JSW firms sign $2 bn coal shipping deal with Japanese co

Sajjan Jindal's JSW Steel Group has signed a $2 billion deal with a Japanese shipping firm for transportation of coal over ten years.

JSW Steel and JSW Energy have contracted Tokyo-based Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd to ship coking coal and steaming coal on ten vessels.

Ports of loading under these contracts could vary, but the coal will be imported exclusively from Australia and Indonesia. The transport volume for the two companies could reach 12 million tonnes by 2015, when all the vessels enter the service.

Freight revenue from the vessels is expected to be over $200 million a year. JSW Steel, which produces 4.5 million tonnes of crude steel, is expanding an existing mill at Vijaynagar and plans to build two greenfield mills in Jharkhand and West Bengal.

JSW Energy is expanding generation capacity to 15,000 mw by 2015. Meanwhile on Monday, J J Irani, director of Tata Sons, inaugurated a cold rolling mill complex at JSW's Vijaynagar Works. The one million tonne facility will cater to the booming automobile and auto components industry.