“There should be no waiting time for incoming and outgoing goods. This means there should be no waiting for ships as well as trucks carrying goods,” Sonowal said during a Chintan Ministry of Transport’s Baithak (think tank) on innovative ideas to propel India’s blue economy. This will mean reducing the current waiting time of around a day to dock at major ports to zero.

In fiscal year 2020, the average time before a cargo ship was docked in a major port was around 0.95 days. The pre-berthing period is the time a ship waits before it enters a berth in a port.

According to official estimates, container turnaround time at major Indian ports is around 26.5 hours. This decreased by around 45 hours in 2013-14.

Sonowal said emphasis should be placed on public-private partnership (PPP) projects in the development of new ports. “We need to look at the PPP model…which will also ease government resources for the development of the new port. the best services through ease.”