The state of Odisha has a long coastline of 480 km in the eastern peninsular India. The coastline is spread over Balasore, Bhadrak, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Puri and Ganjam districts. There is one major and 2 minor ports, with fourteen ports under development which have been notified by the Government of Odisha. [1]
The primary and the only major port in the state is the Paradip Port. Biju Patnaik, the then Chief Minister of Odisha, is the founding father of Paradip Port. It is situated 210 nautical miles south of Kolkata and 260 nautical miles north of Vishakhapatnam on the east coast on the shore of Bay of Bengal. [2]
The Dhamra Port is the second port to start operation, which is located in Bhadrak district, Odisha, India, on the shore of the Bay of Bengal about seven kilometres from Dhamra town. The agreement to develop the port was signed by the state government in April 1998. The Port received its first vessel on 8 February 2010 and the first commercial vessel on 10 April 2011. [3]
The Gopalpur port started commercial operations in 2013 as an all-weather port. Around 7,500 metric tonne of ilmenite, a sand mineral product of Orissa Sand Complex (OSCOM) division of Indian Rare Earths Limited(IREL), was shipped in a small vessel to South Korea. [4]
The state's ports handled about 190 million tons of cargo in financial year 2023–24. [5] [6] [7] The rated capacity of the Paradip Port is 289 million tonnes per annum. [8] The Dhamra Port has an initial capacity of 25 million tonnes annually, eventually growing to 80 million tonnes annually. [9] The Gopalpur Port has a capacity of 20 MMT. [10]
| S.No. | Port | Traffic Handled (in MMT) | FY |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paradip Port | 145.38 | 2023–24 |
| 2 | Dhamra Port | 43 | 2023–24 |
| Port name | Location | Type | Category | Status | Authority |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paradip Port | Paradip, Jagatsinghpur | Major | Seaport | Operational | Government of India |
| Dhamra Port | Dhamra, Bhadrak | Minor | Seaport | Operational | Dhamra Port Company Limited |
| Gopalpur Port | Gopalpur, Ganjam | Minor | Seaport | Operational | Gopalpur Port Limited |
| Kirtania Port (Subarnarekha) | Chaumukh, Balasore | Minor | Seaport | Under Construction | Subarnarekha Port Private Limited |
| Astaranga Port | Astaranga, Puri | Minor | Seaport | Proposed | |
| Mahanadi Port | Akhadasali, Kendrapara | Minor | Riverine port | Proposed |
