As part of its expansion into the container freight industry, JSW Infrastructure, which operates seaports and terminals, has opened its first container terminal at New Mangalore Port Trust (NMPT).
The NMPT container terminal will help the company diversify its product line and increase the percentage of third-party freight it handles throughout its businesses. JSW Infrastructure has a 30-year design, build, finance, operate, and transfer concession deal with NMPT for the container terminal. The terminal contains a 350-meter-long dock and a 15.5-hectare backup storage facility. It’s built to handle mainliner cargo ships with up to 9,000 TEUs in port. The mechanised container handling facility and increased vessel size will help improve hinterland trade by providing inland water-based logistics support.
Arun Maheshwari, Joint MD and CEO of JSW Infrastructure, said, “Our new terminal at NMPT helps us diversify into container cargo business as part of our strategic roadmap to achieve 200 MTPA [million tonnes per annum] cargo capacity in India. The newly commissioned container terminal will also help us achieve an optimal cargo mix to steadily increase the share of third-party cargo business.”
“The first phase of development of this terminal has been completed, allowing us a current cargo capacity of 2.4 lakh TEUs. In order to tap the emerging business opportunity in container cargo, we are investing more Rs ₹300 crore to create close to 4 lakh TEUs capacity by FY24,” Maheshwari added.
JSW Infrastructure’s mechanised container terminal at NMPT is expected to support inland water-based infrastructure and regional development of Mangalore SEZ, besides promoting the growth of cargo business in Karnataka’s hinterland regions including Hassan, Shimoga, Mysuru, Bengaluru, and surrounding industrial hubs.
