Apollo International to invest Rs 150 crore in logistics

Mumbai: Apollo Tyres group company Apollo International Limited, is entering the logistics business with diversification into the inland container depot/container freight station segment, with Mumbai's JNPT port as the first site for the new business.

The proposed project will entail investment of an estimated Rs 150 crore in its first phase. The company also plans to expand its operations in Gujarat and Kerala.

According to Raaja Kanwar, managing director, Apollo International Ltd, "The infrastructure segment in India is facing a lack of quality facilities. Apollo International's entry into the logistics business, specifically the ICD/CFS space will help in reducing congestion at ports and facilitate the movement of import-export cargo in containers. We have identified the container freight stations segment as a great potential area and thus providing an interesting business opportunity for diversification."

Apollo International plans to initially set up operations in Western India near JNPT. The western region contributes nearly 51 per cent of the total Indian market, followed by 24 per cent from Southern India and 19 per cent from Northern India. Incidentally, North India is expected to be the fastest growing market for container traffic and emerge as the second most important region by 2009-10.

Apollo International has appointed Capt Kapil Anand as CEO to spearhead the business foray into the logistics business. Capt Anand, who joins the company from Gateway Distriparks Ltd, the largest private sector company in port-related infrastructure, is a veteran with 37 years of extensive experience in the shipping and logistics field, having earlier successfully set up and expanded Gateway Distriparks across four locations as CEO.

Explaining the potential that the entry into this new business offers, Capt Anand says, "The growth of containerisation in India has been slow and steady initially, but in recent years has experienced exponential growth to a total of 4.23 million TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit) in 2004-05 from 1.25 million TEU in 1994-95. As India's integration into the global economy strengthens, the container traffic is projected to increase more than three fold over the ten year period to a total of nearly 13.7 million TEU's annually in 2015."