From 1838 to 1917, the British used this port to ship off over half a million Indians from all over India – mostly from the Bhojpur and Awadh — and take them to places across the world, such as Latin America and Africa as indentured labourers.

It has a vast hinterland comprising the entire North East of India including West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, North East Hill States and two landlocked neighbouring countries namely, Nepal and Bhutan and also the Autonomous Region of Tibet (China).

[20] In the early 16th century, Since the arrival of the Portuguese, who established the first European contact with Bengal, customs duties collected from trading settlements upstream of the Hooghly River heralded a change in the navigational system of the Ganges.

The prosperous Saptagram port at the confluence of the Saraswati and Bhagirathi River was becoming increasingly impassable for ocean-going cargo ships.

At this time, the Portuguese first used the present location of the port to anchor their ships, since they found the upper reaches of the Hooghly river, beyond Kolkata, unsafe for navigation.

[22] Kolkata was a small river port inhabited by weavers and artisans before it was developed as a center for maritime trade by the British East India Company.

The port on the Hooghly shore acted as a catalyst in the transformation of the city of Kolkata from a small weaving settlement to a major center of maritime trade in East India.

Job Charnock, an employee and administrator of the British East India Company, is believed to have founded a trading post at the site in 1690.

[22][23] In the early colonial period, the main purpose of the port administration under the company's naval office, headed by a master attendant, was to provide pilotage services to ocean-going vessels.

Watson set up a marine yard at Kiddirpor and also began construction of a floating dock in 1781, but was forced to abandon the project when legal disputes arose.

When the disastrous cyclone of 1842 caused extensive damage to ships anchored in Kolkata harbour, the issue of dock construction came into discussion again.

From 1838 to 1917, the British used this port to ship off over half a million Indians from all over India – mostly from the Hindi Belt (especially Bhojpur and Awadh) — and take them to places across the world, such as Mauritius, Fiji, South Africa, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Suriname, and other Caribbean islands as indentured labourers.

According to the then documents published by the British rulers, at that time the damage in the storm in the city of Kolkata alone exceeded 99 thousand rupees.

Belvedere Estate, Judge's Court, European Lunatic Hospital, and many famous institutions of Calcutta were destroyed in the violence of nature.

At that time Calcutta port had only four jetties and one wharf for unloading cargo, which could berth 52 ships and had a total capacity of 48,000 tons.

In the 1870s, rapidly increasing tea exports from Assam and North Bengal necessitated the construction of a warehouse on Strand Bank Island.

During the twenty years before the World War I, a remarkable development was observed in the import-export sector through the Port of Kolkata.

The Farakka Barrage was designed to divert 1,800 cubic meters per second (64,000 cu ft/s) of water from the Ganges into the Hooghly River to remove silt from Kolkata harbor without the need for regular mechanical dredging.

After commissioning of the project it was found that the water flow diverted from the Farakka Barrage was not sufficient to satisfactorily desilt the river.

[26] The port is part of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road that runs from the Chinese coast via the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean, there to the Upper Adriatic region of Trieste with its rail connections to Central and Eastern Europe.

These dry docks cater to the diverse repair and maintenance needs of the vessels calling on the Eastern Ports of India.

The channel extends from the Sandheads area of the Bay of Bengal to the Khidirpur Docks of the Kolkata Dock System in the city of Kolkata; in the 87 km (54 mi) long stretch from the Sandheads to the Sagar Road, where vessels are managed through the Syama Prasad Mukherjee Port Authority's Vessel Traffic Management System.

At spring tides, tidal waves create pressure with height that makes it difficult for a ship to stay or anchor in the river.

For their journey from the Sandheads to the Sagar and pilot boarding points in Auckland, all vessels are provided with remote pilotage by VTMS guidance.

However these semaphores are no longer functional and instead, tidal levels are broadcast over VHF radio every half an hour from all the above stations except at Balari.

Though KDS railway initially had many interfaces with Eastern Railway/South Eastern Railway and covered a wide range of area including Chitpur, Shalimar, and Garden Reach, at present its operation is truncated in the dock area only with the sole marshalling yard at East Dock Junction (EJC).

Indian Railways bring traffic for KDS through full fledged goods trains (rakes) in the East Dock Junction (EJC), by their locomotives.

Thereafter KDS railway, after necessary documentation and certain mechanical work, place the trains in the respective handling points (inside docks or private sidings), in full or installments as per operational feasibility.

[44] HDC Railway was established to cater to the traffic demand for warehouses and sidings of Haldia Dock Complex.

KoPT handled 17.1% of the total number of vessels, which worked at Indian Major Ports in 2011–2012; significant improvement over 2011–12 which was 16%.