Govt plans ₹320-cr digital ecosystem in ports

The Union government has decided to implement a ₹320-crore project in five major ports to provide a digital port ecosystem. Shipping ministry informed that the major ports are Mumbai, Chennai, Deendayal, Paradip and Kolkata (including Haldia). The system will adopt international best practices without losing its alignment to existing local needs. A total of 2,474 processes were rationalized, harmonized, optimized and standardized to arrive at a final re-engineered process count of 162 processes. In addition, a centralized web-based port community system (PCS) has been made operational across all major ports which enable seamless data flow between various stakeholders through a common interface. To move towards the complete paperless regime, E-DO (electronic delivery order) through PCS has been made mandatory along with e-invoicing and e-payment. The major ports in the country have an installed capacity of 1,534.91 MTPA (million tons per annum) as of March 2020 and handled traffic of 704.92 MT during 2019-20. In totality, India has 12 major ports - Deendayal (erstwhile Kandla), Mumbai, JNPT, Mormugao, New Mangalore, Cochin, Chennai, Kamarajar (earlier Ennore), VO Chidambaranar, Visakhapatnam, Paradip and Kolkata (including Haldia).