India’s Eastern seaboard, home to six Major Ports – Visakhapatnam, Paradip, Kolkata, Chennai, Ennore and Tuticorin – is always bustling with the movement of raw material like coal and iron ore as well as finished goods.

The eastern coastline is mainly patronised by users for the movement of bulk cargo and break-bulk cargo in addition to containerized cargo. These seaports serve a vast hinterland including Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and the Northeastern states (through Bangladesh). This region is also the gateway to the land locked countries of Nepal and Bhutan, whose imports and exports happen through Kolkata and Visakhapatnam.

The east coast of India thrives on handling bulk and break-bulk cargo compared to containerized trade. The major ports on the east coast – Kolkata, Haldia, Paradip, Visakhapatnam, Chennai, Ennore and Tuticorin – are well designed and equipped to handle large quantities of bulk and break-bulk cargoes.

Private ports such as Gangavaram, Krishnapatnam and Kakinada add to the momentum, thus making the east coast a springboard for bulk and break cargoes.

Container volumes too have witnessed a huge jump particularly from the container terminals in Chennai, Ennore, Kattupalli, Krishnapatnam, Tuticorin and Haldia.

As the volumes grow, so does the need for multimodal logistics infrastructure to handle those volumes. The government is keen on developing infrastructure commensurate to the growing trade. The PM Gati Shakti NMP and National Logistics Policy are some of the key initiatives aimed at boosting first and last mile connectivity in addition to strengthening the port handling infrastructure.

While many issues facing the trade have been taken up and resolved, challenges continue.

What are the hurdles facing trade in the country’s Eastern region and what are the ways to solve them.

The upcoming Global Freight Forum being jointly organised by India Seatrade and Federation of Indian Export Organisation (FIEO) in Kolkata on Friday 27 June, 2025 at Taj Bengal, Kolkata will provide stakeholders a platform and an opportunity to highlight the issues.

This Forum engages policy makers as well as industry stakeholders from all verticals to brainstorm on cost-effective and efficient supply chain management. The event facilitates meaningful and focused interaction among all the stakeholders to bridge the gaps and progress together, while strengthening India’s logistics infrastructure. After all, a country’s ability to trade globally depends on its shipper’s access to efficient freight and logistics network. Join your colleagues, peers and partners at The Global Freight Forum for a packed agenda of meaningful conversation, networking and business development opportunities.