The significance of ports in shaping a country can be gauged by the fact that all that Singapore has is one port... And the effect? It has one of the highest per capita incomes in the world. The same is the reason behind China’s meteoric economic ascent. The very success of the Chinese SEZs can be attributed to the fact that all of them have been built in coastal regions adjacent to ports for shipping out the finished products. India might claim to be building more than 200 SEZs but not only that none of them have the critical size needed to be feasible, but also that almost none of them barring a few have access to ports. FICCI has stated that India’s cargo traffic would reach 1174 million tonnes by 2012 and ports would require a handling capacity of a minimum of 1500 million tonnes – requiring an investment input of Rs.1 trillion by 2012-13. In any case, most of our ports are incapable of handling container vessels above 5000 TEU (Twenty feet Equivalent Units), the average for reasonable growth. Unless efforts are made on a war footing, India’s economic dreams would simply remain day dreams, 200-plus SEZs notwithstanding...