In an effort to improve infrastructure and ease trade under ease of doing business initiatives, the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority has invited private companies to submit bids for the development and operation of a state-of-the-art, technology-driven automated empty container yard spanning 26.20 hectares (262,017 sq. meters) of land for a 30-year lease. In order to take advantage of the strategically located Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority’s export-import (EXIM) potential, the auction seeks to draw in parties interested in establishing an automated empty container depot for the handling, storage, repairs, maintenance, servicing, and cleaning of empty ISO shipping containers.
Situated next to Sawarkhar Village, approximately 20–25 km from Navi Mumbai, 35–40 km from Mumbai city, and 5–6 km from the port operations (jetty) region, is the property designated for the empty container yard. The majority of the containers that arrive at JN Port are used for trade in Central, Western, and Northern India. Empty containers are produced as a result of the trade asymmetry for import and export.
The loaded containers are transported to the factories and container freight stations, and after de-stuffing the cargo, are returned to the empty container yard. The empty containers are then sent to factories for stuffing of export cargo at the factory itself. On average, JN Port handles 1 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of empty containers—both import and export—in a year, which is about 18% of the total throughput at the port. The successful bidder will have to develop an empty container yard with a facility for automated storage and retrieval of containers based on the principles of the Automated Storage and Retrieval System (ASRS) in at least 25% of the land area. It has to set up a truck appointment system for seamless operations and to avert any traffic congestion in the premises or nearby area or road.
In order to reach a minimum storage capacity of 25,000 TEUs in two years and increase it to 100,000 TEUs in five years, the private business will be entrusted with operationalizing an empty container yard in a traditional manner. A mechanized empty container storage system based on ASRS principles must be designed and developed concurrently by the successful bidder, with a storage capacity of 1,400 TEUs of empty containers.
Based on its experience and ease of operations, the module for mechanized storage of empty containers shall be replicated over a minimum of 25% of the land allotted. However, the bidder shall take a call to increase the land use for the mechanized empty container storage system.
In such a case, with replication of modules of the mechanized empty container storage system over the period, proportionate handling of empty containers in the conventional way shall be minimized in a phased manner. The successful bidder is also required to install gate automation and a terminal operating system for real-time location mapping of containers within the yard. Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority has set a reserve price of Rs 9.04 crores per annum as annual lease rent, including GST, for the land.
The bidders are required to quote a premium over and above the reserve price set by the port authority for lease rentals per month for leasing of land. The quoted lease fee (basic amount) will escalate by 2% on 1 August of every year. The bidder quoting the highest (H1) user fee per annum will be declared the winner. The successful bidder will have the option for payment of lease rent for the entire lease period on an upfront basis.
The upfront lease rent is the net present value (NPV) of the total annual lease rent, determined through the auction for the lease period. The NPV is computed by cumulatively escalating the lease rent annually at 2% and discounting annually at the applicable G-Sec rate as issued by the Reserve Bank of India.
Currently, there are 74 empty container yards located in the outskirts of JN Port. Out of 74 empty container yards, 2 are situated at Taloja and 4 at Panvel and the balance are spread over the area from Gavhan Phata to Dighode, Koproli to Khopta and NH-348. Of the 74 empty container yards, 60 yards are operational, with Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A. running 8 yards, Pacific International Line Pte Ltd (4 yards), Wan Hai Lines India Pvt Ltd (16), Evergreen Shipping (10), Ocean Network Express Line (India) Pvt Ltd (11), Yang Ming (2), Maersk Line (5), Maersk/ZIM Line (1), Trans Asian Shipping Services (P) Ltd (2), Avana Logistek Ltd/Avana Global FZCO (7), and Hapag Lloyd (6).
All the empty container yards are set up on private land ranging from 2 acres to 40 acres. Some of them have access from the main road, but for many, the access is through narrow roads connecting to the main road, which are not properly developed. The empty container yards do not have parking space for tractor trailers arriving at the yards.
