India considers giving BD access to its two key west coast ports

The Indian government is considering providing Bangladesh with access to its two key sea ports on the country's west coast, according to a report published recently in ship-technology.com.

The two ports are - Port of Jawaharlal Nehru (JNPT) in the east of Mumbai in India's Maharashtra state and Mundra Port on the north shore of Gulf of Kutch near Mundra of Kutch district in Gujarat state. Both the ports are around 2,000 kilometres away from Dhaka, Bangladesh's capital. They are capable of receiving large mother vessels.

The connectivity with Bangladesh isn't expected to require additional finance, as several rail projects between the two South Asian countries have already begun, according to The Hindu Business Line.

The Bangladesh government is constructing a bridge over the Padma River which is expected to benefit both countries.

Currently, Bangladesh's exports are transported by vessel from the Chittagong Port to either Colombo, Singapore or Port of Klang, Malaysia, for transshipment to mother vessels. This is an expensive and time-consuming process.

Bangladesh is interested to establish deep-sea ports, but the country's limited cargo potential makes that an unviable proposal given the huge investment required.

The Indian government has already offered Bangladesh the right to use the Kolkata port in exchange for access to the Chittagong Port. However, sources said that this may not solve Dhaka's problems as Kolkata is a river port and thus cannot accommodate large vessels.

The report noted that other Indian ports on the east coast either haven't yet experienced container traffic or are affected by low draft.

The Indian government is also building three ports as part of a strategy to attract transshipment traffic from Colombo or Klang. Among those is the proposed $4.0 billion Vizhinjam Port by Adani Group. Vizhinjam is located on Arabian Sea coast in Thiruvanantha-puram, Kovalam, Kerala.