Port Trust Board

On 1st April 1980, the Port Trust Board was set up under the Major Port Trust Act, 1963 and was inaugurated by the then Minister for Shipping & Transport, A.P. Sharma on 31st March, 1980. Since then NMPT Port has been functioning as the 10th Major Port Trust and has fallen in line with other Major Port Trusts functioning in the country.

Structure of Ports in India and governing legislation: Regulatory framework

In India, the major ports are placed under the Union list of the Indian Constitution, and are administered under the Indian Ports Act, 1908 and the Major Port Trust Act, 1963 by the Government of India.

Trust Act, each major port is governed by a Board of Trustees appointed by the Government of India; their composition gives dominance to public enterprises and government departments. The powers of the trustees are limited and they are bound by directions on policy matters and orders from the Government of India.

The Board of Trustees who are appointed by the Government of India to administer the port represent government departments involved with port operations, labour and service providers such as stevedores, shipping agents etc. Their interest lies more in protecting their turfs and not in promoting the commercial well being of the ports. The financial and other powers of the trustees are also limited. In fact, they could incur expenditure only up to Rs 5 billion in respect of new works and replacements. The different operations in the port were also not set up as separate profit centers. The accounting practices followed was revenue accounting practices and not commercial accounting practices.

The main factors that have led to inefficiencies in the Indian ports are:
* Most major ports were originally designed to handle specific categories of cargo which have declined in time while other types of cargoes gained importance. The ports have not been able to adjust to the categories of cargo which grew the most. There are thus several berths for traditional cargo,
* Which are under-utilised, and only a few for new cargo, which are over- utilised.
* Equipment utilisation is very poor both because equipment is obsolete and poorly maintained.
* Over staffing at Indian ports remains rampant and productivity indicators in respect of cargo and equipment handling continue to be poor.