Discuss the significance of vessel turnaround time as an indicator of port efficiency. Evaluate the role of Sagarmala and PM Gati Shakti in improving India's port performance.

Turnaround Time (TRT) — the total time a ship spends in port from arrival to departure — is the World Bank's chosen yardstick in the Container Port Performance Index, which benchmarks ports purely on vessel time in port [1]. India's Major Ports have halved average TRT from 93.59 hours (2013-14) to 48.84 hours (2025-26), making it the sharpest proxy for a decade of port reform [2][3].

Why TRT signals port efficiency

• Composite indicator: it aggregates berth availability, cargo-handling mechanisation, customs clearance and hinterland evacuation into a single number — a delay anywhere shows up in it.
• Economic value: shorter TRT cuts ship-idling and demurrage costs, lowering logistics cost as a share of GDP and improving export competitiveness.
• Capacity without capex: faster turnaround raises throughput from existing berths — Major Ports handled record cargo alongside falling TRT [2].
• Global benchmarking: JNPA ranked 22nd in CPPI 2025, comparable to Singapore (21st) and Shanghai (23rd), signalling investment-worthiness [1].

Role of Sagarmala and PM Gati Shakti — an evaluation

Achievements

• Sagarmala (2015): port modernisation, new berths and connectivity projects; hundreds of completed projects have added capacity and directly reduced vessel turnaround, now carried forward through Sagarmala 2.0 [3].
• PM Gati Shakti (2021): multimodal integration ended siloed planning; 101 port and shipping projects worth ₹60,872 crore were identified on the National Master Plan, easing rail-road last-mile bottlenecks that inflate TRT [3].

Limitations

• Gains are uneven — container TRT fell to about 26 hours while several bulk-oriented ports still exceed 60 hours.
• Improvement is concentrated in Major Ports; non-major state ports lag.
• Many Sagarmala projects remain under implementation, and land acquisition and inter-agency coordination still slow hinterland links.

On balance, both programmes have delivered measurable efficiency, though the frontier has shifted from berth capacity to hinterland logistics and digital clearance. Sustaining Maritime Amrit Kaal Vision 2047 requires extending the Gati Shakti approach to non-major ports and to bulk cargo, converting faster ships into genuinely cheaper trade.