A STUDY ON THE PERFORMANCE OF MAJOR PORTS IN INDIA

India has 13 major ports and 176 non-major ones. The major ports carry about 3/4th of the total traffic. Despite adequate capacity and handling facilities the average turnaround time of major Indian ports is less than 4 days which is very high compared to the average turnaround time of about 10 hrs in Hong Kong. This undermines the competitiveness of Indian ports. Since the ports are not adequately linked to the Hinterland, the evacuation of Cargo is slow leading to congestion. To this end, all ports trust have set up groups with representatives from the National Highway Authority of India(NHAI), Railways and State Governments to prepare comprehensive plans aimed at improving road-rail connectivity of ports. The NHAI has taken up port connectivity as major component of the National Highways Development Project. Traditionally, most ports in the world are owned by the Public Sectors. In the recent years privatization of ports facilities and services are gaining momentum. In India an enabling policy framework has been put in place by the Government as a step towards this direction. Depending on the nature of the facilities/service, private operators can enter into the service contract, the management contract a concession agreement to operate port services.