22 cos in race to build container terminal at Ennore Port

Ennore Port Limited (EPL), the only corporate port in the country near Chennai, has attracted 22 domestic and international bidders to build the Rs 1,300-crore container terminal inside the port, which will have an annual capacity of 1.5 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs).

Speaking to Business Standard S Velumani, chairman and managing director, said till Tuesday, the last date for submission of initial bids, 22 bidders had applied. The port will shortlist only six bidders to submit financial bids for the facility. The six bidders are likely to be selected in three weeks.

Once the shortlisting is over, request for proposal (RFP) and investment documents will be sent for public-private partnership (PPP) approval to the Cabinet and the finance ministry.

Bidders for the new terminal include Gammon Infrastructure Projects, Vedanta Resources, PSA International of Singapore, Hyundai Merchant Marine and Samsung Heavy Industries.

Velumani said work on the project would commence in the next six to seven months. The terminal is likely to start operations by mid-2011.

The port is also planning to build a four-lane road linking the new terminal with NH-V. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has prepared the project report and is awaiting shipping ministry's clearance. This will help free movement to and from the container terminal, Velumani said.

The new terminal will come with 125 acres of container yard adjoining the kilometre-wide berth, which Velumani claimed was the first of its kind in the country.

Once the terminal starts operations, it will be able to simultaneously handle three mainline vessels with capacities of 8,000 TEUs each, as well as four feeder vessels. The terminal was expected to handle around 1.5 million TEUs in its first year of operations, he added.