Ports of Karnataka

Karnataka's coastline called Karavali stretches 300 km between Mangalore in Dakshina Kannada district and Karwar in Uttara Kannada district. The coastline of Karnataka has been along the eastern shore of Arabian Sea. Karnataka has one major and ten minor ports in this coastal belt. Kali, Belekeri, Gangavali, Aghanashini Sharavathi, Sharabi, Kollur, Gangolli, Sitanadi, Gurpur and Netravati are the important rivers in this belt which empty into the Arabian sea. Sea erosion, migration of river mouths, siltation of ports and harbours are some of the problems common to this belt.

Development of ports being a state subject, the Government of Karnataka set up the Department of Ports and Inland Water Transport in 1957. The Department maintains one major and ten minor ports between Mangalore in the south and Karwar in the North. The only major port is the New Mangalore Port. The minor ports are located at Karwar, Old Mangalore, Belekeri, Tadadi, Honnavar, Bhatkal, Kundapur, Hangarakatta, Malpe and Padubidri ports. Of these, the one at Karwar is the only all-weather port while the rest are riverine fair-weather lighterage ports.

In the light of the economic reforms that the central government implemented in the early nineties, the Karnataka government also has been making serious efforts to improve its port infrastructure. In 1997, a “Port Policy” was formulated with a view to develop all ports with private participation. The policy is built around the BOOST (Build-Own-Operate-Share and Transfer) concept and primarily seeks to improve cargo handling capacity.

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