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PolicyTrade

India wants four times its port capacity by 2047, Goyal says at Rotterdam

Visiting the Dutch port, the Commerce Minister said capacity had doubled in a decade but was still not enough, and pointed to carbon capture and green energy as areas to work on with the Dutch.

From the editorial desk · RotterdamPublished
Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and the Port of Rotterdam (file photo)
Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and the Port of Rotterdam (file photo)Photos: Europäische Kommission - Audiovisueller Dienst, CE - Service audiovisuel, EC - Audiovisual Service, Dati Bendo / Wikimedia Commons; Martin Falbisoner / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0, CC BY-SA 4.0

Key points

  1. Piyush Goyal said India plans to quadruple its port capacity by 2047.
  2. Capacity has doubled in the past decade, he said, and must double twice more.
  3. He announced a maritime institute of excellence in his Mumbai constituency to train seafarers.

India plans to make its ports four times bigger by 2047, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Sunday during a visit to the Port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

Goyal said port capacity had doubled over the past decade, but that “India still needs more capacity.” Growth in GDP and international trade, he said, would demand heavy investment in modern port infrastructure and maritime connections, with capacity expected to double twice more over the next two decades.

He said India could learn from Rotterdam’s experience in running world-class port infrastructure efficiently. “We see great opportunities to work with the Port of Rotterdam,” he said, naming carbon capture and green energy as areas that could bring environmental gains as well as new trade in green energy.

Sagarmala and a seafarers’ university

Goyal pointed to Sagarmala, the government’s programme for upgrading ports and maritime connectivity, as the main vehicle for the expansion, and said he had full confidence in India’s maritime plans under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

He also announced a maritime institute of excellence in his Mumbai constituency, which he described as a university to train seafarers for global shipping. He gave no date or cost for it.

Describing India as the world’s fastest-growing large economy, he said the country met high standards of quality, efficiency and productivity, but should always aim for more.

The minister did not say whom he had met at the port or whether any agreement was in the works. His Rotterdam remarks came on the same day that Shipping Minister Sarbananda Sonowal opened a four-day visit to South Korea to court shipbuilders.

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