India has a coastline spanning 7516.6 kilometres, forming one of the biggest

peninsula A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on all ...

s in the world. According to the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, around 95 per cent of India's trading by volume and 68 per cent by value is done through maritime transport. It is serviced by 13 major ports (12 Government-owned and one private) and 187 notified minor and intermediate ports.

Port Blair Port Blair () is the capital city of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a union territory of India in the Bay of Bengal. It is also the local administrative sub-division (''tehsil'') of the islands, the headquarters for the district of South And ...

which was notified as major port in 2010 was removed of its status recently. The total 200 major and non-major ports are present in the following States:

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

(53); Gujarat (40); Kerala (20); Tamil Nadu (15); Karnataka (10) and others (63). Government of India plans to modernise these ports and associated infrastructure through the 2015 established

Sagarmala The Sagarmala Programme () is an initiative by the Government of India to enhance the performance of the country's logistics sector. The programme envisages unlocking the potential of waterways and the coastline to minimize infrastructural inv ...

project, and National Maritime Development Programme.

Classification of ports

Indian government has a federal structure, and according to its constitution, maritime transport is to be administered by both the Central and the State governments. While the central government's shipping ministry administers the major ports, the minor and intermediate ports are administered by the relevant departments or ministries in the nine coastal states Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala,

, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. Several of these 187 minor and intermediate ports have been identified by the respective governments to be developed, in a phased manner, a good proportion of them involving public–private partnership. Major ports handled over 74% of all cargo traffic in 2007. All except Kamarajar Port Limited are government administered, but private sector participation in ports has increased. There are also 7 shipyards under the control of the central government of India, 2 shipyards controlled by state governments, and 19 privately owned shipyards. As of 2000, there were 102 shipping companies operating in India, of which five were privately owned and based in India and one was owned by Shipping Corporation of India. There were 639 government-owned ships, including 91 oil tankers, 79 dry cargo bulk carriers, and 10 cellular container vessels. Indian-flagged vessels carried about 15 percent of overseas cargo at Indian ports for financial year 2003.

Ship breaking

As of January 2020, India has 30% share of

ship breaking Ship-breaking (also known as ship recycling, ship demolition, ship dismantling, or ship cracking) is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships for either a source of parts, which can be sold for re-use, or for the extraction ...

with annual US$1.1 billion revenue. India is a signatory to Hong Kong International Convention for the safe and environmentally sound recycling of ships. India plans to pass the "Recycling of Ships Act, 2019" to ratify the Hong Kong treaty. This will allow India to capture its targeted 60% in the global ship breaking business while doubling the annual to US$2.3 billion target.India eyes 60 per cent share of global ship recycling business; higher GDP contribution
Economic Times, 30 December 2019. India's Alang-Sosiya Ship Breaking Yard is world's largest ships' graveyard. Other ship graveyards in India is the Steel Industrials Kerala Limited breaking unit.

Cargo handled

The following table gives the detailed data about the major ports of India ''(Source
Indian Ports Association)
' File:Port of Chennai, India - panoramio.jpg,

Chennai Port Trust Chennai Port, formerly known as Madras Port, is the second largest container port of India, behind Mumbai's Nhava Sheva. The port is the largest one in the Bay of Bengal. It is the third-oldest port among the 13 major ports of India with offici ...

, Tamil Nadu File:Paradip_Port.jpg,

Paradip Port Trust Paradip Port is a natural, deep-water port on the East coast of India in Paradip, just from Jagatsinghpur city in Jagatsinghpur district of Odisha, India. It is at the confluence of the Mahanadi river and the Bay of Bengal, south of Kolkata a ...

, Odisha Image:Jawaharlal Nehru Trust Port.jpg, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust,

File:VizagPort.jpg,

Visakhapatnam Port Trust Visakhapatnam Port is one of 13 major ports in India and the only major port of Andhra Pradesh. It is India's third largest state-owned port by volume of cargo handled and largest on the Eastern Coast. It is located midway between the Chennai a ...

, Andhra Pradesh File:A_view_of_Tuticorin_Port.jpg,

V.O. Chidambaranar Port Trust V.O. Chidambaranar Port Authority is a port in Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu, and is one of the 13 major ports in India. It was declared to be a major port on 11 July 1974. It is second largest port in Tamil Nadu and third largest container terminal i ...

, Tamil Nadu Image:Mangalore_Port_(4531088758).jpg, New Mangaluru Port Trust, Karnataka Image:Vallarpadam Container Terminal.JPG, Kochi Port Trust, Kerala File:Adani Mundra Port Kutch Gujarat.jpg, Mundra Port Trust, Gujarat File:Haldia port@.png, Haldia Port Trust, West Bengal

References

External links

Indian Port List - Best Major 12
{{Economy of India Economy of India lists Foreign trade of India