India’s busiest shipping gateway, the Nhava Sheva Port (Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust), recently celebrated 34 years of operation. During the event, the Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal said that the port authority is aligned with the sustainability vision of the government and in another year, it will turn into a ‘Smart Port’. He added that in the next 3 months, orders will also be placed to set up 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,”
Sarbananda Sonowal
Since the last few months, the government of India has been intensifying its efforts towards improving on the sustainability parameters of the entire economy, especially the logistics and supply chain sector. The ambitious Sagarmala Project not only aims at developing the Indian coastline and ports for better trade opportunities, but also entails turning all ports into smart and green ports. “This is to match these facilities with the best ports globally,” the minister added.
The JNPA has seen 29 industrial units coming up in its SEZ (Special Economic Zone) Initiative under the Sagarmala Project. It is a part of the industrialization plan being executed by JNPA, being developed on 277.38 hectares of freehold land by the port. Through port-led industrialisation, the project aims to enhance exports, stimulate employment opportunities, attract investments, and facilitate the growth of captive cargo.
JNPT has recently also gathered a few accolades for itself. Starting with the World Bank’s Logistics Performance Index Report 2023, that established the Port’s TAT (turnaround time) for container ships to be among the best around the world for ports. The Port also logged an all-time high throughput of 6.05 million 20 TEU in FY22-23 ending March 31, 2023.
