It is the principal port of Goa located at the entrance of the Zuvari estuary. It has a fine natural and protected harbour which can hold about 50 steamers at a time in the fair season and 15 steamers during the monsoons. The port consists of 6 berths including a berth for mechanised ore handling, which loads iron ore up to 1,000 tons per hour, and also provides facilities for discharging mineral oils from tankers.
It is country’s leading ore port, handling about 50 per cent of the total iron ore exports from India (mostly to Japan). It also exports manganese ore. Other items of export include cashew nut, salt, betel leaves etc. Similarly crude oil, fertilizers, food grains and cement are its principal imports.
The port handled 17.31 million tons of cargo traffic (capacity 19.18 million tons) in 1996-97 (cuff 15.10 million tons in 1991-92) which is expected to reach 23.58 million tons by 2002. With the opening of the Konkan railway the importance of Marmagao port has been enhanced and it is emerging as a multi-commodity port. Four new berths are being constructed in the Vasco Bay to handle container traffic and general cargo.