Mumbai is the largest and most important port along the western coast of India. It was developed during the colonial rule when the headquarters of the East India Company was shifted from Surat to Mumbai in 1672. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 boosted up its trade, as the port became nearest to the West. Mumbai is a natural harbour with 10-12 m of water depth, well protected from Monsoon gales, working facility throughout the year and better loading and unloading facilities.
The port is 20 km long and 6-10 km wide with 27 berths in Indira dock, 21 berths in Princes Victoria Docks, 3 berths and oil terminal at Butcher Island and one oil pier at PirPau. There are two berths for passenger traffic at Ballard Pier and repair facilities at 2 dry docks. The port has its own railway system and is well connected with its hinterland and different parts of the country through roads and railways.
Mumbai port has a vast hinterland extending over Maharashtra, northern Karnataka, north-western Andhra Pradesh, eastern Gujarat and Rajasthan, western Madhya Pradesh and south-western Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.
This region is rich in agricultural resources and minerals which have promoted industrial development. The main exports of the port include raw cotton, yarn, textiles and machinery while petroleum, petroleum products, fertilizers, chemicals, paper, raw cotton etc. are main imports. The port handled a cargo traffic of about 7 million tons in 1950-51 which increased to 33.73 million tons in 1996 97 J.L. Nehru Port, Nhava Sheva This port has been developed as a satellite port to Mumbai (14 km south of old port) in 1989 to ease traffic on the metropolitan port.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
It is a world- class port equipped with all modern facilities including mechanical container berth. It has earned laurels as a port with the fastest turnaround of ships. The initial capacity of the port was 5.9 million tons (1995-96) which was increased to 9.90 million tons in 1997. A new container terminal with two berths has been constructed in the Ninth Plan as a result of which its container handling capacity has been increased tone million TEUs in 2000.
Another major work to be taken up shortly is the building of a 300 meter-long liquid cargo berth and a new five-berth chemicals terminal. The cargo traffic of the port is expected to reach 24.51 million tons up to 2002.
On the infrastructure side, the port intends to convert the existing two-lane highway connecting the port to a four-lane one, besides laying an additional, railway line.