In this regard, the GMB is developing 10 Greenfield Ports on a Build-Own-Operate-Transfer (BOOT) basis as mentioned in its Port Policy.

For this, the total proposed investment will be Rs 4,835 crore for the ports to come up in Simar, Maroli, Vansiborsi, Mithivirdi and Bedi, and the total port capacity addition will be 44.5 mt.

Besides these, the GMB has also identified new sites at Mahuva, Khambhat, Dahej, Sutrapada, Modhawa and Porbandar to be developed as Deep Draft Ports.

For Khambhat and Sutrapada, the Letter of Intent has been issued to M/s IL&FS and L&T.

GMB has said that Porbandar is suitable for providing container handling facility since it has the necessary infrastructure in terms of rail linkages and national highway connectivity.

Furthermore, eight Single Point Moorings (SPMs) worth Rs 58.5 billion are coming up at five ports, which will add to the capacity of 88 mt.

The SPM is a process by which tankers are linked to a buoy at mid-sea, enabling oil from the tanker to flow through the buoy into pipelines up to the mainland.

GMB is also developing ‘jetties’ – structures that project into a water body to influence the current or tide, or protect a harbour or shoreline from storms or erosion – at an investment of Rs 25.65 billion.

These jetties will lead to a capacity addition of 41 mt.

At present, the state handles nearly 30 per cent of the total cargo traffic at Indian ports. Of these, GMB ports (41 in all, of which only 18 handle cargo) have a share of 20.48 per cent.