Mundra port, the world's second deep water
port outside Port Suez in Egypt goes on stream, to handle 7 lakh tonne
cargo
Promoted by the Rs 2400-crore
Ahmedabad-based Adani Exports Limited, flagship of the Adani
group, Mundra port, located 350 km from Abmedabad on the Gujarat coast,
has now positioned itself firmly on the international maritime map. This
is in stark contrast to its hitherto obscure existence under the umbrella
of the Gujarat Maritime Board, which was carrying on loading and unloading
operations in barges.
According to Mr Saurab Dixit,
president of corporate affairs at Adani, during the current year the port
is expected to handle nearly seven lakh tonnes of liquid cargo, 1.7 million
tonnes of bulk cargo and 1,015 containers aggregating about 3.5 million
tonnes of cargo. By 2025, Mundra port, according to current estimates,
is projected to handle 93 million tonnes of cargo.
What lends Mundra port a
strategic advantage is the fact that it is an all-weather port, but because
it boasts of the deepest draught (15 metres) in India. Only Port Suez
in Egypt has a larger draught with 19 metres. Even the most modern of
Indian ports - the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust has a draught of only 13
metres, having been modeled on Port Suez prior to its deepening through
extensive dredging operations with a view to receiving container vessels
with much larger capacity.
Said Mr K V Natarajan, president
(projects) of Adani Port Limited: "The JNPT can receive containers of
3000 TEUs (thousand equivalent units). But Mundra can receive container
vessels of larger capacities without any restrictions just as Dubai, Sri
Lanka or Singapore."
"There is a double advantage.
Indian shippers can save valuable time. And they can also save on transshipment
costs as 70 per cent of Indian cargo currently involved double handling,"
said Mr Natarajan, who was formerly with JNPT.
Mundra port confers geographical
advantages to both foreign maritime interests and domestic shippers. While
it has the potential to become a transit point for international traffic
for domestic shippers in the Northern and NorthWestern hinterland of India,
it could be a new gateway port to the West. They will also be able to
avoid congested sea-traffic from both the Mumbai and Kandla ports.
There is a proposal before
the railways to establish a broadguage rail linkage from Metra road to
Adipur, on the fringe of Mundra, which means that container rakes from
Delhi lCD could come into Mundra in just one and a half days flat instead
of four days of road haulage to Mumbai with strenuous effort. The savings
on haulage costs will be enormous said Mr Natarajan. The rail linkage
could take two years to come by. In the meantime, a rail corridor between
the port complex and Anjar town is being established. There will be a
six-lane road compatible with highway standards that will connect Mundra
with national highway 8a.
Meanwhile, there is provision
for a pipeline corridor, which will connect the national grid. Hindustan
Petroleum is already interested in it and there is a possibility that
Reliance Industries may also be pumping its oil up north through the pipeline
corridor from its Jamnagar refinery.
The master plan for the port
was drawn by Maunsell LLRDC of UK and HR Walling Ford. The design and
construction of offshore structures has been executed by L&T with
Christiani and Nielsen Limited of UK.
By May this year two multipurpose
berths will become fully operational and there will be a bleeding conveyor
line for bulking and storage of bagged cargoes. For liquid cargo storage,
there will be a petroleum terminal with a 1.2 lakh kilolitre capacity
and another for edible oils (12 tanks) with a total capacity of 42,000
kilolitre.
There is also proposed to
invest Rs 400 crore in the second phase of the project, which, when executed,
will result in the port having a container terminal and a four-kilometre
berthing facility. There will be two container berths for 35,000 dwt vessels
along with shore handling equipment for berths and container yards. Mundra
port’s viability will be underwritten by its efficiency of operations,
Captain Sethi added. "With planned arrivals, bething of vessels at pre-defined
specific costs, there will be no last minute surprises or hidden costs,"
he said.
Mundra Port project is being
implemented by Gujarat Adani Port Limited (GAPL) which is a joint venture
between Gujarat Port Infrastructure Development Company Limited (GPIDL)
(26 per cent stake) and Gujarat Adani Port Limited (25 per cent stake).
While GAPL is the Landlord Company developing offshore structures
and infrastructure facilities, APL is the terminal operator providing
logistics services.
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