The Ennore Port Ltd (EPL) today signed a concession agreement with Bay of Bengal Gateway Terminals Pvt Ltd for the construction and development of the Rs 1,407-crore container terminal at Ennore on a build, own and transfer basis.
Bay of Bengal Gateway is a special purpose vehicle (SPV) promoted by Grup Maritim TCB, S.L., Spain; Obrascon Huarte Lain, S.A., Spain; Lanco Infratech Ltd and Eredene Capital PLC, UK/India.
Mr S. Velumani, Chairman and Managing Director, EPL, and Mr Mike Dekker, Director, Business Development, Grup Maritim, the lead consortium partner of the SPV, signed the agreement in the presence of the Union Shipping Minister, Mr G.K. Vasan.
The concession agreement is for 30 years. Construction of the terminal is likely to start in January and the terminal will commence operations in 36 months , Mr Dekker told Business Line. It is the first terminal project for the Spanish company in Asia, he said.
Mr Velumani said it will be the first container terminal in India with a continuous quay length of 1 km designed to handle the largest container ship up to the size of 14,500 TEUs (twenty foot equivalent units) and can berth three mainline vessels simultaneously. The terminal will have an annual handling capacity of 1.5 million TEUs.
A detailed project report is getting ready for taking up with the lenders, said an official of Eredene, which has a 22 per cent stake in the consortium. Its equity commitment to this project is around £23 million spread over a 48-month period. This commitment will initially be funded through existing cash reserves and then through the raising of additional capital into Eredene, said a recent press release.
Grup Marítim operates 13 terminals in six countries with a total installed capacity of 4.5 million TEUs, the release said.
Mr Vasan said originally conceived for coal handling for the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board, Ennore is fast developing as a multi-cargo handling port. A sum of Rs 6,466 crore has been earmarked for 14 projects at the port. Most of the funds will be brought in by the private sector with the port providing infrastructure in the areas of waterfront, availability of sufficient depth and road and rail connectivity.
he Directorate General of Shipping will prepare a basic enquiry report within a month on what led to the collision of two ships off the Mumbai coast last week, according to the Union Shipping Minister, Mr G.K. Vasan. This kind of negligence should never happen. It is an “economic disaster,” he told newspersons on the sidelines of the concession agreement signing function for a new container terminal at Ennore.
“We cannot quantify the loss at this point. Traffic at Mumbai and JNPT ports were shut for four days. This itself is a major loss for the trade,” he said. Following the collision of container ship MSC Chitra and the bulk carrier MV Khalij on August 7, around 325 containers fell off from the ship, which blocked the port's main channel, he said.
The Minister said in terms of safety standards, ship owners should strictly adhere to 100 per cent. There is no compromise on safety aspect. The ship channel is very important for the port, he said
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