Unfortunately, at the moment, most Indian ports lack deep drafts, cranes with sufficient reach to serve mega vessels

When Sri Lanka sought the India's assisstance in the development of Hambantota harbour, for reasons that have not been made public so far, India did not show any interest. As a result of this, in spite of India being Sri Lanka's largest trading partner, the Government was forced to approach China.

China grabbed the opportunity and has developed Hambantota port with the most advanced handling equipment available, so as to cater to the needs of large vessels that have come to rule the high seas now.

While most Indian ports are able to handle vessels carrying 5,000 containers, with the exception of Mundra (which is reported to have handled 14,000 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent unit) in 2013, setting a record) and the Gujarat Pipvav port (9,000 TEUs), our southern neighbour's port at Hambantota can easily handle the so-called monster vessels of 15,000 TEUs capacity with ease.

It has been reported in the press that an estimated 100 or more such mega vessels rule the sea, these are able to transfer small lots of containers for onward transmission to ports that cannot berth these mega vessels. It would follow that, in due course, these smaller container vessels will also be forced to leave the shipping lanes and land up in ship-breaking yards.

As far as India is concerned, as a sequel to the development of Hambantota port in Sri Lanka, cargo to USA, UK and Europe are now seeking transhipment facilities at Colombo, Singapore and Jebel Ali (UAE). Unfortunately at the moment, most Indian ports lack deep drafts and cranes with sufficient reach to serve such mega vessels.

In a way, this works to India's disadvantage because when customers nominate their cargo carriers, by identified shipping companies, we may land up handing over the cargo that would employ the advanced facilities available in the ports mentioned above, for the final destination.

At the moment, even Nhava Sheva port, which handles around 45% of India's container movement, does not have sufficiently deep draft. And yet, we are only six years away from the goals set for the Maritime Agenda 2020 by the government. If this target has to be met, it is imperative that in the "Make in India" campaign, special attention is drawn to this inadequacy and efforts are made on a war footing, to develop deep drafts and obtain matching equipment to be able to handle such mega vessels.

In addition to the development facilities at ports, it becomes all the more necessary to draw up mega plans for simultaneous concentration in setting up infrastructure facilities in and around such ports. Extension of rail roads, increased availability of wagons/rakes to move goods and container carriers in and out of these ports to keep pace with increased demands, both for imports and exports. At the same time, these ports will keep developing and we need to keep pace with them in speed and execution.

To make all this possible, there is a need to create well-trained and skilled personnel to handle the latest equipment that would be in use. Also, as some of the ports are considered "small" or "minor", there is a need to develop these ports, so that these can supplement the efforts of mega ports to handle increased cargo, both in and out of the country.

Port development, therefore, is a must to make "make in India" campaign fruitful.

(AK Ramdas has worked with the Engineering Export Promotion Council of the ministry of commerce. He was also associated with various committees of the Council. His international career took him to places like Beirut, Kuwait and Dubai at a time when these were small trading outposts; and later to the US.)