As part of the Holistic Development of Great Nicobar Island, THE Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways is working towards development of Mega International Container Transhipment Port (ICTP) at Galathea Bay of Great Nicobar Island of Andaman and Nicobar Islands in Bay of Bengal.
- The ministry has invited expressions of interest (EOI) from all the interested players having relevant technical and operational experience.
- Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port, Kolkata (SMPK), on behalf of MoPSW is the nodal agency for implementation of this project .
Strategic location
- The transhipment project is of immense importance because of its: (a) Strategic location in terms of proximity (40 nautical miles from Malacca Strait) to the International Trade Route with existing transhipment terminals like Singapore, Klang, and Colombo, (b) Availability of natural water depth of more than 20 meters, and (c) Potential to capture transhipment cargo from all the ports in the proximity including domestic one.
Benefits
- A transhipment hub in India can attract Indian and regional transhipment traffic from the current hubs, save significant revenue loss, reduce logistics inefficiencies for Indian trade, reduce risks to the country’s export competitiveness.
- It will also create an opportunity for India to become a large hub for Asia-Africa, Asia-US/Europe container traffic trade. Currently, nearly 75% of India’s transhipped cargo is handled at ports outside India.
- Colombo, Singapore and Klang handle more than 85% of this cargo with 45% of this cargo handled at Colombo Port.
- Indian ports can save $200-220 Million each year on transhipment cargo. Also, developing Galathea Bay Transhipment Port will accrue significant benefits such as forex savings, foreign direct investment, increased economic activity at other Indian Ports, enhanced logistics infrastructure and thus, efficiencies, employment generation, and increased revenue share.
Great Nicobar: Features
- Great Nicobar is the southernmost island of the Nicobar Islands Archipelago.
- The Andaman and Nicobar Islands are a cluster of about 836 islands in the eastern Bay of Bengal, the two groups of which are separated by the 150-km wide Ten Degree Channel. The Andaman Islands lie to the north of the channel, and the Nicobar Islands to the south.
- Indira Point on the southern tip of Great Nicobar Island is India’s southernmost point, less than 150 km from the northernmost island of the Indonesian archipelago.
- Great Nicobar is home to two national parks (Galathea Bay National park and Campbell Bay National Park), a biosphere reserve (Great Nicobar Biosphere Reserve), and the Shompen and Nicobarese tribal peoples,.
- The well-known Crab-eating Macaque, Nicobar Tree Shrew, Dugong, Nicobar Megapode, Serpent Eagle, salt water crocodile, marine turtles and Reticulated Python are endemic and/or endangered to this island.
- The Mongoloid Shompen Tribe, about 200 in number, live in the forests of the biosphere reserve particularly along the rivers and streams.
- In January 2021, the Standing Committee of the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) denotified the Galathea Bay Wildlife Sanctuary to free it as the site for a port.
- The beaches on either side of Galathea River as it empties into the sea are among the most important nesting sites in the northern Indian Ocean for the giant leatherback turtle, the world’s largest marine turtle.
