PPT to award Rs 431 crore container berth tender by September

This berth is part of PPT's expansion plan, which includes the development of its Western Dock Complex comprising six berths

Paradip Port Trust (PPT) has completed the process of floating tender for setting up of a container terminal in the port premises and will award the contract for the same before September this year, officials said.

“All necessary formalities have been taken care of. I think the contract will be awarded in less than two months,” said Sudhansu Sekhar Mishra, chairman of PPT.

This berth is a part of PPT’s expansion plan, which also includes development of its Western Dock Complex comprising six berths, that will cater to commodities such as fertiliser, iron ore, coal, high-value cargo such as ferrochrome and petroleum products. The container terminal will be set up at an estimated expenditure of Rs 431 crore in three years and will have the capacity to hold 125,000 DWT (dead weight tonne) sized-vessels.

The port is gearing up to raise its existing annual cargo handling capacity of 102 million tonne to 270 million tonne per annum (mtpa) in 10 years, with a special emphasis on container traffic.

Apart from container terminal, the port has engaged RITES as a consultant to prepare a feasibility report on setting up of an Inland Container Depot (ICD) to generate higher revenue. It is planning to set up the depot near the port area.

The port has been shifting its focus from iron ore and coal traffic to container cargo handling in order to boost revenue. It is looking to capture at least one-third of container traffic of India’s largest container port Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) in Mumbai. Currently, less than two per cent of its Rs 1,000 crore-plus revenue comes from containerised cargo.

Recently, the port gave a presentation to potential investors at Mumbai to participate in some of its expansion programmes. The port plans to invest Rs 16,000 crore in multiple projects in 10 years.

Out of Rs 16,000 crore investment, Rs 15,100 will be raised through the PPP (public-private-partnership) route and the remaining amount will be invested by the port.

The port, meanwhile, has floated request for proposal (RFP) tender for a 10 mtpa iron ore berth. The last date of participating in the tender is July 7.

Though the port had floated a RFP tender for this project last year and received proposals from interested firms like Hyundai Steel, Essar Steel and Jindal Steel and Power Ltd, it had to scrap the tender due to legal hurdles.

Many investors had been reluctant to take part in investment proposal of Paradip citing environmental law hurdles. The port authorities, however, said it has recently obtained clearances for some its projects such as 10 mtpa oil jetty and 5 mtpa multipurpose clean cargo berth, etc.