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Gujarat holds special distinction as the state with strategic maritime location and exuberant entrepreneurial spirit of industrious Gujarati population. It is, therefore today one of the most industrialized states in the country. The share of Gujarat in the total industrial production of the country has always been remarkable, thanks to the investor-friendly industrial policies of the state.
The port sector has been identified as one of the prime catalysts to accelerate and enhance the industrialization process of the state. In view of this, in 1995, Gujarat set a precedent by formulating the port policy, which explicitly expressed the state's intention to opt for gradual privatization of port services. The objective of the policy is to achieve highest standards in the port infrastructure & services and consequently attain higher traffic at the ports and enhance industrialization process in the state. The policy is comprehensive as it appreciates and accounts for the ideal maritime location of Gujarat and the already existing full-fledged entrepreneurial spirit of the state. The policy holds pivotal position in the state's industrial development as it envisages 50% of the industrial investment attributable to the development of port sector. The policy is also a vision by itself for Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB), which
incidentally is the first autonomous state board established in 1982. Gujarat Maritime Board is perhaps the only maritime body with an enviable feat, nationally and internationally both in cargo handling and ship breaking activity. The Ship breaking yard at Alang is among the biggest ship-breaking yards in the world today.
The continuous rise in traffic at the ports of Gujarat signifies that GMB has successfully conceived and assimilated the vision of port sector set by the state. During the last financial year, GMB handled a record cargo of
82.54 million tones, registering an impressive growth of about 13 per cent over the previous year.
It is pertinent to note that the tonnage of the preceding three
consecutive years represented the highest traffic, even when compared to all the Major ports of India. According to the recent Helicopter study, a part of an ongoing Port Development of Gujarat (PODEG) programme conducted by the internationally acclaimed Dutch consultants, the total handling capacity in the state including the planned capacities is likely to be around 313 million tonnes/year (including Kandla & Vadinar) by the year 2015.
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GMB Organization 
