Project Green Ports: Are Indian ports on the right track?

ABSTRACT

Seaports have evolved with changing technologies to ensure the handling of close to 80 per cent of global trade by volume and 70 per cent by value. As the ports have grown across the world, unabated pollution from numerous activities of ships, ports, industries, and infrastructure development has forced countries to focus on safe, efficient, and sustainable ports by focusing on community development to achieve cleaner harbours, skies, and soil. An effort of the Government of India for major Indian ports in this direction is Project Green Ports. Though the project was initiated in 2016, there is little update available about the project. It is to fill this gap that the article discusses the progress of the major Indian ports towards becoming green ports. In doing so, the article analyses the efforts made and the existing shortcomings to answer whether the Indian ports are on the right track to becoming green ports.

KEYWORDS:

• Sustainability
• Maritime India Vision (MIV)
• Sagarmala
• cold ironing
• green energy
• digitalisation

Notes

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2 Kimberly M. Castle and Richard L. Revesz, “Environmental Standards, Thresholds, and the Next Battleground of Climate Change Regulations,” Minnesota Law Review 103 (2019), https://ssrn.com/abstract=3154669 (accessed September 10, 2022).

3 David Hunter, “International Environmental Law,” Insights on Law and Society 19, no. 1 (2021), https://www.americanbar.org/groups/public_education/publications/insights-on-law-and-society/volume-19/insights-vol--19---issue-1/international-environmental-law/#:~:text=International%20environmental%20law%20is%20the,and%20mass%20extinction%20of%20wildlife (accessed September 10, 2022).

4 Robert Kanter, “Green Port Policy of the Port of Long Beach” (2006 AAPA Comprehensive Environmental Management Awards, May 31, 2006), https://aapa.files.cms-plus.com/PDFs/EnvironmentalAwards/2006/2006_EnviroAward_Long%20Beach.pdf (accessed September 10, 2022).

5 Kristin Ystmark Bjerkan and Hanne Seter, “Reviewing Tools and Technologies for Sustainable Ports: Does Research enable Decision Making in Ports?,” Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment 72 (2019), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2019.05.003 (accessed September 10, 2022).

6 Anas S. Alamoush, Aykut I. Ölçer, and Fabio Ballini, “Ports’ Role in Shipping Decarbonisation: A Common Port Incentive Scheme for Shipping Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction,” Cleaner Logistics and Supply Chain 3 (2022), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clscn.2021.100021 (accessed September 10, 2022).

7 Kapil Narula, “Green Ports: Going beyond Renewable Energy Generation,” National Maritime Foundation, May 16, 2016, https://maritimeindia.org/green-ports-going-beyond-renewable-energy-generation/ (accessed September 10, 2022); European Sea Ports Organisation (ESPO), “Green Guide: Towards Excellence in Port Environmental Management and Sustainability” (2012), 1–38, https://www.ecoports.com/assets/files/common/publications/espo_green_guide_october_2012_final.pdf (accessed September 10, 2022).

8 Kandla (renamed as Deendayal), Mumbai, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), Marmugao, New Mangalore, Cochin, Chennai, Ennore, V. O. Chidambarnar, Visakhapatnam, Paradip, and Kolkata (including Haldia).

9 Gujarat (46), Maharashtra (48), Goa (5), Karnataka (9), Kerala (17), Tamil Nadu (16), Andhra Pradesh (12), Odisha (13), West Bengal (1), Daman and Diu (2), Lakshadweep (10), Puducherry (3), and Andaman and Nicobar Islands (23). See Ministry of Mines, Indian Mineral Yearbook 2019, Vol. I: General Reviews, Port Facilities (Indian Bureau of Mines, November 2020), https://ibm.gov.in/writereaddata/files/11192020124739Port_Facilities_2019_AR.pdf (accessed September 10, 2022).

10 Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Statistics of Inland Water Transport 2020–21 (New Delhi: Transport Research Wing, 2022).

11 Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Maritime India Vision 2030 (henceforth “MIV 2030”) (February 2021), https://sagarmala.gov.in/sites/default/files/MIV%202030%20Report.pdf (accessed September 10, 2022).

12 “Ministry of Shipping initiates Project Green Port” (January 19, 2016), https://pib.gov.in/newsite/printrelease.aspx?relid=134595 (accessed September 10, 2022).

13 DO letter by Secretary, Ministry of Shipping, to Chairmen of Major Indian Ports, dated December 31, 2015, https://sagarmala.gov.in/sites/default/files/1622922400pop.pdf (accessed September 10, 2022).

14 UN, “Project Green Ports by India (Government),” https://oceanconference.un.org/commitments/?id=20580 (accessed September 10, 2022).

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17 T.R. Walker, O. Adebambo, M.C. Del Aguila Feijoo, E. Elhaimer, T. Hossain, S.J. Edwards, Courtney E. Morrison, Jessica Romo, Nameeta Sharma, Stephanie Taylor, and S. Zomorodi, “Environmental Effects of Marine Transportation,” in World Seas: An Environmental Evaluation (2019), 505–30, https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-805052-1.00030-9 (accessed September 11, 2022).

18 J.S.L. Lam and T. Notteboom, “The Greening of Ports: A Comparison of Port Management Tools used by Leading Ports in Asia and Europe,” Transport Reviews 34, no. 2 (2014): 169–89, https://doi.org/10.1080/01441647.2014.891162 (accessed September 10, 2022).

19 C.A. Schipper, H. Vreugdenhil, and M.P.C. de Jong, “A Sustainability Assessment of Ports and Port-City Plans: Comparing Ambitions with Achievements,” Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment 57 (2017): 84–111, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2017.08.017 (accessed September 10, 2022).

20 M. Dooms, E. Haezendonck, and A. Verbeke, “Towards a Meta-analysis and Toolkit for Port-related Socio-economic Impacts: A Review of Socio-economic Impact Studies conducted for Seaports,” Maritime Policy & Management 42, no. 5 (2015): 459–80, https://doi.org/10.1080/03088839.2014.944238 (accessed September 10, 2022).

21 UNCTAD, “Port Industry survey on Climate Change Impacts and Adaptations” (UNCTAD Research Paper No. 18, UNCTAD/SER.RP/2017/18/Rev.1), https://unctad.org/system/files/official-document/ser-rp-2017d18_en.pdf (accessed October 28, 2022).

22 Rickard Bergqvist and Jason Monios, “Green Ports in Theory and Practice,” in Green Ports, ed. Rickard Bergqvist and Jason Monios (Elsevier, 2019), 1–17, https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-814054-3.00001-3 (accessed October 28, 2022).

23 Lam and Notteboom, “The Greening of Ports”; and M. Acciaro, T. Vanelslander, C. Sys, C. Ferrari, A. Roumboutsos, G. Giuliano, Jasmine Siu Lee Lam, and Seraphim Kapros, “Environmental Sustainability in Seaports: A Framework for Successful Innovation,” Maritime Policy & Management 41, no. 5 (2014): 480–500, https://doi.org/10.1080/03088839.2014.932926 (accessed September 10, 2022).

24 Lam and Notteboom, “The Greening of Ports.”

25 Bergqvist and Monios, “Green Ports in Theory and Practice”; and Walker et al., “Environmental Effects of Marine Transportation.”

26 R.-H. Chiu, L.-H. Lin, and S.-C. Ting, “Evaluation of Green Port Factors and Performance: A Fuzzy AHP Analysis,” Mathematical Problems in Engineering (2014), https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/802976 (accessed September 10, 2022).

27 Rajat Arora, “India to be First in World to Run All Government Ports on Green Energy,” The Economic Times, May 30, 2017, https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/transportation/shipping-/-transport/india-to-be-first-in-world-to-run-all-government-ports-on-green-energy/articleshow/58917369.cms (accessed September 10, 2022).

28 Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, “MIV 2030,” p. 225.

29 “Major Ports of India to Go Green,” Marine Insight, February 3, 2017, https://www.marineinsight.com/shipping-news/major-ports-india-go-green/ (accessed September 10, 2022).

30 Lok Sabha Secretariat, “Port Development in India,” No.22/RN/Ref./July/2017, 2017, http://164.100.47.193/Refinput/New_Reference_Notes/English/Port_Dev_in_India.pdf (accessed September 10, 2022).

31 “Major Ports of India to Go Green.”

32 “In a World-First, India’s Dozen Major Ports Now Run Fully on Renewable Energy,” Hellenic Shipping News, February 14, 2020, https://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/in-a-world-first-indias-dozen-major-ports-now-run-fully-on-renewable-energy/ (accessed September 10, 2022).

33 “Shipping Minister Sonowal Reiterates Commitment to Enhance Share of Renewable Energy to 60 Per Cent of Power Demand at Major Ports,” September 28, 2021, https://pib.gov.in/PressReleseDetail.aspx?PRID=1758924 (accessed September 10, 2022).

34 “VOC Port Plans to Generate 100 MW of Power through Wind Farms,” Projects Today, January 12, 2021, https://www.projectstoday.com/News/VOC-Port-plans-to-generate-power-through-wind-farms (accessed September 10, 2022).

35 A.Q. Jakhrani, A.-K. Othman, A.R.H. Rigit, and S.R. Samo, “Estimation of Carbon Footprints from Diesel Generator Emissions” (2012 International Conference on Green and Ubiquitous Technology, 2012), https://doi.org/10.1109/gut.2012.6344193 (accessed September 10, 2022).

36 It is a process of providing electrical power to a ship at berth while its main and auxiliary engines are turned off. It is also termed as shore connection, alternative maritime power, or shore-to-ship power. Considered essential as ships, while alongside, will end up polluting the air of the port if they use their own diesel generators for power. This air pollution can be avoided if the ships are provided power from shore which is from a “green” source.

37 “Haldia Port Tops the List in the First Ever Ranking of Ports on Sanitation Parameters; All 193 Lighthouses across India Solarized” (April 11, 2017), https://pib.gov.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=160876 (accessed September 10, 2022).

38 Ibid.

39 New Mangalore Port, “Ranking of Major Ports and Key Organisations” (QCI Report, 2018), http://newmangaloreport.gov.in:8080/docs/NMPT-QCI%20report.pdf (accessed September 10, 2022).

40 C. Stuart-Williams, “The Development of Indian Ports,” Journal of the Royal Society of Arts 84, no. 4358 (1936): 731–54, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41360757.

41 “Development of Ports” (March 9, 2017), https://pib.gov.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=159030 (accessed September 10, 2022).

42 N. Agarwala and P. Saha, “Is the Bay of Bengal Regaining its Lost Importance?,” Journal of the Indian Ocean Region 15, no. 3 (2019), https://doi.org/10.1080/19480881.2019.1637572 (accessed September 10, 2022).

43 “Development of Ports.”

44 “Indian Ports Industry Report.”

45 Brief India, “Private Participation at Indian Ports – Resurgence through Reforms” (British High Commission Policy Brief, February 2017), https://www.briefindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/PPP-report.pdf (accessed September 10, 2022).

46 N. Agarwala and S. Polinov, “Curtailing Anthropogenic Carbon Dioxide to Meet the Targets of the Paris Agreement using Technology Support Mechanisms,” Journal of Human-centric Research in Humanities and Social Sciences 2, no. 1 (2021): 1–24, http://doi.org/10.21742/jhrhss.2021.2.1.01 (accessed September 10, 2022).

47 A.S. Alamoush, F. Ballini, and A.I Ölçer, “Revisiting Port Sustainability as a Foundation for the Implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs),” Journal of Shipping and Trade 6, no. 19 (2021), https://doi.org/10.1186/s41072-021-00101-6 (accessed September 10, 2022).

48 “Indian Ports Association appoints Managed Service Provider for Port Enterprise Business System for Five Major Ports” (September 29, 2018), https://pib.gov.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=183819 (accessed September 10, 2022).

49 N. Agarwala, “Role of Policy Framework for Disruptive Technologies in the Maritime Domain,” Australian Journal of Maritime & Ocean Affairs 14, no. 1 (2022): 1–20, https://doi.org/10.1080/18366503.2021.1904602.

50 “JNPT Inaugurates Two Mobile X-ray Scanners to Enhance Efficiency” (June 29, 2021), https://pib.gov.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=1731206 (accessed September 10, 2022).

51 KPL, “Commissioning of Mobile X-ray Container Scanner System at KPL” (Trade Notice No: 06/21, July 2, 2021), https://ennoreport.gov.in/upload/uploadfiles/files/trade_6_02072021(1).pdf (accessed September 10, 2022).

52 Rajya Sabha, “Demands for Grants (2022–23) of Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways” (Report No. 316, March 14, 2022), https://rajyasabha.nic.in/rsnew/Committee_site/Committee_File/ReportFile/20/166/316_2022_9_11.pdf (accessed September 10, 2022).

53 N. Bansal, “Smart Ports – A Vital Step in India’s digital Transformation Journey,” The Times of India, April 25, 2021, https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/voices/smart-ports-A-vital-step-in-indias-digital-transformation-journey/ (accessed September 10, 2022).

54 N. Agarwala, “Powering India’s Blue Economy through Ocean Energy,” Australian Journal of Maritime & Ocean Affairs (July 21, 2021), https://doi.org/10.1080/18366503.2021.1954494 (accessed September 10, 2022).

55 Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, “MIV 2030,” p. 226.

56 S.K. Maitreyee and N. Agarwala, “Sustainable Desalination Technologies: Avenues for Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific,” Maritime Affairs 15, no. 1 (2019): 78–92, https://doi.org/10.1080/09733159.2019.1628335 (accessed September 10, 2022).

57 Agarwala, “Powering India’s Blue Economy through Ocean Energy.”

58 “Ministry of Shipping initiates Project Green Port.”

59 “Public Private Partnership Mode for Operational Services at Major Ports” (February 1, 2021), https://pib.gov.in/Pressreleaseshare.aspx?PRID=1693878 (accessed September 10, 2022).

60 “Year End Review – 2021: Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways.”

61 “Year End Review – 2020: Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways.”

62 P. Manoj, “In a World-First, India’s Dozen Major Ports Now Run Fully on Renewable Energy,” Business Line, February 12, 2020, https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/logistics/in-a-world-first-indias-dozen-major-ports-now-run-fully-on-renewable-energy/article30798156.ece (accessed September 10, 2022).

63 Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, “MIV 2030,” pp. 148–9.

64 US Environmental Protection Agency, “Case Study of the San Pedro Bay Ports’ Clean Air Action Plan 2006–2018: Best Practices and Lessons Learned” (EPA-420-R-21-011, March 2021), 12–13, https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2021-03/documents/420r21011.pdf (accessed September 10, 2022).

65 See https://www.effenco.com/.

66 Reduced ship speed results in reduced fuel burning that reduces greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Speed reduction is one of the possible solutions to meet reduced GHG emissions targets from ships as set by IMO in April 2018.

67 Just-in-time arrival is a concept in which a ship arrives at the pilot boarding place only when the berth is available. To do so, the ship maintains optimal operating speed, thereby ensuring reduced GHG emissions produced while waiting for a berth, or increases its operating speed to reach the pilot boarding point in time.

68 Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, “MIV 2030,” p. 229.

69 Agarwala et al., “Using Digitalisation to achieve Decarbonisation in the Shipping Industry.”

70 Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, “MIV 2030,” p. 11.

71 Lok Sabha Secretariat, “Port Development in India.”

72 Hardik Shah and R. Ramesh, “Development-aligned Mangrove Conservation Strategy for Enhanced Blue Economy: A Successful Model from Gujarat, India,” Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 274 (2022), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2022.107929 (accessed September 10, 2022).

73 IPA, “Draft Policy Strategic Action Plan Towards a Safe, Sustainable and Green Port Sector as Envisaged in MIV 2030” (February 22, 2022), http://www.ipa.nic.in/WriteReadData/Links/Draft%20Green%20Port%20Policy%20Document98a6defe-8f91-47fc-8e0d-4d58e22ec231.pdf (accessed September 10, 2022).

74 The Port of Eemshaven opened in 1973 as an industrial port for oil refinery and petrochemical industries. When constructed, it was geographically surrounded by all types of well-developed seaports. The plan of a hopeful industrial port was soon dashed because of the oil crisis of the 1970s and the following economic decline. Additionally, without a large consumer market, competitive production area, or distribution network, the port found it difficult to become a distribution or a transhipment port. Outside the Netherlands, Eemshaven is a nameless port. It is an unattractive site to invest. It lacks good hinterland connections and competitive industrial structure in the region. While a lack of customers makes it hard to improve hinterland connections, shipping services, industrial structure, labour market, or social activities, these factors are considered essential to make a port competitive and attractive to investors.

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Nitin Agarwala

Captain (Dr) Nitin Agarwala is a serving naval officer who has experienced various facets of a warship as a user, designer, inspector, maintainer, a policymaker, a teacher and a researcher. He has authored over 70 articles, papers, book chapters and two books entitled Deep Seabed Mining in the Indian Ocean: Economic and Strategic Dimensions and Rise of China as a World Leader in Commercial Shipbuilding. His research interests include Corrosion, Shipbuilding, Deep Seabed Natural Resource, Submarine Cables, Blue Economy, Artificial Intelligence, Climate Change and “Maritime technological issues” with their linkages to International Relations and Public Policy. The views expressed are his own and do not reflect the views or policies of the Government of India or the Indian Navy.