JSW Infrastructure has signed a concession agreement to develop and operate the container terminal project at the Central government-owned New Mangalore Port Trust for 30 years.
The Sajjan-Jindal led JSW Infrastructure is investing Rs 300 crores to develop the container terminal which will have a capacity of 400,000 twenty foot-equivalent units (TEUs)
The bidding began in July 2019 and it was reported that JSW’s winning bid was almost double the rate quoted by Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (APSEZ).
The container terminal will have a quay length of 350 meters and accommodate vessels up to 9000 TEUs, said the company in a statement.
“This concession agreement with NMPT is part of our strategic direction to achieve 200 MTPA cargo handling capacity over next couple of years. We expect to commission the terminal by mid of next year. It will play a key role in economic development of NMPT and the entire region expanding upto Mysore, Hassan and Bengaluru,” said JSW Infrastructure Joint MD, Arun Maheshwari.
As part of the proposed investment, JSW will undertake mechanization of Berth No 14 for handling containers and other cargo on design, build, finance, operate and transfer (DBFOT) basis said the company.
JSWIL currently runs ports located at Jaigarh and Dharamtar in Maharashtra, and Mormugao in Goa, South-west port in Karnataka, Paradip Terminal in Vishakapatnam.
NMPT is an all-weather, lagoon type port situated at Panambur, Mangalore in Karnataka. It has over 42 million tonnes of cargo traffic in 2018-19, and container traffic at NMPT has been growing at a CAGR of 15% since 2013 as compared to Indian container traffic growth of 7.52%.
