Jawaharlal Nehru Port To Establish Two Green Parks, Set To Transform Into A Smart Port Within One Year

Mumbai’s Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, India’s largest state-run container port by volume handling — is set to become a Smart Port within one year, according to Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal.

Sonowal, who participated in the 34th-anniversary celebration of the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPA) said that as part of the government's objective of green ports, the port authority will be placing orders in the next three months — for setting up of two green parks at its facility.

"The government will develop JNPA into a fully smart port within one year. We want it to be a fully electronically connected system for better services," the minister said.

Sonowal stated that plans are to develop all major ports in the country into smart ports going forward. "This is to match these facilities with the best ports globally," he added.

Under the Sagarmala Project, the JNPA has witnessed the establishment of 29 industrial units within its Special Economic Zone (SEZ).

The SEZ project is part of the port-led industrialisation plan, developed on 277.38 hectares of freehold land by the JN Port, incorporating the land use plan of the port.

Through port-led industrialisation, the project aims to enhance exports, stimulate employment opportunities, attract investments, and facilitate the growth of captive cargo.

Furthermore, the World Bank in its recent Logistics Performance Index Report 2023 cited JN Port’s turnaround time for container ships is amongst the best for container ports globally, putting India in the list of top performers.

The turnaround time (TAT) of a ship refers to the time the vessel reports at the anchorage of a port to the time it sails out from the berth.

Additionally, the port handled a record 6.05 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in the fiscal year 2023, the most since the port started operations more than three decades ago.

The container volumes handled by JNPA have seen a growth of 6.45 percent in FY23 as compared to the previous year's figure of 5.68 million TEUs.