Boosting India’s Export Competitiveness, Turnaround Time At Major Ports Falls In Last Six Years

In a significant development that boosts India’s export competitiveness, the average turnaround time for ships at major ports in India has reduced by 35 per cent over the last six years, reports Moneycontrol.

It can be seen as an indicator for significant improvement in the country’s port management infrastructure.

Turnaround time is the time a ship spends entering, unloading, loading and exiting the port.

According to the Economic Survey 2020-21, the average turnaround time for ships at the country’s major ports fell from 4 days in 2014-15 to 2.59 days in 2019-20.

“As per the latest UNCTAD data, the median ship turnaround time globally is 0.97 days, suggesting that India has room to further improve upon the efficiency at ports,” the Economic Survey said.

“A consistent growth of around 6 percent was maintained in overall port traffic between 2015-16 and 2018-19. It decelerated to 1.98 percent in 2019-20 before falling sharply in 2020 owing to the lockdown in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic,” the Economic Survey added.

While Cochin port in Kerala recorded the lowest (1.66 days) turnaround time, Mormugao (3.94 days) in Goa has the highest among all the major ports.

Among the 12 major ports in the country, Pradip port in Odisha has seen the biggest improvement in turnaround time with a reduction from 7 days in 2014-15 to less than 3 days.