Port Infra Set to Stage Amazing Upturn

Targeting a total port traffic handling capacity of 3.5 billion tons per annum in a phased manner by 2031, the Union Shipping Ministry has recently made a mark by crossing the coveted combined traffic handling capacities of one billion tons per annum. The National Maritime Development Program (NMDP) that targeted 387 port projects at an investment of Rs.90,000 crore for the current Plan period, has already commissioned 76 projects entailing an investment of Rs.17,110 crore and the rest are currently in various stages of implementations and many of them are about to commissioning. The emerging picture made it crystal clear that Indian port sector is set to stage an amazing upturn and is gradually gravitating to gain new heights in the global port arena. Reports Jeet Singh.

Port Scenario

The Indian port sector has recently touched the milestone with the combined capacities of all ports crossing one-billion tons per annum mark. In August, the nation-wide capacity stood at 996 million tons but in September the Gujarat Maritime Board facilities added 19 million tons pushing the total capacity to 1015 million tons.

However, there is a flip side to the story as the major chunk of the contribution to the growth in capacity addition has not come from the government-controlled 12 major ports but from the non-major ports, managed by Gujarat Maritime Board.

In totality, the available capacity with the 12 major ports as on June 30, 2010 was 619.88 million tons, non-major ports’ contributed 355.06 million tons. Of the 355.06 million tons capacity, Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) controlled ports alone contributed to 243.64 million tons.

The capacities available at non-major ports as on June 30, 2010 include Gujarat (243.64 million tons), Andhra Pradesh (49.14 million tons), Maharashtra (28.28 million tons), Goa (13.90 million tons), Karnataka (9.20 million tons), Puducherry (4.30 million tons), Andaman & Nicobar Islands (3.23 million tons), Orissa (2.00 million tons), Tamil Nadu (1.2 million tons), Kerala (0.17 million tons) and Daman & Diu (0.005 million tons).

Gujarat Maritime Board which controlled three facilities contributed 19 million tons, which includes Essar jetty at Magdalla, Adani’s solid cargo terminal at Dahej and Kribco jetty at Magdalla, which is being revived.

The total capacity of the ports has grown 84.4% from 135 million tons in 2000-01 to 244 million in 2009-10.

Port Infra Set to Stage Amazing Upturn
If the progress made by GMB ports so far is incredible, they have reasons to smile as the GMB is projecting its port capacity to be 508 million tons by 2014-15 and 870 million tons by 2019-20. Essar is currently deepening the channel at Hazira to bring in large vessels of up to 1,05,000 DWT enabling the terminal to enjoy facility of offering direct berthing of vessels all year round.  The facility has now attained the status of becoming the gateway terminal of Gujarat for deep draught vessels. The terminal with a 550 meter long berth is capable of accommodating larger vessels directly alongside the berth through the year.  This will naturally result in quicker turnarounds and dwindled dependence on current lighter age operations, CEO Essar Bulk Terminal, Captain S Das said.

Pushing Port Potentials

In order to brighten its future business potentials, the Shipping Corporation of India has recently fixed Rs.18,000 crore for doubling its cargo carrying capacity from the current 5 million dead weight tonnage to 10 million tons per annum. The shipping company will achieve six million dead weight tonnage in one year and about eight million in the next three years and will finally reach 10 million in the fourth year. In totality, the shipping industry will improve markedly in the 2011 year because till then there would be a lot of supply side pressure meeting orders the industry had received between 2004 to 2008 period. However, the supply orders dwindled during 2008-09 because of which the industry has some respite beyond 2011.

Port Infra Set to Stage Amazing Upturn
In addition, it has also arranged Rs.3,700 crore to finance its fleet expansion plans. The company has raised Rs.3,000 crore from various sources and is in the process of using Rs.700 crore coming from its divestment proceeds. It has planned a massive fleet expansion but after recession it reworked on its $2.5 billion fleet addition plans of about 29 liners to its existing fleet of 60 in the immediate future. Adding to the capacity addition, Marg Limited has drawn up plans to touch 21 metric tons per annum capacity addition at Karaikal Port entailing an investment of Rs.1,500 crore. The company is adding three more berths catering to offshore supply vessels and project supply vessels. The other two berths would be put in place by September next year. It currently has two berths taking care of coal and general cargo. Its Karaikal Port has stabilized revenue significantly to its net earning in the first quarter of the current financial year. In addition, it plans to set up another new port at Mogaiyur in the southern stretches of Chennai entailing an investment of Rs.400 crore. The Karaikal port project proved to be very successful as in the first quarter of the current year the port’s throughput is set to touch 1.3 million tons as the BHEL has become its regular customer. The Chennai Petroleum Corporation Limited has also decided to use the port to bring in crude to its Cauvery Basin refinery, besides several cement companies are also using the port to bring raw materials and ship out cements for multiple destinations. The port’s current capacity is five million tons per annum (mtpa) and is being expanded to 21 mtpa involving an investment of Rs.1,600 crore.

New Perspective Plan

Port Infra Set to Stage Amazing Upturn
To eliminate the bottlenecks the Ministry of Shipping is all set to implement the new perspective plan (NPP) for the country’s maritime sector, which includes policy framework to enhance the capacity and productivity of Indian maritime sector and also to add supplementary projects for port development from other infrastructure agencies including NHAI, the railway and in land waterways, dredging mechanization and modernization plans for both major and non major ports. The government also introduced public private partnership (PPP) model in the port sector and the initiatives pushed the projects on fast track. As on August this year, 24 private PPP projects with an investment of about Rs.6480 crore have become operational at major ports and 16 PPP projects entailing an investment of Rs.10,370 crore are currently in various stages of implementations. In addition, the ministry has decided to launch 24 capacity addition projects at major ports at an investment of Rs.16,480 crore by the end of the current financial year. Apart from this, there is a noticeable increased in interest from small and medium businessmen to invest in non major ports and about 24 greenfield port projects are expected to go on stream in the next ten years. The government has also granted permission for leasing out land on upfront premium enabling the port authorities to tackle recessionary upheavals. This was necessitated because in the last fiscal India could not achieve the target of $200 billion foreign trade despite various stimuli and concession injected by the government and the new guidelines will fetch extra funds to port authorities and will push their business potentials.

Projects on Radar

The Vizag Port Trust (VPT) in Visakhapatnam has recently inked three major MoUs, which include Sterlite Industries, Steel Authority of India and Essar giving much needed boost to port business. It has signed a model concession agreement with Sterlite Industries for mechanization of coal handling facilities at an investment of Rs.443 crore. The work includes setting up of a multi model logistics hub on an area of 65 acres in Exim Park in a joint venture. A memorandum of understanding was signed with Balmer Lawrie & Company Limited, to set up an integrated logistics hub. In the process, the general cargo berth in the outer harbor would be upgraded to handle 2 lakh DWT vessels and it would be able to handle 10.18 million tons per annum mtpa. The project, which will provide cargo handling facilities to SAIL and Essar, will be executed by Sterlite and will become fully functional by 2012. That apart, the Union Shipping Ministry has given its nod to the Visakhapatnam Port Trust to set up two projects for thermal and steam coal handling involving at an investment of Rs.313 crore and Rs.323 crore respectively. For the projects, which would add a capacity of 16 million tons per annum to the major port, the ministry has already floated tender inviting private players to bid for the project with a construction period of 24 months. Giving further boost to port infrastructure in Gujarat, the Pipavav Port Limited (GPPL) has decided to invest Rs.200 crore, on raising fresh infrastructure and upgrading the existing one. The development plans include building rail sidings, a container yard and building roads at Pipavav in which the company has already invested over Rs.1,500 crore. In addition, it has also laid a dedicated rail lines up to Surendranagar in Gujarat to handle the racks segment of the port logistics. The operation is being run in a joint venture with Pipavav Railway Corporation, a wholly owned arm of the Indian Railways.

Port Infra Set to Stage Amazing Upturn
The Union Shipping Ministry has cleared Rs.100 crore to the Chennai Port Trust (CPT) to buy 125 acres of land near Sriperum- budur SEZ for a logistics hub. The trust will take land on 99 years lease near Mappedu from the State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu (SIPCOT). As per plans a private operator will be identified to set up the dry port and multi modal logistics hubs on build operate and transfer (BOT) module for a period of 30 years, for which the state government had already confirmed land allotment. Augmenting its LNG storage capacity from the current 10 million tons to 15 million tons per annum (mtpa) at its receiving and re-gasification terminal at Dahej in Gujarat, Petronet LNG Limited, is investing Rs.2,300 crore in building two more storage tanks in addition to existing four to match the likely spurt in demand. Apart from this, the PLL has initiated the process of setting up a second LNG jetty at Dahej to berth higher capacity LNG vessels. Its joint venture with GAIL, ONGC, Indian Oil Corporation and Bharat Petroleum Corporation has a 20% share in the Indian gas market and to further push its share it is setting up a 2.5 mtpa terminal at Kochi and it is all set to go on stream by the middle of 2012.

Global Guessing

Listing the latest ranking of the top container ports of the world by Journal of Commerce, Jawaharlal Nehru Port stands at 25th position amongst the world’s busiest ports, while Port of Singapore has been ranked as the first and the busiest container port in the world. Weathering world’s recessionary tendencies, Shanghai Port of China snatched the second spot by pushing Hong Kong to third position and then Shenzhen and Busan clocked fourth and fifth in the global port positioning. Strikingly, all these top five ports recorded double digit declines in their performance as compared to 2008, with Singapore alone clocking 13.7% performance crunch. The Journal also claimed that Asia is housing all the top nine ports of the world whereas China is currently harboring six of the top nine ports of the world.
Considerations for Site Selection for Engineering Plant Projects
Site selection is the first and most important factor for location of any Engineering Plant Project as they involve huge construction costs. An unsuitable or wrong project site can result in great loss and may also lead to delays or failure of the project. Anil Kumar Nanda

Read more ...

Construction Mishaps - A Question Mark on Quality & Safety
Zainab Faridi compiles a series of recent construction mishaps that not only underscore the perils faced by Indian construction workers but also expose the urgent need for stricter quality check parameters, a skilled workforce, accountable project management

Read more ...

Decarbonizing Construction Industry for a Greener Future
A recent report by Deliotte - Shell indicates that the construction sector accounts for 37% of global CO2 emissions, of which 16% represent embodied carbon, that is carbon dioxide coming from material sourcing and manufacturing, logistics, and construction

Read more ...

Policy Prescription for Circular Economy to Boost Infra Construction
At a time when India is pushing policy reforms in a big way to provide a major boost to its economy, the generation of colossal 9.46 million tons of plastic waste every year and 150 metric tons of construction waste annually (about 40% of the global

Read more ...

7 Years of RERA Of Promising Gains, Challenges & Pitfalls
After seven years of its journey, the landmark reform of RERA (Real Estate Regulatory Act) has made some remarkable gains in terms of regulating the sector and protecting the interests of homebuyers. Especially considering that two crucial years were

Read more ...

National Ropeway Development Programme to Boost Real Estate
A massive USD 15 billion National Ropeway Development Programme of the Central Government, currently underway, will provide a major aerial connectivity boost to real estate, especially in Tier 2-3 cities that have high tourism potential. A Rs 1.25 lakh crore

Read more ...

J&K Realty and Infrastructure Development on Fast Track
As Jammu & Kashmir prepares to host G-20 Tourism Meet in Srinagar from 22-24 May 2023, the strides made by the Union Territory on urban development (in a run up to this conclave following the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019), will provide

Read more ...

Ashoka Buildcon Achieves Largest Continuous Concrete Pour for Building Project
Ashoka Buildcon Limited has several prestigious projects under its belt and has to its credit notable record-breaking achievements - the latest being casting of a raft with 12400 cubic meters of concrete. With this feat, the company is eager to get

Read more ...

Investment Bonanza in UP to Fast-Track - Real Estate & Infrastructure Development
Riding high on landmark reforms and performance-driven governance, Uttar Pradesh has received a record investment proposals of over 33.50 trillion from Indian and foreign investors at the recently organised 3-day Global Investor Summit (GIS) in Lucknow

Read more ...

Mega Projects: Redefining Geographies
Mega infrastructure projects like flyovers, elevated roads, highways, metros, bridges, tunnels, expressways, etc, are redefining how we interact with our surroundings; in fact, Infrastructure is intrinsically linked to everyday life and is a defining

Read more ...

Major Connectivity Projects to Transform Urban Development Landscape of Delhi-NCR
With some state elections and general elections in sight, the Modi government has pulled out all stops to put its mega infrastructure projects on fast track for the socio-economic upliftment of people. A number of such key infrastructure projects

Read more ...

Women in Construction - Diverse Perspectives Will Drive Progress
India’s construction industry is advancing and embracing new technologies, and thereby throwing up exciting opportunities for women to grow professionally in traditionally male-dominated roles. With the advent of robotics, digital twins, and remote

Read more ...

Dola Roychowdhury - Founder Director, GCube Consulting Engineers LLP
The pay parity issue is very subtle and fragmented. It doesn't exist at entry levels any longer - but tends to widen as you go up the chain and hit that invisible ceiling. Compared to the global gender ratio of about 12%, India's female ratio is much lowe

Read more ...

Minimol Korulla - Maccaferri ISEAP
The global Infrastructure Construction industry currently has a female workforce ratio of 10% to 14%, while in India it is 8% to 12%. However, the representation of women in senior managerial roles is less than 2% - both globally and in India. The lack

Read more ...

Rubee Kongbrailatpam - Public Works Department, Manipur
The shift in perspective towards women's roles in the construction industry and the de-genderization of roles is a significant step towards creating a more inclusive and diverse workforce. Stereotypes and prejudices against women in construction

Read more ...

Dr. Ambika Behl - CSIR-Central Road Research Institute
Gender-based discrimination, the harsh work environment of construction sites, lack of knowledge about the industry, and a shortage of successful women in construction as role models, present significant barriers to entry for women. In India, the

Read more ...

Atasi Das -  G R Infraprojects, Gurugram
It's time to change the myth that "the infrastructure industry is a man's world and that it is not really a place for women." By promoting equal opportunities and gender sensitivity in the workplace, we can encourage more women to pursue a career in

Read more ...

Shruti Choudhari - BL Kashyap and Sons
Over the past decade, we have witnessed significant changes at BL Kashyap, including women-led planning, design, and HR departments. We have a majority of women in the tender and contracts department as well as women on-site in key roles during

Read more ...

Sandhya Rasakatla - Hindustan Zinc
Gender-based bias and stereotypes continue to be prevalent in many industries, including the construction industry, where women often face challenges due to the perception that they are less capable than men. However, it is important to recognize

Read more ...

Yogeshwari Rane - Hindustan Zinc
As we are moving towards highly mechanized mines, the overall perception of mining industry as a male-dominated industry is changing since it is no more about just physical labour. As the mining industry has traditionally been considered a physically

Read more ...