Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu, aims to develop the residuary state into a major ‘trans-shipment’ hub. He is of the view that if Singapore, Dubai and Hong Kong could develop trans-shipment activity with just a port each, a state like AP can do wonders with over 1,000-km coastline with four existing ports and 10 proposed new ports.
The CM has asked officials to prepare a roadmap for making the state a major trans-shipment hub with all forms of connectivity with the hinterland. “The main source of income of the Singapore government is its port. It deals with trans-shipment activity. It does not import or export on its own. Container ships dump goods and tax is collected on it generating huge revenue for the Singapore government. Mr Naidu has plans to make AP into a major trans-shipment hub,” said social welfare minister R. Kishore Babu.
AP already has four ports with a major port at Visakhapatnam. The three non-major ports are at Gangavaram, Kakinada and Krishnapatnam. There is a proposal for 14 more ports. The three non-major ports in the state, together handle about 40 million tonnes of cargo.
Officials said the state government has prepared a master plan that envisages increasing the capacity of its non-major ports to handle 175 million tonnes in 2020. Gangavaram port is expanding its capacity from 15 million tonnes to 45 million tonnes by adding three multi-purpose berths and a coal handling terminal. Already the port has made waves in the industry due to the natural draft that it has, allowing bigger ships to anchor.
