IL&FS Maritime Infrastructure, Grup Maritime TCI of Spain, Simplex Infrastructure, consortium between Adani Port and Mundra Port & SEZ, Essar Ports & Terminals along with Vadinar Oil Terminal are left in the fray to bag the Rs 276 crore contract to build a greenfield container terminal at New Mangalore Port on the west coast.
The New Mangalore Port Trust (NMPT), the only major port in Karnataka, has asked these consortiums to submit their price bids on April 9, 2010 for the proposed dedicated container terminal, which will have an annual capacity of 374,406 TEUs (Twenty-foot equivalent units), on build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis. The selected consortium will have 18 months time to construct the greenfield container terminal, official sources said.
“We have issued request for proposal to these five firms and they have been asked to submit price bids on April 9. Those who offer highest revenue sharing with the NMPT will be selected. But, we will not open the price bids until we get the clearance from the Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways (MSRTH). The approval is expected within a month,” NMPT sources told Business Standard.
According to the guidelines of the Tariff Authority for Major Ports (TAMP) the scope of work for development of the proposed container terminal includes design, engineering, finance, construction, operation & maintenance and marketing and provision of project facilities and services by the selected operator.
The port will, however, be responsible for maintenance dredging of basin and channel every year to maintain the required depth, providing navigational aids, tugs and floating crafts.
The container terminal is designed to have quay length of 300 meters and width of 25 meters with a 14-metre draft. It will be developed to handle Panamax container ships capable of carrying over 2,500 TEUs.
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During the year 2009-10, NMPT has handled 31,456 TEUs of container cargo, registering a growth of 10.1 per cent over the previous year. It handled six mainline container vessels from East Africa during the year. However, the growth rate of container cargo was much higher during 2008-09 when it grew by 33 per cent to 28,555 TEUs.
“The advantage of handling mainline vessel is that it comes in directly without going through trans-shipment port at Colombo and thereby reduces turnaround time by 13 days and works out lower tariff for the trade,” an exporter said.
Major commodities imported through containers at the port were raw cashew, paraffin wax, wooden logs and salt. Coffee, reefer cargo, fishmeal, fish oil, wax candles, polished granite, pig iron and chemicals were exported during the year.