All major ports in the country are connected by rail and by 4 Lane Road or National Highway, the Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Sarbananda Sonowal said on Tuesday (August 8).
According to the information shared by the State Governments, out of the 66 Ports other than Major Ports (Non-Major Ports) handling cargo, 13 are connected by rail while 24 are connected by 4 Lane Road or National Highway.
The revelations about the port connectivity in the country were made by Sonowal in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.
While highlighting that the state of Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh house some of the major ports in the nation, the Union Minister added that out of the total cargo traffic of 1129.63 Million Tonnes handled at Indian Ports in the year 2022-23, ports in Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh handled 493.85 Million Tonnes and 133.32 Million Tonnes respectively.
India’s major ports
Here are the details of ports in the country handling products like coal, cement, fertilizers, petroleum and petrochemical products –
| S.No | State / UTs | No of ports handling coal | No of ports handling fertilizers, | No of ports handling cement | No of ports handling petroleum and petrochemical products |
| 1 | Gujarat | 15 | 6 | 7 | 9 |
| 2 | Maharashtra | 7 | 3 | 5 | 3 |
| 3 | Goa | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 4 | Karnataka | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| 5 | Kerala | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 6 | Tamil Nadu | 2 | 1 | 2 | 7 |
| 7 | Andhra Pradesh | 4 | 4 | 1 | 2 |
| 8 | Odisha | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| 9 | West Bengal | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| 10 | Pudducherry | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 11 | A& NI | 0 | 0 | 9 | 2 |
Sourcefinancialexpress.com