Ennore Port to handle 24 mt cargo this fiscal

The port has inked pact with Ford for export of cars

Ennore Port Ltd (EPL), India’s first corporate structured port set up by the Ministry of Shipping, is expected to handle 24 mt (million tonne) cargo in 2013-14 as against 17.89 mt during 2012-13.

In his address at the MoU ceremony between Ennore Port and Ford India Pvt Ltd, here on Tuesday, shipping minister G K Vasan said  during the 12th Five Year Plan, the port planned to increase its capacity from the present 30 mtpa (million tonnes per annum) to 66.8 mpta .

“All these measures are expected to generate more employment opportunities, promote exports as well as boost the domestic economy,” said Vasan.

Some of the major projects to be taken up by the port include the LNG storage and re-gasification terminal by Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL) for import of LNG at an estimated investment of Rs 4,500 crore. The capacity of the project is 5 mtpa. The public sector oil major is expected to commission it by 2016-17.

The port has commenced pre-project activities for the construction of the third coal berth to handle an additional 9 million tonne coal required by the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (Tangedco).

It has also come up with a proposal to develop a container terminal at an estimated cost of Rs 1,270 crore with a capacity of 1.4 million TEUs. This project is targeted for award during 2013-14 along with the multi cargo terminal.

Speaking on the MoU, he said the agreement for export of Ford cars though the Ennore port was for a period of 10 years.  The agreement provides for various volume-based discounts on wharfage by the port ranging from 5-30 per cent.

The Union Minister, who also hails from Tamil Nadu, said that in the last few years, Chennai has emerged as the hub of automobile manufacturing sector with all global auto majors having their manufacturing plants in and around the city. Besides, Chennai has also emerged as a major centre for export of automobiles. Ennore Port has played a key role in facilitating these exports.

He noted, between September 2010 and December 2013 about 4,49,720 automobile units have been exported from Ennore Port. Some of the OEMs who are using the Port now include Nissan, Ford & Ashok Leyland from Chennai, Toyota from Bangalore and Honda from Delhi.

Ennore Port has developed a General Cargo-cum-Car Terminal at a cost of Rs140 crore, which includes a car parking yard of 35 acres for parking of 10000 cars at a time, the biggest amongst the Major Ports, said Vasan.

Highlights

The Union Minister for Shipping G K Vasan today said that Port projects worth Rs 2.87 lakh crore will be taken up by the major ports till 2020 across the country.

Vasan said that his Ministry has envisaged to increase the major Ports' handling capacity to 3200 million tonnes per annum by 2020, while the traffic estimate is expected to be around 2,500 MT.

To add this capacity around Rs 2.87 lakh crore worth of investments would require and major chunk of which, will be taken up under the Pubic, private partnership (PPP) modem, said Vasan.

Earlier, Vasan said that a record number of 32 projects during 2012-13 with an investment of about Rs 6,766 crore were awarded. These projects will add 136 MTPA of port capacity.

Eight of these projects are in Tamil Nadu, of which four projects were initiated for VOC Port Trust, Tuticorin at an outlay of over Rs 800 crore .

In 2013-14, 30 projects at an outlay of about Rs 26,000 crore are envisaged to add 288 MTPA of Port capacity. Nine of these projects for an outlay of about Rs 7,400 crore have been sanctioned for the Major Ports of Tamil Nadu.

“Action plan has taken up to achieve this target (increasing the total capacity to 3200 MT) and all the major Ports have said they will achieve the target and competition among the Ports is healthy now,” said Vasan.