1989: The Inauguration of a Leading Container Port in India

May 26, 1989

Operations began for a fully automated container and bulk goods port in the city of New Bombay (since renamed Navi Mumbai) in western India’s state of Maharashtra. It became the first new port built in India in more than two decades. This port was named after Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964), who served as the first prime minister of India from 1947 until his death.

Nehru’s grandson Rajiv Gandhi (1944-1991), who had become prime minister of India in 1984 and would remain in this position until December of 1989, officially inaugurated this port along the Arabian Sea. Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPT) is the main port for Maharashtra’s northwestern area, which is known as Mumbai Metropolitan Region. (This region is one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world.) In the time since JNPT’s debut, this port has also emerged as one of the leading facilities of its kind in all of India in terms of annual capacity.

Photo Credit: Event Horizon 299792 (licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en)

For more information on Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPT), please check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jawaharlal_Nehru_Port

A video about this port can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sc4B2o1s_O4