JNPT signs concession agreement with DP World subsidiary for container handling facility

The Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), Mumbai and DP World subsidiary Nhava Sheva (India) Gateway Terminal Pvt Ltd, signed a concession agreement today for developing a stand-alone container handling facility at the Jawaharlal Nehru Port.

Under the agreement, Gateway Terminal Pvt Ltd will set up a terminal with the quay length of 330 metres at an estimated cost of Rs600 crore. The estimated capacity addition will be 0.8 million TEUs per annum. The project is slated to be completed by December 2015.

The project would be executed on DBFOT (design, built, finance operate and transfer) basis, with a concession period of approximately 17 years.

The Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust had floated a global tender for the project in which DP World emerged the successful bidder, with an offer of 28.9 per cent revenue share to the port.

DP World has formed Nhava Sheva (India) Gateway Terminal Pvt. Ltd, as a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to implement this project.

The agreement was signed on behalf of JNPT by chairman N N Kumar and on behalf of Nhava Sheva (India) Gateway Terminal Pvt. Ltd by Anil Singh, senior vice president and MD of DP World (Subcontinent).

Speaking on the occasion, union minister for shipping G K Vasan said that the achievement of the ministry was outstanding during 2012-13, in terms of awarding capacity augmentation projects at major ports. The ministry has awarded 32 projects in 2012-13, which will add a capacity of 137 MMTPA (million metric tonne per annum) at an estimated investment of Rs6,765 crore. This is the best performance for any year in the history.

JN Port is the biggest container handling port in India, handling around 44 per cent of the country's containerised cargo, first crossing the historic landmark of 4 million TEUs in container throughput in the year 2007-08.

The port is currently ranked 26th among the top 100 container ports in the world.