Visakhapatnam Port

Visakhapatnam Port (Vizag Port) is one of India's oldest major ports — opened in 1933 as the country's first dedicated deep-water port on the east coast. Operated by Visakhapatnam Port Authority (VPA, formerly Visakhapatnam Port Trust), the port handles ~80 million tonnes of cargo annually + 1.2 million TEU container traffic.

The port has 24 berths totalling ~6 km of quay length, organised into three operational areas: Outer Harbour (deep-water general cargo + container terminals), Inner Harbour (iron ore + thermal coal handling — Vizag's traditional bulk cargo specialty), and Fishing Harbour (separate from commercial operations).

Key infrastructure: 2 dedicated container terminals (operated by DP World + APM Terminals), 8 dry-bulk berths (specialised for iron ore export from Bailadila + Karnataka mines + thermal coal import), 4 liquid-bulk berths, and dedicated POL (petroleum, oil, lubricants) berth. The port supports a deep -16 m draft maintained by continuous dredging.

Vizag Port has historical strategic significance: it served as a major Allied logistics base during WWII (the Pacific theater + Burma campaign), and was a key staging point for Indian Army operations during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War. Today the adjacent Indian Navy Eastern Naval Command shares some infrastructure with the commercial port.