Krishnapatnam Port commissions 1.2 mn tonne TEU container terminal

To spend another Rs 11,000 cr in 2nd phase which will take total capex in project to Rs 16,500 cr

Located on the east coast of India, Krishnapatnam Port, said that it has started operations on the 1.2 million tonne TEU container terminal. The company spent Rs 5500 crore in the terminal.

Anil Yendluri, CEO, Krishnapatnam Port said that this is the first phase of the project and major expansion will happen in the next phase. He said, “In the second phase, we are looking to increase the capacity by another 4.8 million TEUs thereby taking the total capacity of the terminal to 6 million TEUs.” The company expects to complete this project in the next 5-6 years.

It will be spending another Rs 11,000 crore in the second phase which will take the total capital expenditure in the project to Rs 16,500 crore. The company did not disclose the details of the funding.

In the first phase which is now commissioned, the port has two berths and a draft of 13.5 metres. The company plans to add seven more berths in the second phase and increase the draft to 18 metres.

Yendluri said, “The project is and will continue to be funded through internal accruals, bank loans and private equity funding.” Currently the company has one PE fund on board.

The port is promoted by Hyderabad-based CVR Group whose flagship Navayuga Engineering Company Ltd (NECL) is an EPC contractor. CVR has a turnover of Rs 5,500 crore and an orderbook of Rs 55,000 crore, the company claimed. These orders are in the sectors like steel, power, port establishment, spatial technology & applications, information technology and exports.”

At its peak in FY10, the port handled 16.13 million tonne cargo from 407 vessels because of the boom in iron ore exports. Because of the export ban later, the cargo handled came down to 15.42 million tonne in FY12 but the number of vessels handled went up to 438.

Krishnapatnam Port was started as a bulk cargo port but looking at the increase in container traffic the company decided to expand in the segment.