Water Transport

Water Transport

» The Central Water Tribunal was established in 1887.
» Its headquarter is in Kolkata.
» The waterways of the country have been divided into Internal waterways and Oceanic waterways.

Internal Waterway

» This transport is through rivers, canals and lakes.
» India has got about 14,544 km of navigable waterways which comprise rivers, canals, creeks etc.
» About 55 million tonnes of Cargo is being moved annually by Inland Water Transport.
» The waterway from Haldia to Allahabad was made a National Water way in 1986.
» The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) came into existence on 27 October, 1986 for development and regulation of inland waterways in the country.

Oceanic Waterway

» The peninsular bank is very important for this purpose.
» There are 13 large and 200 small ports on the major bank of 5600 kms.
» Large ports are maintained by the central government whereas small ports are included in the concurrent list and are managed by the state government.
» As on 31st March, 2014 the capacity of major ports was about 800.52 MMT against cargo traffic of 555.54 MMT handled in 2013-14. Thus the capacity utilization is 70%.
» Largest port of India is Jawahar Lal Nehru Port in Mumbai.
» The largest natural port is in Vishakhapatnam.
» Kandla in Gujarat is a tidal port. It has been made into a free trade zone. Haldia Port (WB) is said to be developed as the first Green Port of India.

Major Ports of India

Name	State /UT	River/Strait/Ocean
Kolkata	West Bengal	Hoogly River
Mumbai	Maharashtra	Arabian Sea
Chennai	Tamil Nadu	Bay of Bengal
Kochhi	Kerala	Arabian Sea
Vishakhapatnam	Andhra Pradesh	Bay of Bengal
Paradip	Odisha (Orissa)	Bay of Bengal
New Tuticorin	Tamil Nadu	Bay of Bengal
Marmagao	Goa	Arabian Sea
Kandla	Gujarat	Arabian Sea
New Mangaluru	Karnataka	Arabian Sea
Nhavasheva(Jawahar Lal Nehru Port)	Maharasthra	Arabian Sea
Ennore	Tamil Nadu	Bay of Bengal
Port Blair	Andman and Nicobar	Bay of Bengal