He also inaugurated the year-long celebrations to commemorate 30 years of service of the port to the nation, presented the ISO 9001-2000 certificate to the chairman of the port, N Dhanraju, and presented the awards of excellence to the port users for the year 2002-03.
He was happy to note that the port was poised to handle 33 million tonnes of traffic by 2006-07. He said Mangalore had great potential for cruise shipping and gave New Mangalore Port Trust one year target to make it an international clas cruise shipping centre.
He informed that under the Sagarmala project announced by the Prime Minister, focus would be on development of ports, modernisation of ports, setting up of minor ports and cruise terminals.
Dhanraju that the port ha Rs 615 crore gross assets and had the lowest turnaround time among major prots. It had an operating ratio of 47.44 per cent which was the best in the country. The port had now introduced three shift duration of eight hours each.
