Jawaharlal Nehru Port hits a ton in cargo handling

Publication: Economic Times

MUMBAI: Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPA), India’s biggest container gateway by capacity, has hit a ton in cricketing parlance, by handling 100 million tonnes (MT) of cargo in a year, on Wednesday, joining a small group of three ports to achieve this feat even as ports, ships and global trade reel under the conflict in West Asia.

The port would have cruised to the ‘century’ a few days earlier had the US-Israel military attacks on Iran not upended global trade.

Deendayal Port Authority in Kandla, Gujarat and Paradip Port Authority in Odisha, both Union government-owned, and Mundra Port in Gujarat run by Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd, are the other members of the elite 100 MT cargo club.

JN Port has a capacity to handle 10.4 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) a year, a feat which no other Indian port can boast of.

Thirty-six summers ago, when the port named after independent India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, set sail on its journey, there was no inkling on what was in store for the then new major port constructed by the Union government from scratch with funds from the World Bank.

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