Visakhapatnam Port is one of 13 major

ports in India India has a coastline spanning 7516.6 kilometres, forming one of the biggest peninsulas 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 ...

and the only major port of

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

. 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 Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

and

Kolkata Port Port of Kolkata or Kolkata Port, officially known as Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port Trust (formerly Kolkata Port Trust), is the only riverine major port of India, located in the city of Kolkata, West Bengal, around from the sea. It is the olde ...

s on the

Bay of Bengal The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean, bounded on the west and northwest by India, on the north by Bangladesh, and on the east by Myanmar and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India. Its southern limit is a line bet ...

History

Ship Darshani Prem at Vizag seaport Andhra Pradesh

Although the need for building a port on the east coast to access

Central Provinces The Central Provinces was a province of British India. It comprised British conquests from the Mughals and Marathas in central India, and covered parts of present-day Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra states. Its capital was Nagpur ...

was felt by the British in the 19th century, the proposal of Col. H.Cartwright Reid of

British Admiralty The Admiralty was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for the command of the Royal Navy until 1964, historically under its titular head, the Lord High Admiral – one of the Great Officers of State. For much of i ...

for constructing a harbour at

Visakhapatnam , image_alt = , image_caption = From top, left to right: Visakhapatnam aerial view, Vizag seaport, Simhachalam Temple, Aerial view of Rushikonda Beach, Beach road, Novotel Visakhapatnam, INS Kursura submarine museu ...

was approved by the Government only after the First World War. The Inner Harbour was built by the

Bengal Nagpur Railway The Bengal Nagpur Railway was one of the companies which pioneered development of the railways in eastern and central India. It was succeeded first by Eastern Railway and subsequently by South Eastern Railway. History The opening of the ...

between 1927 and 1933 to facilitate the export of manganese ore from the Central Provinces. The port, built at a cost of 378 lakhs was inaugurated by Lord Willingdon on 19 December 1933. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, the military significance of the port increased. After India's independence, the port witnessed growth under the various Five Year Plans. Over time, the port has grown from one with 3 berths handling 1.3 lakh tonnes per annum to one with 24 berths and annual traffic of 65 million tonnes. The port was notified as a major port in 1964 under the Major Port Trusts Act, 1963. Under the Act, the Visakhapatnam Port Trust is in charge of running the port.

Layout of the port

Visakhapatnam Port has three harbours – the outer harbour, inner harbour and the fishing harbour. The outer harbour has 6 berths capable of handling vessels with a draft up to 17 meters while the smaller inner harbour has 18 berths that are

Panamax Panamax and New Panamax (or Neopanamax) are terms for the size limits for ships travelling through the Panama Canal. The limits and requirements are published by the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) in a publication titled "Vessel Requirements". ...

compatible. Vizag Seaport owns two berths in the inner harbour; berth EQ-8 is fully mechanised and berth EQ-9 berth is not. The

Dolphin's Nose Dolphin's Nose is a hill in Visakhapatnam between Yarada and Gangavaram Port. The hill is named Dolphin's Nose because it resembles a dolphin's nose. It is a conspicuous land mark in Visakhapatnam. Dolphin's nose is a huge rocky head land w ...

Hill to the north of the entrance channel protects the harbour from cyclones that strike the east coast. The port is located on the area of a creek through which the coastal river

Narava Gedda This is a list of rivers of India, starting in the west and moving along the Indian coast southward, then northward. Tributary rivers are listed hierarchically in upstream order: the lower in the list, the more upstream. The overall discharge of r ...

joins the sea.

Hinterland and cargo

The hinterland of the Visakhapatnam Port extends to north eastern Andhra Pradesh,

Chhattisgarh Chhattisgarh (, ) is a landlocked state in Central India. It is the ninth largest state by area, and with a population of roughly 30 million, the seventeenth most populous. It borders seven states – Uttar Pradesh to the north, Madhya Prad ...

, southern

Orissa Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of S ...

. Iron ore, manganese ore, steel products, general cargo, coal and crude oil are the main commodities handled at this port. It also handles over 70% Nepal foreign trade as of 2019.

Modernisation

Visakhapatnam seaport from Fishing harbour

Visakhapatnam Port is undergoing a modernisation and expansion program aimed at increasing its capacity to 130 million tonnes by 2016–17, entailing an investment of 13,000 crores. The inauguration of the Gangavaram Port, located 15 km away from the Visakhapatnam Port, has led to a significant diversion of traffic away from the Visakhapatnam Port. This loss of cargo traffic is an important reason for the port's fall from its position as the largest port in India. The

Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd, (abbreviated as RINL), also known as ''Vizag Steel'', is a public steel producer based in Visakhapatnam, India. Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) is the corporate entity of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP), Indi ...

(RINL) which runs the Vizag Steel Plant had shifted base to the new port, taking with it a large chunk of the coal and iron ore traffic. The Visakhapatnam Port is now modernising its coal handling berth in the outer harbour to enable it to handle capesize vessels. This will also solve the problem of air pollution caused by the open handling of coal that had earlier led to citywide protests. As part of its modernisation program, the port is also upgrading its general cargo berth in the outer harbour to accommodate vessels of 2 lakh DWT, deepening its inner harbour entrance channel and strengthening five berths in the inner harbour to admit vessels with 12.5 meter draft. Other steps being undertaken include the development of a truck parking terminal and a multimodal logistics hub, the procurement of two 50 tonne

tugs A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, suc ...

and the installation of mechanical handling facilities in the inner harbour for dry bulk cargo. There are also plans to relocate the fishing harbour at the port to allow for the expansion of berths and stacking areas and

dredging Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing d ...

of the Outer Harbour is also being undertaken to increase the draft of the main channel to 21 meters.

Satellite port at Bhimili

The Visakhapatnam Port Trust plans to develop a satellite port at

Bheemunipatnam Bheemunipatnam (also known as Bheemili), is a suburb of Visakhapatnam, India. The town was named after Bhima, a character in the Hindu epic Mahabharata. It formerly administered under the Bheemunipatnam municipality, but merged into GVMC in 2017 ...

to decongest traffic at Visakhapatnam. The project is expected to cost 2,000 crores and is to be undertaken through a Public- Private Partnership (PPP) venture.

References

External links

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Visakha Container Terminal

Vizag Seaport Private Limited (VSPL)
{{Major ports in India Ports and harbours of Andhra Pradesh Buildings and structures in Visakhapatnam Bay of Bengal Economy of Visakhapatnam Transport in Visakhapatnam 1933 establishments in British India