The Minister of State for Shipping, Pon. Radhakrishnan has informed the Lok Sabha recently that the performance of the major ports has improved over the years in terms of such key performance indicators as average turn around time, average pre-berthing detention and average output per ship per berth day. The average turnaround time (Port Account) in 2011-12 was 2.61 days, it has improved to 2.58 days in 2012-13 and 2.25 days in 2013-14. The average pre-berthing detention (Port Account) in 2011-12 was 11.13 hrs and 12.29 hrs in 2012-13. It has improved to 6.94 hrs. The average output per ship per berth day (in Tonnes) improved from 11112 tonne in 2011-12 to 11750 tonne in 2012-13 and 12509 tonne in 2013-14.    To improve efficiency of major ports, the following measures were taken by the Government.    (i) Construction of new berths and terminals to enhance port capacity to minimise pre-berthing detention time and reduce turnaround time of vessels calling on the ports;    (ii) Modernising berths with state of the art loading/unloading equipment to improve operational efficiency;    (iii) Deepening of channels and berths so that ports can accommodate larger vessels; and    (iv) Improving rail/road connectivity of ports for speedy evacuation of cargo.