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Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal inaugurated seven infrastructure projects worth Rs 427.80 crore at Paradip Port Authority in Odisha on 21 August 2026.
The largest is a Rs 352 crore capital dredging project that gives the port an 18.5-metre deep draft, allowing it to handle fully laden Capesize bulk carriers in the inner harbour.
Also opened were the Rs 24.89 crore Atharbanki Second New Bridge - 500 metres, three lanes, built for about 3,000 trucks a day - and an Advanced Vessel Traffic Management and Information System developed with IIT Madras' National Technology Centre for Ports, Waterways and Coasts.
Three mechanisation concession agreements worth Rs 1,580.36 crore were signed - a 5 MTPA South Quay project, an 8 MTPA Multipurpose Berth and a 10 MTPA Captive CQ-III - to cut vessel turnaround time.
With these projects the port reached an annual cargo capacity of 150 million metric tonnes, and marked its one-millionth tree planted since the 1999 Super Cyclone.
A ship's draft is the vertical distance between the waterline and the lowest point of the hull - in effect, how deep the loaded ship sits in the water. A port can only take a ship whose draft is less than the depth it maintains in its channel and berths, which is why ports dredge. Capesize vessels are the largest dry-bulk carriers, typically used for iron ore and coal, and are so big that they cannot pass through the Suez or Panama canals and must sail around the Cape of Good Hope or Cape Horn - which is where the name comes from. A fully laden Capesize needs roughly 18 metres of draft, so an 18.5-metre channel lets Paradip load them to capacity instead of part-loading and topping up elsewhere. Fewer, larger ships means a lower freight cost per tonne.
Simple Analogy: Deepening the channel is like raising a doorway: the same warehouse can now take the full-size lorry instead of two half-loaded vans.
A natural deep-water major port on the Bay of Bengal at the confluence of the Mahanadi river and the sea, in Jagatsinghpur district, Odisha. Declared India's eighth major port on 18 April 1966, it was the first major port on the east coast commissioned after Independence and began as a single-commodity port for iron ore export. It is the only major port in Odisha.
Union ministry responsible for the major ports, shipping, inland waterways and the Sagarmala port-led development programme
Maritime technology centre at IIT Madras set up under the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways; partnered on the port's vessel traffic management system
This Act replaced the Major Port Trusts Act, 1963 and converted the major port trusts into Port Authorities with greater operational autonomy - which is why the body is 'Paradip Port Authority' and no longer 'Paradip Port Trust'.
The port-led development programme launched in 2015 covering port modernisation, port connectivity, port-linked industrialisation and coastal community development.
The port's plantation drive, which reached its millionth tree, dates from the greening effort that followed the 1999 Super Cyclone that struck the Odisha coast near Paradip.
Million tonnes per annum, the standard unit for port and terminal handling capacity - the three new mechanisation projects add 5, 8 and 10 MTPA respectively.
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The depth of a vessel below the waterline; a port must maintain more channel depth than the draft of the ships it wants to handle.
Dredging that deepens or widens a channel beyond its original design depth, as opposed to maintenance dredging which only restores it.
A very large dry-bulk carrier too big for the Suez and Panama canals, which must therefore sail around the Cape of Good Hope or Cape Horn.
Million tonnes per annum, the unit used for cargo-handling capacity.
A contract under which a private operator is granted the right to build and operate a berth or terminal for a fixed period.