APM mulls LNG terminal at Pipavav

Firm has 400 hectares in all for various projects.

APM Terminals is aiming to set up an LNG terminal at Pipavav port as part of its expansion plans.

Confirming the development Prakash Tulsiani, MD of Gujarat Pipavav Port Ltd told Business Standard that they are aiming to set up an LNG terminal at Pipavav.

"We have 400 hectares of land for various expansion projects. One of them is setting up an LNG terminal," he said. The company has already begun discussions with various global LNG players, however things were yet to be firmed up. The board had taken an in-principle decision to go ahead with the project, sources said. While APM Terminals will hold majority stake in the project, the remaining will be tied-up with strategic partners including LNG suppliers.

Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC) has also been mulling to set up an LNG terminal at Pipavav. The state PSU had earlier decided to put the project on a backburner citing reason that Maersk, a group company of APM Terminals was planning expansion of its container terminal facility.

When asked to comment on this, Tulsiani said there was enough room for both the LNG terminals to come up at Pipavav. GSPC was in talks with Essar group for setting up a terminal at Pipavav.

APM Terminals is meanwhile also in talks with an technical advisors for sourcing LNG and potential buyers of gas. Asked about the size of the terminal and projected investment, Tulsiani refused to comment. Gujarat currently has two LNG terminals located at Hazira and Dahej and the third one is being built at Mundra by GSPC-Adani consortium.

Meanwhile, GPPL is aiming to handle 2.8 lakh TEUs (twenty feet equivalent unit) container cargo and 4 million tonnes of bulk cargo by December 2009 amid meltdown. As compared to this, last year GPPL handled 2 lakh boxes of container cargo and 2.5 million tonnes of bulk cargo.

APM Terminals, one of the leading providers of container port operations in the world, has so far invested Rs 1100 crore in Pipavav port infrastructure since it tookover the operations of the Pipavav port in 2005.

Kim Fejfer, CEO of APM Terminals said that the port sector witnessed 20 per cent downfall in volumes in the fourth quarter of 2008 calendar year.

"The first three quarters of 2008 were strong globally with exception of US. While in January and February the downfall in volumes continued, the sector was slowly catching up in March," he said. For containerised cargos, countries with characteristic like India will grow faster than countries in Europe and US, according to Fejfer.