"Centre Designates Galathea Bay as a 'Major Port'"

The Centre has officially designated Galathea Bay in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands as a 'Major Port'. This move brings the proposed ₹44,000 crore mega project under the administrative oversight of the Union Ministry of Ports, Shipping, and Waterways. The port will be eligible for central funding and developed through a public-private partnership model.

Currently, India has 12 Major Ports under central control and around 200 non-major ports managed by state governments. Of these, approximately 65 handle cargo, while the rest serve fishing vessels and passenger ferries.

The Galathea Bay project, once operational, is expected to capture a significant portion of transshipped cargo currently processed at overseas ports. The development will occur in four phases, with the first phase scheduled to be commissioned by 2028, aiming to handle about 4 million TEUs. The facility’s capacity will expand to 16 million TEUs by its completion in 2058.

In addition, the government plans to upgrade three existing ports—Vadhavan-Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPA) Cluster, Paradip Port, and Deendayal Port—into Mega Ports with a capacity exceeding 300 million tonnes per annum (MTPA). Under the Maritime Amrit Kaal Vision 2047, the development of four port clusters with capacities above 300 MTPA and two clusters exceeding 500 MTPA is also planned.

ET