Port Cities of East India have developed from the medieval era and later revolutionized under the rule of the British East India Company and the French East India Company to maintain the trading relations with Japan, China, Java, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and modern Bangladesh. Some of the port cities in east India are Kolkata Port and Haldia Port of West Bengal, Paradip Port of Odisha, and Port Blair of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Kolkata
Kolkata port is a riverine port in the city of Kolkata, West Bengal. It is located around 203 kilometers from the sea. It is the oldest operating port in eastern India, and was constructed by the British East India Company in the late medieval era. Kolkata was established by the British East India Company after the company received trading rights from the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. Kolkata Port has a vast hinterland comprising the entire North East of India including West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, North East Hill States and two landlocked neighboring countries namely, Nepal and Bhutan and also the Autonomous Region of Tibet.
Paradip
It is an artificial deep water port in Odisha, located in Jagatsinghpur District. Paradip Port has 20 berths with a minimum draft of 13 metres (43 ft). Paradip Port operates an autonomous railway system, with its own railway station. It has 82 kilometers of track length with over 25 sidings for handling cargo. The rail system connects to the East Coast Railway network of the Indian Railways over a 10 km route.
Haldia
Haldia Port in West Bengal is maintained by Kolkata Port Trust, West Bengal. Haldia is also a base of Indian Coast Guard. Indian coast guard DHQ 8 is located at Haldia. There is a hover port to house four of the eighteen hovercrafts belonging to the Indian Coast Guard.
Port Blair
Port Blair is a sea port in Andaman and Nicobar Islands and it is the head quarter of Andaman and Nicobar Administration (Local Government). This is the entry point for visiting Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Port Blair is connected with mainland India by both air and sea. Though it is a 2-hour flight from mainland India to Port Blair, but it takes 3 to 4 days by sea to reach Chennai, Kolkata or Visakhapatnam. The airways connectivity to Port Blair is available from Chennai, Kolkata, New Delhi, Bhubaneshwar and Vishakhapatnam.
