Ports & Shipping News

July 11, 2011 July 17, 2011

India Infrastructure Publishing B-17, Qutab Institutional Area New Delhi 110016 Tel: 91-11-4103 4600 / 4601 Fax: 91-11-2653 1196 E-mail: info@indiainfrastructure.com

Ports The Ministry of Shipping (MoS) is planning to award seven capacity expansion projects, worth Rs 130 billion on a public-private partnership (PPP) mode in the next three months. Four of these projects involving an investment of Rs 57 billion and estimated to add capacity of 75 million tonne (mt) were to be awarded in the first quarter (April-June) of 2011-12 but were stranded due to delay in environmental and security clearances. These include the mechanised handling facility at the Vishakhapatnam port, construction of a mega container terminal at the Chennai port and development of a dry bulk terminal at the Kandla port. Further, three projects: construction of multi user liquid terminal at the Cochin port, a container terminal at VO Chidambaranan port (formerly Tuticorin port) and development of a fourth container terminal at the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) are scheduled to be awarded during the second quarter (July-September) of 2011-12. These three projects are expected to generate an additional cargo handling capacity of 80 million tonne per annum (mtpa). Overall, MoS plans to award 23 PPP projects worth Rs 167 billion during 2011-12, adding 230 mtpa of cargo handling capacity at major ports. The Union Government has approved the transfer of defence land at Diamond Harbour to the Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) for development of a container terminal. The Rs 12-billion project was stuck for long due to non availability of land from the Ministry of Defence (MoD). Of the 125 acre required to build the terminal, only 43 acre was made available to the port. MoD will now transfer about 75 acre of land at Diamond Harbour through the shipyard under its control, Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers, while the port will provide about 32 acre of land in Raichak in return to the shipyard. The Mormugao Port Trust has invited tenders for capital dredging works for non-cargo berths. The eight-year contract is estimated to involve an investment of Rs 141.8 million. The work involves deepening to a depth of 9.50 m by capital dredging alongside the berth, along the breakwater, the berth alongside the mole (on both sides) basin area and approaches to these berths. The last date of submitting the tender is July 27, 2011. The development cost of the fourth container terminal project at the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) has escalated by around 20 per cent to Rs 80 billion in the last one year due to litigations. The latest litigation filed by the Adani Group is pending before the Bombay High Court. The group was one of the bidders for the project and has challenged the government's decision, which denied the company security clearance. Besides the Adani group, DP World, Sterlite Industries, PSA International and GVK are some other infrastructure majors who had presented their bids for the project. Paradip Port Trust (PPT) expects to start construction work on coal and iron-ore berths in September 2011. Currently, PPT is awaiting final clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forests, which is expected to be obtained in August 2011. The two berths, each with a capacity of 10 mt, are estimated to cost around Rs 9 billion. Both projects will be undertaken on PPP mode. Royal Vopak NV, Rotterdam-based independent tank storage service provider for bulk liquids, has entered the Indian market by acquiring 100 per cent shares of CRL Terminals Private Limited at Kandla port for about Rs 2.8 billion. The terminal is one of the largest storage facilities of chemicals and vegetable oil in India with a capacity of 0.26 million cubic metre (mcum). With this acquisition, the company operates 80 terminals in 31 countries with an overall storage capacity of 25.6 mcum. The terminal, which will be renamed Vopak Terminal Kandla, consists of 121 tanks with connections to five shared jetties owned and operated by the Kandla port. Transshipment business at the international container transshipment terminal (ICTT) at Vallarpadam in Kerala is being hit by shortage in Indian flag tonnage for transshipment. Reports suggest that mainliners are planning to shift their vessels to Colombo Port to transfer containers to Mangalore port and VO Chidambaranan port (formerly Tuticorin port). The non-major ports in Gujarat have handled 63.20 mt of cargo traffic in the first quarter (AprilJune) of 2011-12, registering a growth of 11.31 per cent over the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal. Traffic increased in ports like Magdalla (Hazira), Bedi, Okha, Porbandar, Navlakhi, and Dahej. Ports of Dahej, Navlakhi and Magdalla (Hazira) recorded a growth of 40 per cent, 33 per cent and 20 per cent respectively during the same period.

Ports & Shipping News

July 11, 2011 July 17, 2011

India Infrastructure Publishing B-17, Qutab Institutional Area New Delhi 110016 Tel: 91-11-4103 4600 / 4601 Fax: 91-11-2653 1196 E-mail: info@indiainfrastructure.com

Krishnapatnam Port Company Limited (KPCL) and Ashok Leyland Limited have entered into a
partnership as per which the latter will provide 85 U trucks to KPCL for its inter carting operations at the port. The vehicles will be owned and maintained by Ashok Leyland Limited and day-to-day operations will be carried out by KPCL. The Kerala government has sought a revised detailed feasibility report from the consultant, Deloitte India Limited for the development of the Azhikkal port in Kannur district. The step was taken due to lone participation of the Mundra port and Special Economic Zone Limited in the tendering process, under the existing conditions in the proposal. The retendering process will begin once the government receives the revised report. Reportedly, maritime states like Orissa, Kerala and Karnataka have sought assistance from Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) for formulating maritime boards in their respective states. Presently, besides Gujarat, only Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu have maritime boards. According to reports, Karaikal Port Private Limited (KPPL) is in talks with private equity firms to raise funds for second phase of capacity expansion in the port. According to sources, talks with Ascent Capital Advisors India Private Limited are at an advanced stage, which may be willing to invest about Rs 2.4 billion in the project. In 2006, the Government of Puducherry awarded a 30 year-contract to the marine infrastructure firm Marg Limited, to develop the port to handle capacity of 47 mt from nine berths in three phases, with a cost outlay of Rs 33 billion. The second phase of the port is expected to start operations by October 2011, increasing the total capacity of the port to 21 mt. Shipping The Shipping Corporation of India Limited (SCI) acquired a Supramax bulk carrier, m.v. Vishva Vijeta, on July 12, 2011. The vessel has a tonnage of 33,032 gross tonnage and a carrying capacity of 56,638 deadweight tonnage (DWT). SCI had signed contracts for acquisition of two Supramax bulk carriers on resale basis in April 2011. The vessels were originally contracted by Grand Yard Investment Private Limited, China, and were under construction at Guoyu Shipyard, China. The second vessel is scheduled to be delivered by July-end, 2011. With this acquisition, the fleet of SCI stands at 79 vessels. At present, the company has 30 vessels on order, of which 12 are scheduled for delivery by the end of 2011. Meanwhile, SCI is planning to float a new joint venture (JV) company to operate specialised bulk carriers. According to reports, SCI has invited tenders for a major share from companies with experience in owning and operating transloaders or self unloading bulk carriers. SCI plans to convert its old handymax bulk carriers into transloaders, which have completed their economic life and keep them in service for five to ten years. SCI plans to hold 26 per cent in the proposed company and the rest 74 per cent will be held by a single partner or a consortium. The Great Eastern Shipping Company Limited (GE Shipping) has acquired a Supramax dry bulk carrier, Jag Rani. The vessels carrying capacity is 57,000 DWT. With the acquisition of this vessel, the companys fleet stands at 35 vessels, comprising 26 tankers (16 product tankers, nine crude carriers, and one liquefied petroleum gas carrier) and nine dry bulkers (four Supramax, two kamasa rmax , one Capesize, one Panamax, and one handymax) with an average age of 8.6 years and aggregating to 2.61 million DWT. Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) has delivered Troms Capella, a platform supply vessel (PSV) to the Norway-based Clean Design 81 AS. The 86 x 19 metre (m) vessel is a high end diesel electric PSV with four 1,665 Kilo Watt (KW) diesel generator sets and two 2,200 KW contra rotating propellers. The vessel is equipped with stainless steel tanks with nitrogen inerting arrangements to carry low flash liquids. Essar Shipping Limited is planning to add 12 second hand supertankers to its fleet, catering to Indian refiners need to haul crude oil from Mexico and Venezuela. The company expects an increase in the number of long-term contracts between Indian oil companies and suppliers from Latin America.
Note: Rs 1 crore = Rs 0.01 billion; Rs 1 lakh = Rs 0.1 million; Rs 1,000 million = Rs 1 billion