Overview

Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) has established itself as maritime leader in port development, privatisation and specialised cargo handling in India. It is also the first maritime board of the country which was created up in 1982 with a vision "To enhance and harness ports and international trade as vehicles for economic development.

With foresighted thinking and strategically located longest coastline of 1600 kms, GMB charted a different and unexplored route of port development in 1980s. This was the era when major ports enjoyed monopoly over sea freight, with very little or no port capacity with state governments.

From meagre 3% in 1982-83, traffic at GMB Ports have consistently increased and now (20202-21) non-major Ports of Gujarat handle about 31% of total national traffic. During the same period, share of major Ports has decreased from 94% in 1982 to 54% in 2020-21, whereas Gujarati share accounts for 67.4% of traffic for non-major Ports of India in 2020-21. During 2020-21 Covid-19 pandemic, traffic at GMB Ports declined by 5.88% and had handled 388 MMT of cargo. During the same period, traffic at Major Ports declined by 4.66% and handled 672 MMT of cargo.

Over the next three decades, GMB institutionalised the concept of integrated port-led development of its minor ports, supported by last mile rail/road connectivity. This was effectively implemented by bringing right private partners through several pioneering models of privatization such as privatizing port services, private jetties, joint venture ports and Greenfield ports etc. GMB has effectively implemented a unique business model, which has shown the pathway to growth and has successfully placed the non-major ports of Gujarat as benchmark for other states to follow.