(THE NEWSMAN OF INDIA)
Mumbai, Aug 10, 2019: Mansukh Mandaviya, Minister of State for Shipping (Independent Charge), Chemicals & Fertilizers, GoI made his first visit to Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), India’s number one container Port, after donning the portfolio for the Shipping Ministry. The objective of the visit was to interact with various stakeholders of the Port in order to gain a comprehensive overview on the overall Port operations, recent developments and the strategic roadmap ahead for JNPT, to be amongst the best Ports globally.
The Minister began his day with a formal welcome to the Port by Sanjay Sethi, IAS, Chairman JNPT followed by a meeting with the CEOs of all the Terminal operators of the Port. In this meeting, the Terminals shared a brief overview on their on-going operations and various collaborative efforts and support extended by them towards inclusive growth and development of the Port, in the larger interest of Trade. Mansukh L. Mandaviya ji also attended the Port users Meet and interacted with them on their work and the benefits of Ease of Doing Business initiatives implemented at the Port. He discussed the slew of initiative underway at JNPT aimed towards not only enhancing their service quality but also to make Trade convenient, safe and economical for all stakeholders. Later he also visited the key on-going projects at JNPT, the 4th Container Terminal and the JNPT-SEZ project. The Phase-1 operation of the 4th Container Terminal has already commenced and the second phase will commence operations by 2022-23, thus enhancing the overall Port capacity to 10 Million TEUs. The JNPT-SEZ project will set a new benchmark for Port –led industrialization as it is a lucrative investment destination for Port based industries.

Another key highlight of the day was the Foundation laying ceremony of the Additional Liquid Cargo Jetty at JNPT, by the hands of Shri Mansukh Mandaviyaji. This additional Liquid Cargo Jetty is proposed to have two berths on the other side of JN Port, as offshore berths. This project estimated to be around 309 Cr can handle liquid cargo of about 4.5 MTPA which is being built to cater to the future demands of Liquid cargo at the Port.

Speaking on this visit,Sanjay Sethi, IAS, Chairman, JNPT said, “We are honoured to have our Minister for Shipping to be with us today and spend his day meeting all our stakeholders and Port users. It was indeed a great moment for all of them to interact and talk about their work and gain some insights on how the Ministry envisions our role in the larger gamut of the sector. JNPT has been the key driver for the Indian maritime sector and we are eagerly looking forward to an exciting journey ahead under the new leadership at the helm.”

Apart from the Port visit, Mansukh Mandaviyaji also graced the 30th year anniversary celebrations and the Annual Award Ceremony held later in the evening. The Awards ceremony was curated to recognise, outstanding contribution from various stakeholders of the Port, which helped JNPT to upscale its growth trajectory and continue to push the overall progress of the Indian Maritime sector. The JNPT Annual Awards is an effort, not only to laud the best performers, but also aimed to encourage all the stakeholders to strive harder and steer JNPT into the next decades of maritime excellence. A Special JNPT Annual Edition brought by Daily Shipping Times was unveiled on this momentous evening. The event was well attended by the members of the EXIM trade.