, Ministry officials said.
