Pipavav port secures ₹700-cr expansion

The Gujarat Pipavav Port Ltd) board has approved the expansion plan of ₹700 crore for the expansion of Pipavav APM Terminals, which includes improving facilities for handling bigger ships and raising the container capacity to 1.6 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs). APM Terminals Pipavav has a capacity to handle up to 1.35 million TEUs of containers, 4-5 million tons of dry bulk cargo, 2 million tons of liquid cargo and about 2,50,000 cars per year. During the lockdown, the port handled more than 622 container trains, 1,86,000 TEUs, out of which 1,10,000 TEUs were by trains. The port also handled dry bulk shipments of 0.41 million metric tons and 0.21 million metric tons liquid in the June quarter of this fiscal. Though Indian economy has contracted due to global slowdown and impact of COVID-19 on businesses, the board believes the long-term growth potential of the economy is still intact, APM Terminals Pipavav MD Jakob Friis Sorensen informed that the board has approved an expansion plan to improve the port's ability to handle bigger ships and to expand the container capacity to 1.6 million TEUs. The port will wait for growth in cargo volume after commissioning of Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) for deciding on expanding container yard capacity.