Deendayal Port Authority, the State-owned entity that runs the port at Kandla in Gujarat, has issued a letter of acceptance to Hindustan Ports Pvt Ltd, the Indian unit of Dubai’s D P World Ltd, for building a mega container terminal at its satellite facility in Tuna Tekra, after it trounced Adani Ports in an auction last week.
“The letter of acceptance of the bid was issued to Hindustan Ports late evening on Friday,” Nandeesh Shukla, Deputy Chairman, Deendayal Port Authority, told ET Infra.
The container terminal with a capacity to handle 2.19 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) a year will cost Rs4,243.64 crore to build from scratch.
The global port operator owned by the Dubai government placed the highest royalty of Rs6,500 per TEU when the price bids were opened on Friday, beating Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (APSEZ), the only other bidder to submit a price bid, by a wide margin. APSEZ quoted Rs1,500 per TEU as royalty.
“We respect the trust and confidence D P World has reposed in us with its bid and will try to make the project a resounding success,” Shukla said, adding that the port authority has started work on fulfilling its contractual obligations to help the project take off per the stipulated timeline or even earlier.
Deendayal Port Authority runs the country’s biggest State-owned port by volume at Kandla in Gujarat and Tuna-Tekra is a satellite facility located some 15 kms away.
The Tuna-Tekra container terminal forms a part of the National Infrastructure Pipeline of the government.
The planned box terminal will be designed and equipped to handle ships that can carry as much as 21,000 TEUs.
Initially, the terminal will have a depth of 14.5 metres without tidal restrictions. There is a provision in the tender to increase the depth to 18 metres based on mutual consensus between the two parties and on cost sharing basis, Deendayal Port Authority Chairman S K Mehta told ET Infra in July 2022.
The successful bidder will be free to set rates based on market conditions, another plus point for the project, unlike in the past where rates at State-owned ports were regulated.
Tuna-Tekra is shorter in distance to the inland container depots in Northern India compared to Mundra and even Jawaharlal Nehru Port.
Tuna-Tekra is 60 kms inside from Mundra, but the rail connectivity will be even lesser because the rail line runs close to Gandhidham.
“So, the rail advantage will be about 50 kms for Tuna-Tekra. In railway parlance, this means that at least one slab less, which means at least 5-7 percent of freight saving per rake. This is a huge advantage because container trade thrives on railways,” Deputy Chairman Shukla told ET Infra last July.
The planned container terminal will be capable of handling three vessels at a time with a backup area of 55 hectares and more land is available if the operator wants, Shukla said at that time.
