About PARADIP PORT TRUST

In the 20^th century under the dynamic leadership of late Biju Pattanaik, the then Chief Minister of Odisha is the founder father of Paradip Port whose contribution made our State to hold its maritime glory in the pages of history. Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru the then Prime Minister of India laid the foundation stone of the Port on 3rd January 1962 near the Confluence of river Mahanadi and Bay of Bengal. Government of India took over the management of the Port from the Government of Orissa on 1st June 1965 and declared Paradip as the Eighth Major Port of India on 18th April 1966 making it the first Major Port to be built on the East Coast of India after independence. The first berth to be constructed at the port was for handling iron ore exports. The Port was opened to Traffic on 12th March 1966.

Paradip Port is located 20°15'55.44" N Latitude and 86°40'34.62" E Longitude as well as situated 210 nautical miles south of Calcutta and 260 nautical miles north of Visakhapatnam. This place observes a maximum of 41 degree Celsius in summer and a minimum of 8.6 degree Celsius in winter. 

The port is spread over an area of over 7,000 acres (28 km²). It is an artificial, deep-water Port on the East Coast of India in Jagatsinghpur district of Odisha.

Paradip Port is one of the Major Ports of India  serving the Eastern and Central parts of the country. The Port mainly deals with bulk cargo apart from other clean cargoes. The Port has 14 berths with a minimum draft of 13 metres (43 ft). It can accommodate vessels up to 70,000 DWT. The fully automated coal handling plant can handle up to 20 million tons of coal imports per annum. A single point mooring system handles Very Large Crude Carriers for Indian Oil. As of 2010, the approach channel was being dredged to increase depth to at least 18.7 metres (61 ft) to enable the port to handle capesize vessels. A western dock with 6 additional berths is planned to be completed by 2014. Other extensive expansion projects are planned to increase the port's cargo handling capacity to over 133 million tons by 2015.

The Paradip Port Trust (PPT), an autonomous body under the Major Port Trusts Act, 1963 functioning under Ministry of Shipping is administered by a Board of Trustees set up by the Government of India and is headed by the Chairman, PPT. The day - to - day administration is carried out under general supervision and control of the Chairman, assisted by the Deputy Chairman and other departmental heads.

Situated at the confluence of river Mahanadi, Paradip is a vibrant township and an island of excellence. The Port Township has a population of about 80,000 and most of these are employees. The Port Trust staff colonies are located in Madhuban, Nuabazar, Sector-21 and Atharabanki areas. The Port has also provided required accommodation for office/residence purposes to various users of the Port in the staff colonies. The Port Trust also allot residential quarters, shopping units and premises for offices of Port users, central and state government authorities on collection of prescribed license fees. It has eight Cyclone shelters at different locations for the People of Paradip.

The Port Trust has a modern 64 bedded hospital with adequate number of qualified doctors, specialists and nurses for treatment of Port Trust employees and their dependants. Port users, shipping agents and others based at Paradip Port are also permitted to use the hospital facilities. The port also runs a First-aid Centre inside the Cargo Berth area. In addition to this, there is a 20 bedded hospital at Atharbanki which is run and administered by the Government of Odisha.

Regarding Education, there are two Schools i.e. one High School, one ME School run by Paradip Port. One Central School fully subsidized by the Port Trust and an English Medium School run by Bethany Convent also operates at Paradip. Apart from these Saraswati Vidhya Mandir , Municipal High School , Municipal Girls High school, Sanjaya Gandhi High School and a number of other schools are imparting education at Paradip Port. A number of Schools for Dance & Music are also functioning in the Port town. For higher studies, Paradip College offering degree course in Arts, Science as well as Commerce with honours subjects is available at Paradip Port.

The people of paradip celebrates different festivals with great pump and joy that comes in a year which includes Ganesh puja, Saraswati Puja, Boita Bandana, Bali Yatra, Ratha Yatra, Maha Shivaratri, Biswakarma Puja and many more. In addition to this, the Port also observes different important days like Independence Day, Port Day, World Population Day, International Literacy Day, Children’s Day, World Disability day and World AIDS Day. Differents programmes and camps are also organised by the Port Officials such as Training Programme, Flood Relief Programme, Art of Living, Nature and Disaster management, Eye Donation Awareness camp, Blood Donation camp and Free Family Planning Operation camp.

The Port is connected with Broad-gauge Railway system of the East-Coast Railway having an 82 kilometres of track length with over 25 sidings for handling cargo. It is also served by National Highway No.5A and State Highway No.12. Port is well connected with Cuttack and Bhubaneswar with bus & train services at regular intervals. The Port is connected through lease line and broadband to other Ports, Ministry and IPA. Reliance, BSNL, Airtel, Vodafone, Idea, Aircel and TATA Indicom have cellular services at Paradip Port.

The Port has a good market complex along with many hotels and restaurants such as Hotel Empires, Hotel Golden Anchor, Hotel Aristrocrat, Hotel Crusines and Hotel Paradip International. Besides, the Port Trust has one guesthouse situated close to the sea at sector-21, which is extensively used by various users of the Port. It offers not only an efficient Deep Sea Port but also a few sights of tourist interest such as "Muhan" at Sector- 21, the white sands of the Light House beach, the musical fountain at the gardens of "Smruti Udyan", the Officer's club and Gopabandhu Stadium with swimming pool plus a host of other facilities, the Golf course and last but not the least, is the famous Paradip hospitality. A maritime museum and an aquarium equipped with 28 tanks consisting of a variety of marine and fresh water species of fish are the latest attractions for the visitors to the Port.

A wide range of companies has also stepped their footprints on the land of paradip port like IFFCO fertilizers, Paradip Phosphate Limited (PPL), Essar Plants, IOCL, HPCL and BPCL.

With the existing industrial potentiality of Paradip Port, the people of Port which includes all workers, employees, officers to increase their work efficiency and skill to build its name and fame by taking it towards the height of excellence as one of the best ports in the world and by proving the dream of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Late Biju patnaik to reality in order to enter its name in the history of International Shipping.