Sea routes and port-led development

Detail

1. India's oceanic routes: the basic network

• Coastline length:
• NCERT Class 12 gives about 7,517 km, including the islands.
• In 2024 the coastline was remeasured as 11,098.81 km using a new method. The new method uses detailed digital maps, so it follows more bends and creeks. NCERT Class 10 already uses this figure.
• Official 2026 material rounds it to about 11,099 km. India also has nearly 14,500 km of potentially navigable waterways [2].

• The coastline did not grow. Only the way of measuring it changed. This is a common exam trap.

• Ports:

• India has 12 major ports and over 200 non-major ports (2026) [2].
• Major ports come under the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways.
• Non-major (minor) ports come under the State Maritime Boards or the state governments [2].

• So the word "minor" refers to who controls the port, not to how big it is. Mundra is a non-major port, yet it handles more cargo than any other Indian port.

• Share of foreign trade carried by sea:

• About 95% by volume and about 70% by value (2026) [2]. (NCERT Class 10: 68% by value.)

• Bulky, low-value goods such as crude oil, coal, iron ore and fertilisers travel by sea. That is why the share by volume is higher than the share by value.

• Ships also link the islands with the mainland. These are the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal and Lakshadweep in the Arabian Sea.

• Cargo and efficiency (major ports):
• In FY 2025-26 the major ports handled a record 915.17 million tonnes (MT) of cargo. The target was 904 MT, and cargo grew 7.06% over the year before [2].
• Average vessel turnaround time is the time a ship spends at a port, from arrival to departure. It fell from 96 hours (2014) to 49.5 hours (2025) [2].

• 9 Indian ports rank among the world's top 100. Visakhapatnam is in the top 20 for container traffic (2026) [2].

• Inland waterway cargo rose from 18.10 MT (FY 2013-14) to 145.50 MT (FY 2024-25), a growth of about 700% [2].

2. Sagarmala Programme (launched March 2015)

• Definition: Sagarmala means "garland of the sea". It is the Union government's programme for port-led development. Port-led development means using ports as engines of growth. Ports become cheaper and faster to use, and then industry, jobs and transport are built around them [2].
• Aim: to cut logistics costs by moving more cargo by coastal shipping and inland waterways, alongside road and rail [2].
• Five pillars (divided into 24 categories) [2]:

Pillar	What it does
1. Port modernisation and new port development	Upgrades old ports, builds new ones, and adds machines and digital systems
2. Port connectivity enhancement	Builds road, rail, coastal and inland-waterway links between ports and the hinterland (the inland area a port serves)
3. Port-led industrialisation	Builds industrial clusters near ports, as in the Coastal Economic Zones (CEZs), so factories pay less to ship goods
4. Coastal community development	Skills training, fisheries, fishing harbours and coastal tourism
5. Coastal shipping and inland waterways transport	Moves cargo by sea or river, which is cheaper and cleaner than road

• Progress (as of 24 March 2026) [2]:
• 845 projects worth ₹6.06 lakh crore have been taken up.
• 315 projects worth ₹1.57 lakh crore are complete. 210 are being built and 320 are being planned.
• 11 fishing harbours (₹1,057 crore) are complete, benefiting more than 30,000 fishers. One example is Malpe in Karnataka.
• 7 coastal berths (₹494 crore) are complete. They added 9.84 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of capacity.
• Ro-Pax ships carry both vehicles and passengers. 29 Ro-Pax and ferry projects (₹1,233 crore) were taken up and 17 are complete.
• Ghogha–Hazira Ro-Pax (across the Gulf of Khambhat, Gujarat) cut the trip from about 10 hours by road to about 4 hours by sea.
• Mumbai–Mandwa ferry: an 18.5 km sea route replaces a 109 km road journey.

• Expected jobs: about 1 crore (40 lakh direct and 60 lakh indirect).

• How it is run [2]:

• National Sagarmala Apex Committee (May 2015): the top body that guides the programme.
• Maritime States Development Council: brings the Centre and the states together.
• State Sagarmala Committees: pick and track projects in each coastal state.

• Sagarmala Development Company (August 2016) was turned into the Sagarmala Finance Corporation Limited in June 2025. It is India's first maritime-sector NBFC (non-banking finance company: a company that lends money but is not a bank).

• Sagarmala 2.0 [2]:

• It is the next phase of the programme.
• Budget support is ₹85,482 crore, and it aims to bring in ₹3.6 lakh crore of total investment.

• It adds island development and maritime research.

• Long-term plans that guide Sagarmala [2]:

• Maritime India Vision (MIV) 2030: the ten-year plan for ports, shipping and waterways.
• Maritime Amrit Kaal Vision (MAKV) 2047: the longer plan, linked to the goal of Viksit Bharat 2047.

3. Mundra and Gujarat's lead in ports

• Mundra port:
• It lies on the northern shore of the Gulf of Kutch in Kachchh district, Gujarat (about 22.8°N).
• It is a private, non-major port run by the Adani group.

• It is India's largest commercial port by cargo handled.

• Why Gujarat leads:

• It has India's longest state coastline.
• The Gulf of Kutch has deep water close to the shore.
• The port lies near the north-west hinterland: Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana and the Delhi region.

• It is close to the oil and trade routes from the Persian Gulf.

• Result: Gujarat's non-major ports (Mundra, Sikka, Hazira, Pipavav, Dahej) handle a large share of India's total cargo. The Deendayal (Kandla) major port lies on the same Gulf.

4. Inland container depots (ICDs)

• Definition: an inland container depot is a "dry port". It is a terminal far from the sea that is linked to a seaport by rail or road. Goods are cleared by customs and packed into containers there.
• How it works:
• An exporter in an inland city loads goods at the ICD.
• Customs checks are done on the spot.
• The sealed container goes by rail to the seaport and is put straight onto a ship.

• Result: less crowding at the port, faster trade, and lower costs for inland regions.

• Example: Tughlakabad (Delhi), linked to the west-coast ports.

• Use for neighbours: ICDs help landlocked Nepal and Bhutan trade through Indian ports.

5. New deep-water ports

• Deep-water (deep-draft) port: a port whose water is deep enough, often 18 m or more, for the largest container ships ("mother vessels") to dock.
• Transshipment port: a port where big ships drop containers, and smaller "feeder" ships carry them on to other ports.
• The problem these ports solve: about 75% of India's transshipment used to happen at foreign ports such as Colombo, Singapore and Dubai. India lost revenue as a result [4].

(a) Vizhinjam International Seaport (Kerala)

• Location: near Thiruvananthapuram, close to the southern tip of the peninsula (about 8.4°N). It is about 10 nautical miles from the main east-west shipping route (Suez/Gulf to Malacca).
• Dedicated to the nation on 2 May 2025. It cost ₹8,800 crore and is India's first dedicated container transshipment port [4].
• Natural deep draft of nearly 20 m (NCERT-derived: about 18-20 m). No heavy dredging is needed, so the world's largest cargo ships can dock [4].
• Its capacity is set to triple in the coming years [4].
• Aim: to take back transshipment business now done at Colombo, Singapore and Dubai.

(b) Vadhavan Port (Maharashtra)

• Location: near Dahanu, Palghar district, on the north Konkan coast, north of Mumbai (about 20°N).
• Cabinet approval: 19 June 2024. Cost: ₹76,220 crore, including land [3].
• Builder: Vadhavan Port Project Ltd, a joint company of JNPA (Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority, 74%) and the Maharashtra Maritime Board (26%) [3].
• Plan [3]:
• Nine container terminals, each 1,000 m long.
• Four multipurpose berths, four liquid-cargo berths, a Ro-Ro berth and a Coast Guard berth.

• Capacity of 298 million tonnes a year, including about 23.2 million TEUs. A TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit) is a standard 20-foot container.

• Expected rank: one of the world's top ten ports [3].

• Concerns:
• Fishers fear losing fishing grounds.
• The site falls in the Dahanu eco-sensitive zone, a coastal area protected for its fragile ecology.

(c) Great Nicobar Project (Andaman and Nicobar Islands)

• What it is: a project of about ₹72,000 crore. It has four parts:
• an International Container Transhipment Port (ICTP) at Galathea Bay, on the south-east coast of Great Nicobar, near Indira Point, India's southernmost point;
• an airport;
• a township;

• a power plant.

• The port [6]:

• It is about 40 nautical miles from the international east-west shipping route that leads to the Strait of Malacca (between Malaysia and Sumatra).
• Natural depth is over 20 m.
• The port alone costs about ₹44,000 crore.

• It will be built in four phases. Phase 1 is due in 2028 with about 4 million TEUs, rising to 16 million TEUs by 2058.

• Clearances:

• Environmental clearance from MoEFCC came on 11 November 2022, along with stage-1 forest clearance [7].

• The National Green Tribunal (order of 3 April 2023) upheld the project and noted its defence and strategic value [5].

• Strategic gains:

• A strong Indian presence in the Andaman Sea and South-East Asia [5].

• Watching the sea routes and countering other powers in the Indian Ocean. The NGT order noted media reports linking the area to China's "string of pearls" [5].

• Land and forest [5]:

• 166.1 sq km is set for development, about 2% of the A&N Islands.
• 130.75 sq km of forest will be cleared for the project, about 1.82% of A&N forest.
• This land has about 18.65 lakh trees. At most 7.11 lakh will be cut, in three phases from 2025 to 2047.

• Compensatory afforestation means planting new forest to make up for forest lost. It is planned outside the islands: about 17,000 ha in Haryana (in the Aravalli area) and 6,320.10 ha in Madhya Pradesh.

• Tribal land [5]:

• The Shompen are a PVTG (Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group: a very small, isolated tribe that the government protects specially).
• The Tribal Reserve covers 751.070 sq km.
• 84.10 sq km of the project area overlaps it. 73.07 sq km of this is being removed from the reserve.
• 76.98 sq km is being added back as tribal reserve, a net gain of 3.912 sq km.

• The government says no tribal people will be displaced.

• Concerns that remain:

• Loss of tropical rainforest.
• Galathea Bay is a key nesting beach of the leatherback turtle, the world's largest sea turtle.
• Coral reefs (corals are to be moved elsewhere) [5].
• Seismic risk: the island lies near the plate boundary that caused the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami.
• The rights of the Shompen and Nicobarese.

Feature	Vizhinjam	Vadhavan	Galathea Bay (Great Nicobar)
State/UT	Kerala	Maharashtra	Andaman and Nicobar Islands
Coast	Arabian Sea, south-west tip	Arabian Sea, north Konkan	Bay of Bengal/Andaman Sea side, near Malacca route
Natural depth	Nearly 20 m [4]	Deep draft, all-weather [3]	Over 20 m [6]
Status	Commissioned 2 May 2025 [4]	Approved 19 June 2024 [3]	Phase 1 due 2028 [6]
Main issue	Coastal erosion and fishers	Fishers and the Dahanu eco-sensitive zone	Forests, turtles, corals, earthquakes, tribal rights

Prelims Hooks

• Coastline: 7,517 km (NCERT Class 12) → 11,098.81 km after the 2024 remeasurement. The change comes from a new method, not new land.
• Sea trade share: about 95% by volume and about 70% by value (2026) [2]. NCERT Class 10 says 68% by value.
• Major ports are run by the Union Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways. Non-major ports are run by State Maritime Boards [2]. Mundra is a non-major port, yet it is India's largest by cargo.
• Sagarmala was launched in March 2015. It has 5 pillars and 24 categories. Sagarmala 2.0 is guided by MIV 2030 and MAKV 2047 [2].
• Vizhinjam (Kerala) is India's first dedicated container transshipment port. It was dedicated on 2 May 2025 [4].
• Vadhavan is in Palghar, Maharashtra, near Dahanu. The JNPA:MMB share is 74:26. It was approved on 19 June 2024 [3].
• Galathea Bay is on Great Nicobar, near Indira Point. The Shompen living there are a PVTG [5].
• Tughlakabad (Delhi) is an inland container depot, or dry port.
• Ghogha–Hazira Ro-Pax crosses the Gulf of Khambhat, Gujarat [2].
• North to south on the west coast: Mundra (Gulf of Kutch) → Vadhavan (Palghar) → Vizhinjam (Thiruvananthapuram).

Mains Points

• Port-led development (GS-III, infrastructure):
• Sagarmala links ports, the hinterland, industry and coastal communities.
• Its results include turnaround time almost halved (96 h → 49.5 h) and record major-port cargo of 915 MT in FY 2025-26 [2].

• Road still carries most freight, and India's logistics costs stay high. Coastal shipping and inland waterways are the cheaper and cleaner fix.

• Getting transshipment back:

• About 75% of Indian transshipment went through foreign hubs [4].
• Deep-draft ports at Vizhinjam, Vadhavan and Galathea Bay save foreign exchange and feeder costs.

• They also give India control over its own supply chains, using its position close to the east-west sea route.

• Development vs ecology (GS-III, environment):

• The Great Nicobar Project shows the trade-off clearly. One side has strategic gains in the Andaman Sea.
• The other side has the loss of 130.75 sq km of rainforest, compensatory planting far away in Haryana and Madhya Pradesh, risks to leatherback turtles and corals, seismic risk, and the rights of PVTGs [5].

• Vadhavan raises similar issues for fishers and the Dahanu eco-sensitive zone.

• Uneven distribution of ports (GS-I):

• The west coast has deep water, gulfs (Kutch, Khambhat) and a rich north-west hinterland, so Gujarat leads in cargo.
• The east coast needs ICDs and corridors to serve its hinterland. ICDs also give landlocked Nepal and Bhutan access to the sea.