On 7 July 2026, the Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Waterways announced that Kamarajar Port in Tamil Nadu had become India's second Major Port to offer an 18-metre draft, after completing its Capital Dredging Phase VI at an investment of about ₹440 crore. The deeper channel lets the port handle fully laden Capesize vessels carrying cargo parcels of up to 1,70,000 DWT, making it "Cape Compliant." Only Visakhapatnam Port offered an 18-metre draft before this. For an NDA aspirant, this is a rich geography-and-infrastructure story that bundles together several testable ideas: what a port's "draft" means, what dredging does, what a Capesize ship is, and where India's Major Ports sit.
The news in flash-card form
The essentials to memorise:
- Port → Kamarajar Port (formerly Ennore Port), Tamil Nadu, on the Bay of Bengal
- Achievement → operational draft raised to 18.0 metres
- Rank → 2nd Major Port with an 18 m draft, after Visakhapatnam
- How → Capital Dredging Phase VI, ~₹440 crore
- Capability → can handle Capesize vessels up to 1,70,000 DWT ("Cape Compliant")
- Channel deepening → outer approach 20→23 m; inner entrance 19→22 m
What is a port's "draft" — and why 18 metres is a big deal
Draft (or draught) is the vertical distance between the waterline and the bottom (keel) of a ship — in effect, how deep the ship sits in the water. A loaded ship sits lower; the heavier the cargo, the deeper the draft. For a ship to enter a port safely, the water depth in the port's channels and berths must exceed the ship's draft. So when we say a port "offers an 18-metre draft," we mean its channels are deep enough to admit ships that sit up to 18 metres deep.
This is decisive economics. Big bulk carriers are only profitable when fully loaded; a shallow port forces them to partly load (part-lade) or to tranship cargo through another port, both of which raise costs per tonne. By reaching 18 metres, Kamarajar can now take fully laden giants directly, cutting logistics costs and boosting competitiveness. The physical-geography ideas here — coastlines, water depth, harbours — sit within the NDA geography notes.
Dredging: how you deepen a port
The tool that made this possible is dredging — the excavation and removal of sediment and material from the seabed to deepen or maintain navigation channels. Two flavours matter:
- Capital dredging — a one-time, deepening project to create new depth (as in Phase VI here, deepening the approach and entrance channels).
- Maintenance dredging — the routine removal of silt that continuously settles, to keep an existing depth.
Kamarajar's Capital Dredging Phase VI deepened the outer approach channel from 20.0 m to 23.0 m and the inner entrance channel from 19.0 m to 22.0 m, plus the berths and harbour basin — giving an operational 18 m draft with a safe margin. Keeping "capital vs maintenance dredging" straight is a neat MCQ discriminator that also shows up in the NDA general-knowledge notes.
Capesize, and the vocabulary of ship sizes
A Capesize vessel is a very large bulk carrier — typically 1,50,000+ DWT — so big it cannot fit through the Suez or Panama Canals and must instead sail around the Cape of Good Hope (or Cape Horn); hence the name "Capesize." DWT (Deadweight Tonnage) is the total weight a ship can safely carry — cargo, fuel, water, stores and crew. Capesize ships mainly haul iron ore and coal, the raw materials of a steel-and-power economy — which is exactly why a steel-and-cargo gateway like Kamarajar wants to receive them fully laden. For context, the ladder of dry-bulk sizes runs roughly: Handysize → Supramax → Panamax → Capesize.
Kamarajar Port: the "first corporatised Major Port"
A few unique facts about this port make it exam-friendly:
- It was formerly Ennore Port, north of Chennai on the Coromandel Coast, and was renamed Kamarajar Port (after K. Kamaraj, former Tamil Nadu CM).
- It is India's first corporatised Major Port — set up as a public limited company under the Companies Act, rather than as a statutory Port Trust like the others, and it runs on the landlord port model (the port owns infrastructure and leases operations to private players).
- It was created largely to decongest Chennai Port and handle thermal coal, LNG, and automobiles.
That "first corporatised major port" tag is a classic single-fact question. India's ports and their specialisations are worth revising alongside the NDA notes on transport and connectivity.
India's Major Ports and the policy frame
Zoom out for the structural GK that examiners love:
- India has 13 Major Ports (managed under the Union government / Major Port Authorities Act, 2021) plus around 200 non-major (minor) ports under state governments.
- The east coast Major Ports include Kolkata (Syama Prasad Mookerjee), Paradip, Visakhapatnam, Kamarajar, Chennai and V. O. Chidambaranar (Tuticorin); the west coast has Mumbai, JNPT (Nhava Sheva), Mormugao, New Mangalore, Cochin, Deendayal (Kandla).
- The vision context is Maritime India Vision 2030 and Maritime Amrit Kaal Vision 2047, the roadmaps for modernising ports, logistics and shipbuilding — reinforced by the Sagarmala programme for port-led development. The stakes are large: roughly 95% of India's trade by volume (and about 70% by value) moves by sea, so every metre of extra draft directly improves the cost of the country's foreign trade.
The takeaway line: Kamarajar = Ennore = first corporatised Major Port = now 18 m draft (2nd after Visakhapatnam) = Cape Compliant. Developments like these show up regularly on the NDA daily current affairs feed.
Exam relevance in one paragraph
For NDA General Awareness, retain: Kamarajar (Ennore) Port is in Tamil Nadu on the Bay of Bengal, is India's first corporatised Major Port, and became the 2nd Major Port with an 18 m draft (after Visakhapatnam) via Capital Dredging Phase VI, enabling Capesize (up to 1,70,000 DWT) ships. The concept trio — draft, dredging, Capesize/DWT — plus the Major-vs-minor ports distinction is exactly the crossover of physical geography and current affairs that the paper rewards.
🎯 Practice MCQs
Q1. Kamarajar Port was formerly known as: (a) Tuticorin Port (b) Ennore Port (c) Paradip Port (d) Haldia Port → (b) — formerly Ennore Port, in Tamil Nadu.
Q2. With the 2026 achievement, Kamarajar becomes India's ___ Major Port to offer an 18-metre draft. (a) first (b) second (c) third (d) fifth → (b) — the second, after Visakhapatnam Port.
Q3. A ship's "draft" refers to the: (a) length of the ship (b) depth of the ship below the waterline (c) speed of the ship (d) width of the ship → (b) — how deep the hull sits below the waterline.
Q4. "Capital dredging" is best described as: (a) routine removal of silt to maintain depth (b) a one-time deepening to create new depth (c) building a new berth (d) painting the channel markers → (b) — a one-time project to create additional depth.
Q5. A "Capesize" vessel is so named because it: (a) is built at the Cape (b) is too large for the Suez/Panama Canals and rounds the Cape (c) carries only capes/textiles (d) is capped at 50,000 DWT → (b) — too big for the canals, it sails around the Cape of Good Hope/Horn.
Q6. "DWT," used for ship capacity, stands for: (a) Draft Water Tonnage (b) Deadweight Tonnage (c) Deep Water Transit (d) Displacement Weight Total → (b) — Deadweight Tonnage, the total weight a ship can carry.
Q7. Kamarajar Port is notable as India's first: (a) private port (b) corporatised Major Port (public limited company) (c) inland port (d) container-only port → (b) — the first corporatised Major Port, run on the landlord model.
Q8. Kamarajar Port lies on which coast/water body? (a) Arabian Sea, west coast (b) Bay of Bengal, east coast (c) Gulf of Kutch (d) Palk Strait → (b) — the Bay of Bengal, on the east (Coromandel) coast.
📋 How this gets asked (PYQ pattern)
Ports and maritime infrastructure are a dependable NDA geography set. The reliable framings are old-vs-new port names (Ennore → Kamarajar; Tuticorin → V. O. Chidambaranar; Kandla → Deendayal), east-vs-west coast placement, Major-vs-minor port counts, and concept questions on draft/dredging/DWT. A common trap confuses capital and maintenance dredging, or places Kamarajar on the wrong coast. The fresh 2026 hook is Kamarajar's 18-metre draft / Cape Compliant milestone — ideal for "which port / which coast / what is draft" items. We reference the pattern, not any specific past question.
Preparing for the NDA? Ports, coasts and India's maritime vision are high-yield geography GK and confident SSB discussion points. Follow our daily NDA current affairs and prepare with serving-officer faculty in the upcoming Cavalier courses in Delhi.
✍️ Written by Col D.N. Sharma — Geography & current-affairs faculty at The Cavalier. Reviewed by the Cavalier Faculty Desk. The Cavalier, founded by ex-Army officers, has trained NDA/CDS/SSB aspirants since 2001 (Facebook · YouTube).
Source: PIB / Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Waterways release, 7 July 2026. Facts cross-verified with independent sources.