Adani Ports and Terminal Investment start work on transhipment hub at Mundra

Project to be completed in 15 months; cargo handling capacity of 3.1 mn TEUs

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ), India's biggest private port operating firm and part of the $10 billion Adani Group, today said that it will expand its existing terminal Adani International Container Terminal Private Limited (AICTPL) at its flagship Mundra Port to create a transhipment hub for the Middle East, South Asia and India. The terminal will be commissioned in 15 months and would emerge as India's largest container terminal with a cargo handling capacity of 3.1 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs).

AICTPL is a 50:50 joint venture with Terminal Investment Ltd, an arm of Swiss-based Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A (MSC), the second largest shipping liner in the world. The expansion is being carried out to create a transhipment hub for the Middle East, South Asia and India. APSEZ and MSC had set up AICTPL in 2013.

 

Upon completion, AICTPL will emerge as India's largest container terminal with a total quay length of 1,460 meters and cargo handling capacity of 3.1 million TEUs. It will be equipped with 15 super post panamax quay cranes, capable of handling 18,000 TEU container vessels at the terminal.

The company claimed in a release that, "The expansion of AICTPL will position Mundra as the major transshipment hub in the country providing congestion free and cost effective solution. Construction has already commenced and the terminal will be commissioned in 15 months."

Karan Adani, the newly appointed chief executive officer who took over the top job from Sudipta Bhattacharya earlier this month, said, "With this expansion, Mundra will emerge as a transhipment hub for the Middle East, South Asia & India. It will also make Mundra the largest container port in India with a cumulative capacity of 6.6 million TEU and will help in achieving our vision of handling 200 million tonnes of annual cargo by 2020,"

The expansion will also exclusively position Mundra as the largest container port in the country with four state of the art container terminals having a cumulative handling capacity of 6.6 million TEUs, spread over an area of approximately 146 hectares.

Mundra Port is already the largest private commercial port in the country.