Mumbai Harbour

The harbour east of the city

Mumbai Harbour (aka Front Bay) is the southern portion of the Ulhas River estuary, the northern (and narrower) part of which is called Thane Creek. The historical island of Elephanta is one of the six islands that lie in the harbour. Jawaharlal Nehru Port and Navi Mumbai (New Bombay) lie to the east on the mainland, and the city of Mumbai (formerly Bombay) lies to the west on Salsette Island. The harbour opens to the Arabian Sea to the south. The Gateway of India with its jetty for Elephanta is the most important tourist destination, followed by the INS Vikrant maritime Museum. Mangrove swamps line much of the northwestern and eastern shores of the harbour, and provide a rich habitat for wildlife, including thousands of migrating birds such as flamingoes.

A view of the harbour. The centre of the image is north-west.

It has been the gateway since the days the British established their factory in Mumbai. Over the years it is one of the important reasons for the development of trade and commerce in Mumbai. In 1736, Lovji Nusserwanjee Wadia began the Wadia shipbuilding dynasty when he obtained a contract from the British East India Company for building docks and ships in Bombay (present-day Mumbai). The first dry dock in Asia was built by the Wadias at Mumbai in 1750. By the 1840s the Wadia family had built over a hundred warships for the British and had trading networks around the world.

Mumbai is a natural harbour with three enclosed wet docks:

• Indira Docks
• Prince's Docks (built in the year 1885)
• Victoria Docks (built in the year 1891)

Crude and petroleum products are handled from four jetties at Jawahar Dweep, an island in the Mumbai harbour, and chemicals are handled from Pirpau. It can be noted that the port has existed for over 130 years.

The Mumbai Port is managed by the Bombay Port Trust, now known as Mumbai Port Trust, which was founded by the great ship builder Jamshedji Wadia in 1872.

See also

• Ports in India
• Kolkata Port
• Dolphin Lighthouse