 During World War II, the harbour of Mormugao was the site of Operation Creek, which resulted in the bombing of a German merchant ship, "Ehrenfels," which had secretly been transmitting information to U-boats.Ever since it was accorded the status of a Major Port in 1963, the Mormugao port has contributed immensely to growth of maritime trade in India.It is the leading iron ore exporting port of India with an annual throughput of around 27.33 million tonnes of iron ore traffic.