This study analyzed facilities available at major ports in India based on surveys of 80 port employees and 40 ship owners. The results showed that while major facilities like warehouses, cargo terminals, and ship repair docks were available at over 90% of ports, some important facilities were lacking. Specifically, sprinkler systems, fire detection, and backup electricity were only available at 50-70% of ports. Additionally, alarm systems did not cover all buildings and fences at most ports. However, facilities like 24-hour security guards were universally available. The study concluded there is room for improvement in certain facilities to enhance port operations and efficiency in India.

1. http://www.iaeme.com/IJM/index.asp 11 editor@iaeme.com
International Journal of Management (IJM)
Volume 6, Issue 10, Oct 2015, pp. 11-17, Article ID: IJM_06_10_003
Available online at
http://www.iaeme.com/IJM/issues.asp?JType=IJM&VType=6&IType=10
ISSN Print: 0976-6502 and ISSN Online: 0976-6510
© IAEME Publication
___________________________________________________________________________
A STUDY OF FACILITIES AVAILABLE
WITH RESPECT TO PORT OPERATIONS
AT MAJOR PORT IN INDIA
Dr. Prafulla W Sudame
Associate Professor, C.P. & Berar College Nagpur, Maharashtra, India
Pavan Nagorao Bahekar
Researcher, Nagpur, Maharashtra, India
ABSTRACT
Water transport has been playing an important role in Indian economy
since time immemorial. The average ship-borne traffic in India is 35 million
tonnes per annum and the total optimum handling capacity of the major ports
is hardly more. Any increase in trade results in congestion at the ports. The
main objective of the paper is to study about the status of facility available at
sea ports in India. The information was collected through structured
questionnaire from 80 port employees and 40 ship owners across the 12 major
ports in India. Analysis of data has been done with the help of suitable
statistical tests. The descriptive statistics, such as mode, frequency,
percentage, minimum and maximum, etc were determined. The study result
showed that even though major facilities are available at ports in India still
there is lack of some important facilities at the ports, which must be fulfilled
for better operations and to improve efficiency of the port.
Key words: Ports, Facilities, Major ports of India
Cite this Article: Dr. Prafulla W Sudame and Pavan Nagorao Bahekar. A
Study of Facilities Available with Respect To Port Operations at Major Port in
India. International Journal of Management, 6(10), 2015, pp. 11-17.
http://www.iaeme.com/IJM/issues.asp?JType=IJM&VType=6&IType=10
1. INTRODUCTION
Growth in trade of a country is an important indicator of its overall growth. Trade of a
country is an indicator of its economic condition. Internal trade of a country not only
fulfills the requirements of its different regions but also promotes balanced regional
growth in the country.
Water transport has been playing an important role in Indian economy since time
immemorial. It is an easy and cheap means of exports and imports of heavy items. It
is in this context that the role of ports becomes all the more important. A port is a gate

2. Dr. Prafulla W Sudame and Pavan Nagorao Bahekar
http://www.iaeme.com/IJM/index.asp 12 editor@iaeme.com
for entering into land from sea. In fact, a port is a place in a waterway where a ship
can stop for loading and alighting goods. Ports are the nodal points for land and sea
trades.
As per Mukherjee (2001)1
, India has the largest merchant shipping fleet among
the developing countries and ranks seventeenth in the world in terms of gross
registered tonnage (grt) and fifteenth in terms of deadweight tonnes (dwt).It has been
estimated that around 90 per cent of the world’s merchandize and commodity trade is
transported by ships. This percentage has remained fairly constant over the last
century, yet the volumes have increased enormously in the last two decades. This rise
in global shipping volumes resulted from the disintegration of production and the
integration of world trade according to Feenstra (1998)2
. As per Berköz, (1999)3
,
ports have two main advantages. First of all they perform roles as important links of
hinterlands to points overseas. On the other hand, countries also require inner
linkages, such as links to other ports, airport and railway connections if they are to
perform their role efficiently. Secondly, sea conveyance is the cheapest way of
transportation when considered in terms of fuel consumption and investment. When
compared to other transportation systems, railway transportation requires twice as
much energy consumption, while road transportation requires ten times as much as
sea conveyance. During the past few decades the world has become increasingly
environmentally conscious and, with its lower energy consumption, marine
transportation is obviously more environmentally friendly than other means.
Of the total sea-borne trade of India, more than 85 per centers shared by Mumbai,
Kolkata, Cochin, Chennai and Visakhapatnam. The average ship-borne traffic in India
is 35 million tonnes per annum and the total optimum handling capacity of the major
ports is hardly more. Any increase in trade results in congestion at the ports.
Although importance of ports in the trade of the country is continuously
growing, existing port structure is inadequate. It is not able to avoid the delay
in pre-trade activities as well as time taken by the ships in completing their
journey. In labour and mechanical productivity, Indian ports are inferior to
other Asian ports. India’s coastline has few indentations and consequently the
country has only a few major ports of trade (Sinha, 2015)4
.
The government permits joint-venture formations between major port and
foreign port, between major port and minor port(s), as well as between major
port and Company (ies). The measure is aimed at facilitating port trusts to (i)
attract new technology; (ii) introduce better managerial process; (iii) expedite
implementation of schemes; (iv) foster strategic alliance with minor ports for
creation of optimal port infrastructure; and (v) enhance confidence of private
sector in funding ports.
The port reform process in India has to be viewed against radical changes
worldwide, in terms of the trends in cargo delivery and handling productivity of ports.
While ports in India have been conventionally designed mainly for handling bulk and
break bulk cargoes, the trends in the maritime trade in the last four decades has
brought change in mode of cargo delivery through containers. In the above
information it is necessary to find way out of the problems faced by port authorities
and sheep owners while working in this environment. Hence by considering the above
importance researcher decided to select present topic for the study.
The port’s efficiency parameters known as performance indicators are average
turn-around time of vessel, average pre-berthing time, average output per ship berth

3. A Study of Facilities Available with Respect to Port Operations at Major Port In India
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day, average non-working time at berth, percentage of non- working time to total stay
at berth and also at port and average parcel size. Most of these performance indicators
revolve around productivity, except few. Therefore the study will be conducted to
suggest suitable measures to improve productivity, improve the performance
parameters and measures to achieve the same.
2. REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Heaver et al., (2000)5
gave a brief overview of these different types of agreement and
examined the consequences of this evolution of the market structures in which ports
and shipping companies have to operate. Wang & Brian (2000)6
investigated the
progress of container port system development in South China, focusing particularly
on the interplay between Hong Kong and the other ports in the Pearl River Delta
(PRD) region. Notteboom & Winkelmans (2001)7
discussed the impact of some
structural changes in international trade, transport and shipping on strategic and
operational issues in the framework of port management. The content and strategic
scope of these new roles are highlighted, especially with regard to the European
container port system. Cullinane et al., (2002)8
applied a ‘port function matrix' to
analyse the administrative and ownership structures of major container ports in Asia.
They concluded that the level of market deregulation is an important intervening
variable which may also exert a positive influence. Clark et al., (2004)9
investigated
the determinants of shipping costs to the United States with a large database of more
than 300,000 observations per year on shipments of products aggregated at six-digit
Harmonized System (HS) level from different ports around the world. He found they
that port efficiency is an important determinant of shipping costs. Bichou &Gray
(2005)10
examined the validity of the conventional terminology for classifying ports,
questioning the assumption that ports should be conceptualized as separate markets
and distinct operational and business ventures. It seeks to demonstrate that in today’s
inter-related global markets and businesses with integrated logistics and supply chain
flows, there is less of a case for the traditionally isolated and restricted port
terminology.
Cullinane & Wang (2006)11
focused on measuring the efficiency of container
terminals in Europe using the data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach. Container
terminals in Europe play an important role in the region’s economic development and,
as the result of their geographic concentration, face fierce competition compared with
the rest of the world. Alvarez et al., (2007)12
presented an econometric model to
calculate both, the technical and the allocative efficiency in cargo handling firms in
the port of Las Palmas (Spain). Casaca (2008)13
carried out investigation by means of
an email survey questionnaire. The findings show the viewpoint of port authorities
regarding this matter and suggest a list of 21 pre-requisites that ports can use to assess
their potential as a motorway of the sea interface; in addition, they can be used by
governmental bodies when deciding whether to support financially motorways of the
sea interfaces projects or not. Sinha (2010)14
aimed at understanding the different
dimensions of life cycle of a seaport enabling the port-planners to decide on their
strategies. The results of analysis show that primarily four dimensions impact the life
cycle. He finally recommended a strategic framework for planners to respond to the
management needs in the different stages of the life cycle. Yeo et al., (2011)15
presented an approach to measuring container port competitiveness, a key but
neglected element of channel management in a complex and dynamic logistics
environment underpinned by commercial confidence and trust in European supply

4. Dr. Prafulla W Sudame and Pavan Nagorao Bahekar
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chains fed with goods from container ports in Northeast Asia. Sutomoa and
Soemardjito (2012)16
explained the results of research on analysis of the ports within
the Western Indonesia in terms of logistics effectiveness and efficiency perspective.
Trujillo et al., (2013)17
examined this process and the factors that are slowing it. The
first objective is to measure the evolution of port efficiency during the port reform
process using a stochastic production frontier. The results suggest that reforms are
producing the first positive results. Deng et al., (2013)18
examined the relationship
between ports (port demand, port supply and value added activity in port) and
regional economy from a logistics perspective that provided intellectual support for
policy makers in their strategic port related decisions. Bhanot & Singh (2014)19
carried out benchmarking the performance indicators in Indian Railway container
business and select private players. A case study has been conducted employing data
envelopment analysis (DEA) methodology on secondary data of container terminals
of CONCOR, Adani and Gateway logistics. The study enables the reader to gain some
valuable insights from a managerial perspective by the use of DEA methodologies so
as to formulate strategies to foster better performance. Chang & Tovar
(2014)20
assessed and compared the efficiency and performance of Peruvian and
Chilean ports terminals. In order to do so we estimate total factor productivity (TFP)
growth by applying Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA).Giovanni et al., (2014)21
investigated social and instrumental antecedents of clique survival, focusing on equity
joint ventures engaged by terminal operators in a 10-year time frame (2002–2011). Li
et al., (2014)22
investigated spillover effects and dynamic correlations between
shipping spot and derivatives markets (tanker forward freight agreement, FFA) under
the multivariate generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity framework.
Results from this article will be helpful to improve participants’ predictions of return,
volatility and correlation, which are significant for determining hedge strategies. In
addition, the management of freight rate risk and portfolio investment can also benefit
from the empirical results obtained in the study.
The published literature raises questions regarding the port operations in respect
of improvement in productivity and efficiency. It is apparent that the future policy
needs to be designed in such a way that agencies and firms share responsibilities for
the smooth functioning of port operations. Literature also shows that many different
management strategies were used for improving the productivity and efficiency of
ports; however, studies specifically focusing on port operations in Indian context are
very less. Hence, on the basis of in-depth analysis of the literature this study identified
the research gaps and aimed to study the port operation and its strategies.
3. METHODOLOGY
In this study, all major sea ports in India were considered as the study area. All the
port authorities and ship owners/representatives (Shipping Agents) in India were
considered as the universe of this study. For the purpose of data collection 80 port
authorities and 40 ship owners were selected by following random sample selection
method.

5. A Study of Facilities Available with Respect to Port Operations at Major Port In India
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Name of port Location Employees Ship owners
Kandla Port Gujarat 6 4
Nhava Sheva Maharashtra 10 6
Mumbai Port Maharashtra 10 6
Marmagao Port Goa 8 4
Panambur Port Karnataka 6 2
Cochin Port Kerala 6 4
Port Blair Andaman 4 -
Tuticorin Port Tamil Nadu 4 2
Chennai Port Tamil Nadu 6 4
Vizag Port Andhra Pradesh 6 2
Paradip Port Orissa 6 2
Haldia Port West Bengal 8 4
Total 80 40
In the present study questionnaire was used as a research instrument. Individual
questionnaires were developed for the port authorities and ship owners. In the
present study, Fixed Response (Qualitative) Rating scale /Continuum (such as
Likert-type scale) were used.
4. DATA ANALYSIS
Analysis of data has been done with the help of suitable statistical tests. The
descriptive statistics, such as mode, frequency, percentage, minimum and maximum,
etc were determined from the collected data using SPSS 18.0 Software. The
significance level was chosen to be 0.05 (or equivalently, 5%).
It was evident from the analysis of data collected from port employees and ship
owners that facilities such as warehouses, break bulk/general cargo terminal,
container depots, dry bulk terminals, oil terminals, passenger terminals, dry docks and
ship repair are available at more than 90% of ports. It is also observed that according
to more than 70% respondents Sprinkler, fire detection system and fire main were not
available at the port.
It is evident from the study results that 71.3% of port authority annually check
maintenance and renewal of insurance by tenant and/or subcontractors. It is also
observed that 85% ports depend on external agency for supply of electricity. The
backup for electricity was available only at 50% ports. Majority of port authorities
given due importance to property and equipment maintenance and staff training
programs. It was apparent from the information that security precautions including 24
hour security guards were available at 100% ports. It observed that alarm facility at all
buildings, perimeter fences and gates is not available at all buildings, perimeter fences
and gates of majority of ports. It is evident that according to majority (66.3%) of port
authorities land and equipment availability and quality is a critical factor of very high
importance for port productivity and efficiency.
5. CONCLUSION
Ports play a key role in the economic development particularly in the liberalization
and globalization scenarios in short and long term perspectives. Besides this, the
review of evolution of port studies and case studies of ports are indicating origin,
growth and development of port plays vital role particularly in the impact of port
developments on cities, infrastructure developments in catchment areas of port.

6. Dr. Prafulla W Sudame and Pavan Nagorao Bahekar
http://www.iaeme.com/IJM/index.asp 16 editor@iaeme.com
From the study results obtained after analysis of data it is concluded that there is
lack of facilities such as Sprinkler, fire detection system and fire main, in addition to
this majority of ports depend on external agency for supply of electricity. Alarm
facility at all buildings, perimeter fences and gates is not available at all buildings,
perimeter fences and gates of majority of ports. However; facilities such as security
precautions including 24 hour security guards is available at all ports in India,
facilities such as warehouses, break bulk/general cargo terminal, container depots, dry
bulk terminals, oil terminals, passenger terminals, dry docks and ship repair are
available at majority of ports. Moreover majority of port authority annually check
maintenance and renewal of insurance by tenant and/or subcontractors Majority of
port authorities given due importance to property and equipment maintenance and
staff training programs. This shows that even though major facilities are available at
ports in India still there is lack of some important facilities at the ports, which must be
fulfilled for better operations and to improve efficiency of the port. In the light of
above information following suggestions are made.
Modernization of port infrastructure is essential to benchmark the performance of
Indian Ports against global standards. The researcher has found that the Indian Ports
has to give TOP PRIORITY to undertake modernization of their ports through,
construction of new berth terminals, various expansion and upgradation project for
berths, installation of new and modern equipment, upgradation through higher
capacity cargo handling equipment etc.
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