Govt Chennai Port Trust Jobs 2026 - Sarkari Naukri

The Maritime history of Chennai started way back in 1639 with setting up Fort of St.George on the seashore of the erstwhile Madrasapatnam (Madras) from an open roadstead and exposed sandy coast till 1815 with minor port operations. The initial piers were built in 1861. But the storms of 1868 and 1872 made them inoperative, which led to emergence of an artificial harbour. The Madras Port started its commercial operations in 1881 with breakwaters having an eastern entrance.

Sir Francis Spring first Chairman of the Madras Port Trust, formulated plans with a long-term vision and in a scientific manner, to overcome both man-made and natural challenges. The shifting of the entrance of the Port from Eastern side to the North Eastern side provided protection to the Port to a long extent from natural calamities. By the end of 1920, the port was equipped with a dock later named as Dr.Ambedkar Dock, consisting of five berths in the West Quay, one each in the East & South Quay, the North Quay berth came up in 1931 and during 1940s two more berths were added along with all infrastructure facilities. The Passenger station at North Quay was inaugurated in 1958.

In 1964, Jawahar Dock was commissioned on the southern side of the Port with a capacity to berth 6 vessels to handle Dry Bulk cargoes and non-hazardous liquid cargoes. In tune with the international maritime developments, the port developed an Outer-harbour named Bharathi dock with two deep drafted berths for handling POL cargo in 1972 and one deep drafted berth with mechanized Iron-Ore plant for handling Iron Ore in 1974.