Port Of Mangalore, India

The Port of Mangalore is the main seaport for the state of Karnataka on the southwestern shores of India. Located about 352 kilometers northwest of the Port of Cochin and 315 kilometers southeast of the Port of Mormugao on the Arabian Sea, the Port of Mangalore is an all-weather port and the ninth biggest port in India. Mangalore is the site for several information technology and outsourcing companies including Infosys, BPO, MPhasis, First American Corporation, and Wipro. Three business parks dedicated to IT are under construction.

The economy of the Port of Mangalore is based on activities supporting the port and processing of agricultural products. The Port of Mangalore handles three-quarters of India’s coffee exports and most of its cashew exports. The largest industries in the Port of Mangalore include BASF, ELF Gas, Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilizers Ltd., Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Ltd., and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd.


The Port of Mangalore has been the focus of power struggles for centuries. Until the Portuguese arrived in the 1500s, it was ruled by regional dynasties. Muslim merchants traded there in the 14th and 15th Centuries. In 1498, Portugal’s Vasco Da Gama landed on a nearby island. Twenty years later, the Portuguese seized rule and held it until the late 18th Century. When Lopo Vaz de Sampayo defeated the Bangara king in 1526, Muslim dominance of trade with the Port of Mangalore ended.

The Portuguese-Maratha Wars and the Goa Inquisition led Brahmins and Catholics to settle in the Port of Mangalore during the 16th Century. At the end of the 17th Century, Arabs set the town afire in retaliation for Portugal’s restrictions on Arab trade. The Keladi Nayaka kingdom took control from Portugal, ruling the Port of Mangalore until 1762. In 1763, Mysore’s ruler, Hyder Ali, took Mangalore and held it until 1767.

The British East India Company ruled the Port of Mangalore from 1767 until 1783 when Hyder Ali’s son, Tippu Sultan, retook the city. The Treaty of Mangalore ended the Second Anglo-Mysore War in 1784.

When the British defeated Sultan in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War, they controlled the Port of Mangalore for a long, peaceful period. They also developed urban infrastructure. Under British rule, the Port of Mangalore prospered, particularly in education and industry, and it became an important trade center.

The Roman Catholic missions in the Port of Mangalore were instrumental in improvements in education, social welfare, and health during the late 19th Century. In 1866, the municipal council was created with responsibility for urban planning and civic services. As the city grew, tile manufacturers and cotton weavers moved into the city, and the railway arrived in 1907.

The States Reorganisation Act of 1956 incorporated the Port of Mangalore into the new Mysore state (now Karnataka). Today, Mangalore is an important urban center for Karnataka, providing access to the sea. In 1974, the new Port of Mangalore was opened, stimulating a period of growth through the 1980s. In the late 20th Century, the Port of Mangalore developed further as a center for commerce, business, and information technology.

Boat-building and fishing have been traditional economic sectors in the Port of Mangalore for generations. Today, the Old Mangalore Port at Bunder is a fishing port with many mechanized boats. In 2003-2004, fishermen landed 122 thousand tons of fish to the Port of Mangalore. The fishing industry is a major employer in Mangalore, and their products supply the entire region. Today, modern industries include tile, coffee, cashew nuts, and cotton.

Known as Karnataka’s Cradle of Education, the city is home to 58 colleges including many schools devoted to specific disciplines: engineering (15), dental (14), MBA (12), physiotherapy (11), and hotel management (8). With a growing IT sector, the Port of Mangalore attracts many students each year.

The new Port of Mangalore was formally inaugurated by Indira Gandhi in 1975, when India declared it the country’s ninth Major Port. Until 1980, India’s central government administered the Port of Mangalore. In 1980, the Port Trust Board was established, and the Port of Mangalore slipped to the 10th Major Port Trust in India. Since 1980, the Port of Mangalore has been a catalyst for Karnataka’s economic development.


In 2003-2004, the Port of Mangalore handled more than 26.6 million tons of cargo. Major exports shipped through the Port of Mangalore include iron ore concentrates and pellets, petroleum, oil, and lubricant (POL) products, granite, and containerized cargoes. The major imports include crude and POL products, timber, wood pulp, liquid ammonia, phosphoric acid, fertilizers, other liquid chemicals, and containerized cargoes.
The modern Port of Mangalore contains over 3.5 thousand meters of berthing space. Berths 1, 2, 3, 6, and 7 are dedicated to handling general cargo, a total of more than 900 meters long with alongside depths from 7 to 10.5 meters, can accommodate vessels from four to 30 thousand DWT. Berth 4, 198 meters long with alongside depth of 9.5 meters, handles general cargo and liquid ammonia and can accommodate vessels to 30 thousand DWT. At 198 meters long with alongside depth of 9.5 meters, Berth 5 handles general cargo and bulk cement. The deep-draft multi-purpose berth is 350 meters long with alongside depth of 14 meters and can accommodate vessels to 90 thousand DWT carrying general cargo.

Berths 9, 10, 11, 12, and the Virtual Jetty are dedicated to crude oil and POL products, and they are a total of 1555 meters long with alongside depths ranging from 10.5 to 14 meters. Berth 9 can accommodate vessels to 45 thousand DWT. Berth 12 can accommodate vessels to 50 thousand DWT, and Berths 10 (the Crude Oil Jetty) and 11 can accommodate vessels to 85 thousand DWT. Handling POL products, the Virtual Jetty can accommodate vessels to 35 thousand DWT. Berth 8, the Iron Ore Berth, is 300 meters long with alongside depth of 12.5 meters and can accommodate vessels to 60 thousand DWT.

Today, the Port of Mangalore has total capacity to handle 38 million tons of cargo. Two transit sheds of 9.9 thousand square meters can store up to 18 thousand metric tons, and three overflow sheds of 13.7 thousand square meters can store 24.8 thousand metric tons. Open stackyards are also available. The stackyard with bitumen pavement offers 29.7 thousand square meters, while open stackyards without bitumen pavement offer 19.7 thousand square meters of space. The paved container stackyard covers 40 thousand square meters. Large open areas are also available near the berths and the railway for marshalling cargo.

Private operators offer additional storage space. IOC offers 1,13,000 kiloliters for petroleum products. IMC has 52 thousand kiloliters for chemicals and POL products. Three operators offer space for edible oils: Universal Agro Exports offers 12.8 kiloliters for edible oils, Mangalore Liquid Impex offers 7.5 thousand tons, and IPWC with 52.8 thousand kiloliters for molasses and edible oils. MCF has space for 10 thousand tons of liquid ammonia and 16 thousand tons of phosphoric acid. Finally, Ultra-Tech has three silos with capacity for 15 thousand tons of bulk cement.

In the 2006-2007 shipping year, the Port of Mangalore handled a total of 36 million tons of cargo. The Port of Mangalore imported container cargoes totaling 107.1 thousand tons. The biggest import groups were raw cashews (48.9 thousand tons), wooden logs (22.3 thousand tons), and salt (4.7 thousand tons). The Port of Mangalore handled 18.9 thousand TEUs of containerized imports. The Port of Mangalore exported commodities totaling 158.5 thousand tons and over 8.4 thousand TEUs of containerized cargo in the same period. The biggest export categories were coffee (57.1 thousand tons), reefer cargo (26.7 thousand tons), pig iron (12.0 thousand tons), and cashew kernels (10.5 thousand tons). The port exported 17.3 thousand TEUs of containerized cargo.

The Port of Mangalore handled imports of other cargoes totaling 17.9 million tons in the 2006-2007 shipping year. The largest single cargo was POL Crude, with 12.3 million tons imported. Other large import categories were coal (one million tons) and liquefied petroleum gas (1.2 million tons). Other bulk cargo imports included fertilizer, other liquid cargoes, and general cargoes. The Port of Mangalore exported a total of 14.1 million tons of cargo in the same period, including 7.8 million tons of POL products, 5.3 million tons of iron ore fines/lumps, and 646 thousand tons of iron ore pellets.