BENGALURU: The shipping ministry has drafted a two-stage plan to convert 11 of the 12 ports owned by the Union government into corporate entities from the existing trustee setup in a much-delayed structural reform of these harbours that handle about 57% of the country’s overseas cargo shipped by sea.
As a first step, these so-called major ports—Chennai, Cochin, Jawaharlal Nehru port, Kandla, Kolkata, Mumbai, New Mangalore, Mormugao, Paradip, V.O. Chidambaranar and Visakhapatnam—will be brought under a new law called Major Port Authorities Act, 2015.
Currently, these 11 ports function as trusts under a law framed more than five decades ago called the Major Port Trusts Act 1963.
Kamarajar Port Ltd is the only exception in this regard. Kamarajar, which runs the port at Ennore near Chennai, was formed as a company under the companies law of 1956 when it was opened in 2001.
The 12 ports loaded a combined 581.34 million tonnes (mt) of cargo in the year to March, clocking a year-on-year growth of 4.65%.
“The port authority of each major port operating as a trust may change its structure and become a company subject to prior approval of the central government and passing of special resolution through its board in that behalf,” according to the draft Major Port Authorities Act. Mint has reviewed a copy of the draft law.
