Located just six nautical miles east of the Port of Mumbai across the Thane Creek, the Port of Nhava Sheva, also known as Jawaharlal Nehru Port, was created to ease the pressure of Mumbai's increasing cargo volumes. The Port of Nhava Sheva is the busiest port in India and handles almost half of the country's maritime trade.

With immediate access to Mumbai and its hinterland, as well as most of North India, the Port of Nhava Sheva handles a wide range of exports that include textile-related products like embroidery machines, knitted t-shirts, cotton shirts, carpets, and sporting goods. The Port of Nhava Sheva imports chemicals, plastics, machinery, aluminum and other non-ferrous metals, and vegetable oils.

The Thane Creek Bridge was opened in 1973, opening the New Bombay area for residences and development of a new port to take the pressure off the busy Port of Mumbai. The Port of Nhava Sheva is connected to Mumbai's Bombay suburban railway system via the Thanes Creek Bridge.

Today, New Bombay is home to about 200 thousand people and includes some 95 villages, an industrial zone, vast agricultural lands, and the Port of Nhava Sheva. Offering opportunities to Mumbai's growing middle class, New Bombay has grown haphazardly. It has few public facilities, and pollution is a major problem.

The Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) is the port authority for the Port of Nhava Sheva. The JNPT meets its customers' needs by acquiring state-of-the-art equipment and technology to assure efficient terminal operations; meeting or exceeding international standards; offering competitive rates; ensuring safety and security of equipment, cargo, and people; and adhering to high standards of sustainable development and customer service.

In the 2007-2008 shipping season, the Port of Nhava Sheva handled a total of 57.3 million tons of cargo, including 50.6 million tons of containerized cargo in over 4 million TEUs, 5.9 million tons of liquid bulk cargo, 812.8 million tons of dry bulk cargo (cement), and 13 thousand tons of breakbulk cargoes.

The Container Terminal in the Port of Nhava Sheva can handle third-generation container vessels at three berths with a total quay length of 680 meters. The Port of Nhava Sheva's container terminal contains 35 hectares of container yards with capacity for 30 thousand TEUs and additional paved areas. The Terminal offers 280 reefer slots for refrigerated containers.

The Port of Nhava Sheva's shallow draught berth is 445 meters long and can accommodate vessels to 180 meters long with maximum draft of nine meters. Handling containers, dry bulk, and general cargoes, the shallow draught berth has capacity to handle about 1.2 million tons per year. The Port of Nhava Sheva is currently developing new cargo storage yards behind the shallow water berth by reclaiming a 20-hectare area. The port has already developed four hectares for cargo stacking.

The Port of Nhava Sheva's twin-berth Liquid Cargo Jetty began operating in 2002 to handle liquid cargoes including petroleum, oil, and lubricant (POL) products. The jetty is 300 meters long and 45 meters wide and can accommodate one 85 thousand DWT vessel at the seaside berth and one 30 thousand DWT at the shore side berth. The seaside berth is dredged to 13.5 meters, and the shore side berth is dredged to 12 meters. The liquid cargo jetty has capacity to handle 5.5 million tons of cargo per year.

More than 40% of the Port of Nhava Sheva's up-country cargo goes to container freight stations for carting before being transported to the Port of Nhava Sheva for loading onto vessels. Thirteen container freight stations with capacity for a total of 898 thousand TEUs cover a combined total of 1.2 million square meters. The Continental Warehousing Corporation (Nhava Sheva) Limited covers over 14 hectares and has three covered warehouses with capacity for 10- to 12-thousand TEUs per month. In addition, nine planned container freight stations will add a total of 284.6 thousand square meters and additional capacity for 426.5 thousand TEUs per year.

The Nhava Sheva International Container Terminal (NSICT) is a private container terminal owned and operated by a consortium led by P&O Ports, Australia. Operating since 2000, the two-berth terminal offers 600 meters of quay and 20 hectares of container yards with capacity for 15.6 million tons of containerized cargo per year. The NSICT has 6222 ground slots and 672 reefer points. Served by rail-mounted, post-Panamax, and super-post-Panamax quay cranes, the terminal includes a 26-hectare backup container yard and two tracks of railway siding.

A joint venture between the Container Corporation of India, Limited, and APM Terminals, the Gateway Terminals India (GTI) has operated the third container terminal at the Port of Nhava Sheva since 2006.

The Port of Nhava Sheva has proposed several improvements and expansions to the port to meet ever-increasing cargo volume. The improvements include extending the container berth by 300 meters and reclaiming an area of about 27 hectares for container stacking and other facilities that include a new 50-meter finger jetty. These changes will add capacity for about 600 thousand TEUs per year.

Expecting container traffic of up to eight million TEUs by the year 2015, the Port of Nhava Sheva has also proposed to develop a fourth container and marine chemical terminal. The fourth container terminal will be an extension of the existing Liquid Cargo Jetty. The new terminal should add capacity for 30 million tons of containerized cargo per year.

Recognizing the need for deeper draughts to serve larger vessels, the Port of Nhava Sheva proposes to deepen and widen the main harbor channel and the Port of Nhava Sheva channel to accommodate vessels with maximum draft of 14 meters with capacity for six thousand TEUs.

The Port of Nhava Sheva is connected to India's national rail network through Panvel, and the Central Railway has doubled existing tracks from Panvel to the port so that 18 trains can operate each way every day. However, the Port of Nhava Sheva has greater needs for connections inland and proposes the development of an exclusive freight corridor from the Port of Nhava Sheva to New Delhi. The Port of Nhava Sheva also proposes improvements and additions to increase highway connections.

While the Port of Nhava Sheva and New Bombay have little to offer to tourists, they are only six nautical miles east of one of the world's most exciting cities, Mumbai. For information on the things to see and do in Mumbai, please visit the World Port Source article on the Port of Mumbai or the city's tourism website.