DP World keen to set up logistics hub at JNPT SEZ: Chairman

Leading port operator DP World is among global players that have evinced interest in the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust's SEZ which would be divided into three sectors, a top official said today.

The Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) will set up a free trade and warehousing zone over 277 hectare area in the SEZ.

"We are working on three types of sectors for SEZ. In the first type we will give priority to domestic players. Some of them had shown interest but we cannot go ahead with single bids so we will come out with a tender in a month. where there will be 15-20 plots," Chairman-In-charge of JNPT Neeraj Bansal said.

Domestic companies evincing interest include K Exports, S Internet, D Marine Food and KFI Oilfield.

"The second category is FTWZ ( Free Trade and Warehousing Zones) where large players are interested. Third balance will be a big player who can take the entire plot," Bansal said.

He said DP World is one of the major global players which has shown interest in setting up a logistics hub and also managing the FTWZ.

Bansal said tenders are likely to be released soon and JNPT plans to formalise all these in a year's span.

"Big player becomes a huge selling point, attracts investment and creates employment," he said.

Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari a few months back had said that 24 companies have offered to invest over Rs 60,000 crore in the special economic zone adjoining JNPT.

The JNPT chairman said the port has added yet another feather to its cap by clocking the highest volume of cargo handled with 4.8 million TEUs for the year ended March 31, 2018.

He said the record performance comes on the back of 4.5 million TEUs handled in the previous financial year.

He added JNPT has been registering a continuous uptick in the traffic handled over the past few quarters and has registered 7.4 growth in container cargo volume during this financial year.