Paradip Port is one of the major ports of India, serving the Eastern and Central parts of the country. Situated on the coast of Bay of Bengal, in the Jagatsinghpur district of Odisha, it is 90 kms from Cuttack and 120 kms from Bhubaneswar, the state capital. Its hinterland extends to the states of Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar. Former Chief Minister of Odisha Sri Biju Pattanaik is the founding father of Paradip Port. Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru the then Prime Minister of India laid the foundation stone of the Port on 3rd January 1962 near the Confluence of river Mahanadi and Bay of Bengal.
The Paradip Port was opened to Traffic on 12th March 1966. Government of India declared Paradip as the 8th Major Port of India on 18th April 1966 making it the first major port in the East Coast commissioned after independence. The Port is an autonomous body functioning under the Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport & Highways, Govt. of India. It is administered by a Board of Trustees set up by the Government of India headed by the Chairman, Paradip Port Trust.
The Port estate extends over a sprawling area comprising about 7,000 acres. The Paradip Port operations are carried out round the clock 365 days. In 1966, the port was opened for iron ore traffic. But today, the port receives and ships coal and ores like chrome and manganese. It also handles limestone, steel materials, scrap, fertilizers and food grains. In 1991, the port shipments first included containerized cargo for shipping petroleum products. An all time record annual traffic of 46.41 million tones was handled at this port during the year 2008-09. A record quantity of 26.52 million tones of export cargo was handled surpassing. A record quantity of 19.89 million tones of import cargo was handled. The Port of Paradip is Odisha’s most important fishery harbour, with about operating 300 boats.
The Port Township has a population of about 80,000. The Port city has a hospital, many English and Odia medium schools, good hotels, offices, market complexes. The Port is connected with Broad-gauge Railway system and is also served by National Highway No.5A and State Highway No.12. It is well connected with Cuttack and Bhubaneswar with bus & train services.
Paradip is emerging as a major investment in India with several upcoming steel plants including a gigantic $12 billion plant by POSCO, alumina refineries, thermal power plants, and a petrochemical complex. Paradip will become one of the six major petroleum, chemicals and petrochemical investment regions planned in India, accelerating the transformation of the state of Odisha into one of the major manufacturing and commercial regions of the world within 10 years.