Suzuki-Nissan seek port for cars

Car manufacturer Maruti Suzuki is planning to team up with multinational automobile major Nissan Motor Company for developing a greenfield dedicated port to ship out vehicles.

The two vehicle manufacturers will be setting up this facility in Gujarat at an estimated investment of Rs 3,000-3,500 crore.

"Maruti and Nissan will together construct a dedicated port for handling vehicles. For this, they have visited non-major and major ports of Gujarat. The location has not been finalised yet," Shipping Secretary AK Mahapatra told Business Standard on the sidelines of the India Shipping Summit 2006.

Mahapatra said this exclusive port would be able to handle 400,000 cars a year.

Earlier this year, Maruti Suzuki and Nissan Motor Corporation announced plans to manufacture small cars at the Maruti Suzuki facility in India. The cars will be sold under the Nissan brand and exported to select markets around the world.

Japanese automobile major Mitsubishi Motors has visited Vansi Borsi Port and Maroli Port in Gujarat for setting up a Rs 3,000 crore exclusive car handling terminal.

"The cost of a greenfield facility will go up to Rs 3,500 crore as port operators will have to dredge up to 15 metres depth for a shipping channel. The cost may come down if a major port extends a terminal to these players," port experts said.

Sources close to the development said Maruti Suzuki and Nissan were in talks with Kandla Port, Shell Hazira Port and Adani Ports for the project.

"The coming together of Maruti Suzuki and Nissan makes sense as the latter has a tie-up with Maruti for design of cars in India. A common automobile port will cut down the cost for both players," they said.

At present, automobile majors are shipping their cars primarily from Mumbai and Chennai.

Mahapatra said the idea behind such a port was to cut down the logistics cost and streamline the export operations of these companies.