Chennai Port

Chennai Port (formerly Madras Port) is the oldest active artificial seaport in India and the third-busiest container port. Operated by Chennai Port Authority (formerly Chennai Port Trust), the port has been in continuous operation since its initial commissioning in 1881 — making it among the longest continuously-operating ports in India.

The port's distinctive feature is its all-weather artificial harbour basin, formed by two artificial breakwaters (north-eastern and south-western) totalling ~3 km in length. The basin protects the port from the Bay of Bengal's monsoonal storms — without these breakwaters, the natural sea conditions at Madras would not support reliable port operations. The breakwaters were a major British engineering project of the late 19th century, with the basin enclosed by 1881.

The modern port has 24 berths totalling ~5 km of quay length: 2 dedicated container terminals (Chennai Container Terminal-CCT operated by DP World, and Chennai International Terminals-CITPL operated by PSA), 13 multi-cargo berths, 3 dedicated motor-vehicle export berths (for Chennai's significant auto-export industry), and 6 dedicated bulk berths.

Annual throughput averages 52 million tonnes of total cargo + 1.6 million TEU containers (2024). The port is a key export gateway for Chennai's automobile cluster (Hyundai, Ford, BMW, Renault-Nissan factories all export through Chennai Port) and a major dedicated petroleum + petrochemical import terminal for southern India.