Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Waterways Launches ‘Harit Sagar’ Green Port Guidelines 2023:

The Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Waterways has launched ‘Harit Sagar’ Green Port Guidelines 2023 to achieve its vision of zero carbon emissions. The guidelines were launched by Union Minister for Ports, Shipping & Waterways and AYUSH, Shri Sarbananda Sonowal, in the presence of other senior officials of the ministry in New Delhi. The guidelines aim to align with the ‘Working with Nature’ concept, minimize the impact on the biotic components of harbor ecosystems, and promote the use of clean/green energy in port operations.

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Envisaging Ecosystem Dynamics in Port Development, Operation and Maintenance:

The ‘Harit Sagar’ Guidelines 2023 provides a comprehensive framework for the major ports to create a comprehensive action plan aimed at achieving quantifiable reductions in carbon emissions over defined timelines. The guidelines focus on the use of cleaner fuels such as green hydrogen, green ammonia, green methanol/ethanol, and the development of port capabilities for storage, handling, and bunkering of these fuels. They also aim to minimize waste through reduce, reuse, repurpose, and recycle, promote monitoring based on environmental performance indicators, and adopt global Green Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards.

Contributing to the Panchamrit Commitments:

During the launch event, Union Minister Shri Sarbananda Sonowal highlighted the green initiatives undertaken by ports and their contribution to the fulfillment of the “Panchamrit” commitments announced by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. The guidelines empower the major ports to draw out a comprehensive action plan for achieving targeted outcomes in terms of quantified reduction in carbon emission over defined timelines, through focused implementation and close monitoring of green initiatives, and to achieve Sustainable Developmental Goals (SDG).

Awarding Major Ports for Exceptional Achievements:

The launch event also saw the conferring of the ‘Sagar Shreshtha Samman’ awards to major ports for their exceptional achievements in various operational parameters. The awards were conferred to the ports for their all-time best performance on select operational and financial parameters during FY – 2022-23. The major ports were ranked on the basis of their overall performance during 2022-23, and the ports having registered the highest incremental improvements were also honored.

Paradip Port was conferred with the award for the best incremental performance for attaining the highest cargo growth rate of 16.56% last year. The port also received the performance shield for Ship Berth Day Output. The award for the best Absolute Performance for the year 2022-23 was conferred on Deendayal Port, Kandla, for handling the highest cargo of 137.56 MMT. Other ports, such as Jawaharlal Nehru Port, Paradip Port, Kamarajar Port, and Cochin Port, were also recognized for their exceptional achievements.

Promoting Environmental Friendly Practices Across All Ports:

Shri Shripad Naik, MoS, MoPSW, highlighted that the launch of the Harit Sagar Green Port Guidelines is a significant step towards achieving the ministry’s sustainability goals. He emphasized that the guidelines have been formulated with the aim of promoting environmental-friendly practices across all ports, and they cover aspects of the National Green Hydrogen Mission pertaining to ports, development of green hydrogen facility, LNG bunkering, offshore wind energy, etc. The guidelines also provide provisions for ports to evaluate themselves on environmental indicators to know their capability in the environmental aspects.

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