INDIA is blessed with a long coastline of 7,500 km. There are 13 major ports and many minor ports providing tremendous potential for coastal shipping an economical, environment friendly and energy efficient mode of transportation. Yet, Coastal Shipping in India has not developed to its fullest potential.

Efficient and economical coastal shipping will boost transshipment at Indian ports, thereby enhancing the competitive edge of Indian exports and increasing the ports potential to develop as hub-ports, leading to increased revenues and opportunities for generating both direct and in-direct employment.

The growth of coastal shipping is not an end in itself but a means to a larger development of the economy itself. The tremendous cost-advantages afforded to Indian trade coupled with the immense benefits of energy savings to the countrys economy, and, last but not the least, the boon of a cleaner and greener environment offered to society at large, make the development of coastal shipping important for a maritime country such as India.