Karnataka > Ocean Transport
There were no ports in the Old Mysore State. Attempts were made to acquire and develop Bhatkal Port when Sir M. Visweshvaraya was the Diwan of Mysore State. Finally, this proposal was shelved in 1923. After the integration of the States, Karnataka came to have 18 ports, in addition to Karwar and Mangalore. Ports are located in the coastal districts of Uttara Kannada, Udupi and Dakshina Kannada. They are Bhatkal, Shirali, Murdeshwar, Manki, Honavar, Kumta, Tadri, Ankola, Belikeri, Chendiya, Binaga, Karwar and Majali in Uttara Kannada. Mangalore (Old Port), New Mangalore Port and Malpe in Dakshina Kannada, Hangarakatta, Kundapur and Baindur in Udupi District. These ports could not get proper attention earlier due to the presence of major ports like Bombay and Cochin on the west coast along with Goa, though it was under the Portuguese.
In 1957, Mysore Port Department was formed and a sum of Rs.18 lakhs was sanctioned to provide minimum Port facilities. The Karwar, Belikeri and Honavar ports commenced exporting iron ore during 1957and 1960. During the Third Plan period, the outlay was Rs. 280.3 lakhs. The Centre accorded sanction for the development of New Mangalore Port at Panambur into an all-weather port. Also included in the Third Plan, was the scheme of developing Karwar into an all-weather port. The Fourth Plan outlay was Rs. 128 lakhs. The minor ports saw increase in the traffic of general cargo and fisheries and cargo handling capacity of the ports reached 14.43 lakh tonnes. To cope up with the increase in the cargo movement, it was proposed to improve port facilities during Fifth Plan. The total investment proposed for Fifth Plan was Rs. 850 lakhs. The proposed expenditure during the same period, by way of Central grant for the development of Karwar port was Rs. 257.24 lakhs. The strategy during the subsequent Annual Plans was to complete on-going schemes, construction of wharves, jetties and other facilities, purchasing dredging machinery, installation of Navigational equipments etc. The traffic in nine ports exceeded 11 lakh tonnes annually.
Based on the traffic volume, Karwar port was taken up for development as an All-weather port, at a cost of Rs. 8.5 crores under the State sector. Other ports selected for development due to more traffic potential were Belikeri, Tadri, Honavar, Bhatkal, Kundapur, Hangarakatta, old port of Mangalore and Malpe. A sum of Rs. 1,750 lakhs was spent for the development of ports to handle more cargo traffic during VIII Plan period. The government has sanctioned an outlay of Rs 40 crores for development of ports during the IX Plan period (1997-2002) in Karnataka. As against the alloted amount of Rs. 350 lakhs for the year 1999-2000, only Rs 276.12 lakhs were spent on various activities.
As on March 2004, the state had 10 minor Intermediate Ports viz., Mangalore (old), Malpe, Hangarakatta, Kundapur, Padubidri, Bhatkal, Honnavar, Tadri, Belekeri, Karwar (including Sadashivagad) and one major Port namely New Mangalore Port. During 2003-04 under foreign trade by sea 2,53,505 tonnes worth Rs. 24,406 lakh of imports and 7,13,859 tonnes worth Rs. 23,730 lakhs of exports being done through the different ports of Karnataka. Under Coastal trade 85,528 tonnes worth Rs. 5,082 lakh of imports and 1,14,726 tonnes worth Rs. 4,425 lakhs was handled in the state.
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