With a permissible draught of 13.5 m, the port handled a total volume of 11.01 million tonnes in 2010–11, up by 2.86 per cent from the previous year.

The scope was expanded taking into account subsequent developments such as the plan of Government of Tamil Nadu to set up a 1,880 mW LNG power project in association with a private consortium, a large petrochemical park and a naphtha cracker plant.

Ennore Port was commissioned by the then Prime Minister of India Atal Bihari Vajpayee on 1 February 2001.

With the deployment of self-unloading and gearless vessels of 65,000/77,000 dead weight tonnage (DWT), full-fledged operations were started in December 2002.

With the acquisition of about 440 hectares of land, the first phase of the port consisted of the construction of a coal jetty, a wharf and an entrance channel and related dredging operations.

The main construction work included two berths for handling coal vessels up to 65,000 DWT, dredging for the approach channel and harbour basin, onshore civil works, navigational aids, and two breakwaters—4 km in the north side and 1 km in the south—close to the NCTPS and the Ennore Creek.

Being coastal and situated on the thermal equator zone, the port experiences minimal variations in seasonal temperature ranging from a maximum of 38–42 °C in summer to a minimum of 18–20 °C in winter.

The northeast monsoon winds brings seasonal rainfall in the region from September to December, and occasionally cyclones.

The port is located on a region that falls under Seismic Zone III indicating a moderate risk of earthquake.

The Port has obtained an in-principle approval from Southern Railways for providing rail connectivity to coal and iron ore stackyards.

It has a 560-metre (1,840 ft)-long coal wharf for berthing two Panamax-size vessels and fully mechanised systems for handling 16 million tons of cargo a year.

[20] The Indian Oil Corporation Ltd's (IOC) Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) import terminal at the port, which began in November 2015, is scheduled to open in October 2018.

Gas will reach the terminal in liquid form in order to ease transportation and it will be re-gassified before supplying it through pipelines to fertilizer industries to be used as gas-based feedstock, replacing naphtha.

[21] The highway authority is implementing a project for construction of 30.1 km (18.7 mi) segment of Chennai-Ennore Port connectivity.

[24] The Union Government has decided to lay a 21.1-kilometre (13.1 mi)-long 4-laned national highway (port corridor) connecting Ennore with Thacchur at a cost of ₹ 3,740 million.

The road between the Ennore port and Panchetti would have its alignment along nine villages, including Kattupalli, Ariyanvoyal, Nallur, Vellampakkam and Vannivakkam.

[28] Rail connectivity project works to link coal and iron ore stackyards with Athipattu station on the Chennai–Vijayawada mainline are under the implementation at a cost of ₹ 516 million.

[30] Government of India has accorded Category-I Mini Ratna status to Ennore Port Limited.

The Planning Commission has approved a rail connectivity for Ennore Port to the coal, iron and container terminals.

Construction of the terminal has cost ₹ 1,200 million and the facilities will include a berth, a 12-m draft after dredging of the basin and a parking yard of 175,000 sq.m.

However, since the Supreme Court put a blanket ban in July 2011 on mining in the mineral-rich Bellary-Hospet belt in Karnataka, on which the terminal is totally dependent on, to check environmental damage arising from rampant illegal mining, Sical Logistics is seeking to handle diversified cargo.

[30] A ₹ 1,700-million capital dredging project to create necessary depths to handle larger vessels was commenced at the port on 26 February 2011.

[5] In December 2011, Manali Petrochemicals Ltd entered into an agreement to set up storage and handling facility at the port for bulk import of propylene oxide, a major input for the derivative plants of the company.

[49] The creek prevents floods and storm surges and is essential to secure ground water reservoirs from saltwater intrusion.

[50] This makes it more difficult for water to drain from the creek into the Bay of Bengal and increases the risk of flooding in the area.

Additionally the Kamarajar Port Limited is dumping dredged material into the Ennore Creek, a violation of the Coastal Regulation Zone Rules and the Water Act.

The dumped material hinders and blocks the water flow of the creek, which is crucial to be free of encroachments in case of floods.