Maersk plans Rs 1000cr berth at Pipavav

Danish shipping giant AP Moller-Maersk A will invest about Rs 1,000 crore for developing a new container berth at the Pipavav port in Gujarat.

The port will set up the new container berth with 385 metre quay length in addition to existing 350 metre container berth.

Gujarat Pipavav Port (GPPL) is the country's first private sector port and is operated by APM Terminals, the third-largest container terminal operator in the world.

APM is the largest shareholder in the port while minority shareholders include New York Life International India Fund (Mauritius) LLC, IDFC Infrastructure Fund, IL&FS Trust Company, Jacob Ballas Capital India, UTI, IDBI and India Infrastructure Fund.

"As part of ramping up container-handling facility, over $200 million (nearly Rs 1,000 crore) is being invested into the port for creating additional capacity," a port source said.

The port currently has the capacity to handle 5,00,000 twenty foot containers a year and the capacity is expected to reach 1 million twenty foot containers.

"The port has already started developing the new container berth. GPPL has placed orders for three new post panamax quay cranes and ten additional RTGCs (rubber tyred gantry cranes). The expansion is likely to be completed by mid-2008," GPPL sources said.  The Pipavav port currently offers seven mainline shipping services covering all major trade routes.

"There are two direct weekly services to US East Coast, two services to Europe and three weekly services to Far East and China. Some of the leading shipping lines calling Pipavav include Maersk Line, Hyundai and Japanese shipping lines such as NYK Lines, Mitsui OSK Lines and K Line," port executives said.

GPPL currently offers 330m of quay length for bulk operations and 350m of quay length for container operations.

For handling containers, the port has deployed three quay gantry cranes, one Mannesman Gottwald mobile harbour crane, eight RTGCs and eight reach stackers to handle yard operations.

The Pipavav port is connected by the National Highway 8E. The port has developed an 11 km four-lane expressway connecting the port to the National Highway.

The port offers regular weekly train services to all major North India Inland Container Depots.

The port handles a variety of bulk cargoes including coal, fertiliser, cement, steel and soda ash. At present, the port has the capacity to handle 3 million tonne of bulk cargo.