History
The Birth of JNPT
The Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) at Navi Mumbai (formerly known as the Nhava Sheva Port) located within the Mumbai harbour on the west coast of India, was commissioned on 26th May 1989. It occupies a place of prominence among the major Indian ports. It is the second youngest and one of the most modern major ports of the country. Though it was initially planned to be a “satellite port” to the Mumbai Port with the purpose of decongesting traffic at the latter, eventually it was developed as an independent port on its own right and it became the country’s largest container port.
Being one of the oldest ports in India, the Mumbai port was proving to be structurally inadequate to meet the requirements of modern cargo handling. Shallowness of the channel, congestion of roads and railways through the Mumbai city linking the port to its hinterland, as well as labour problems, including over-manning, were among the major problems ailing the Mumbai Port in the pre-reform days. As a result, the Port was simply incapable of handling the expanding volume of modern cargo directed to the west coast and there was an urgent need for a new port in the Mumbai region, which eventually led to the birth of JNPT in 1989.
The construction project of the port is considered to be one of the technical marvels in the country, which was completed in a record time of just three-and-half years on the marshy soil and, in order to upkeep the beauty of nearby historical Elephanta Caves and surroundings, the management made use of contemporary sophisticated instruments while doing away with rock blasting. The land area in possession of the JNPT measures to 2,987 hectares with enough back-up area ideally suited for developing additional facilities for future maritime requirements of the country.
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