Plans afoot for GPL port's upgrade

The Shapoorji Pallonji Group, which has acquired a stake in Gopalpur Port (GPL) off the coast of southern Odisha, has recently pledged an investment of Rs.2,000 crore to ramp up the port's cargo handling capacity to 20 million tons per annum (mtpa) in the first phase, said sources, insisting that the port will achieve the planned cargo growth by 2020. Under the expansion plan, two new berths would be added in the expansion. The berths are being designed to handle bulk commodities — iron ore, coal, cement, steel, and limestone. The proposed investments to be financed through the Group's internal accruals and some project financing is also meant to put up a new breakwater facility at the port site and increase the scale of mechanization. The long-term vision is to reach a cargo throughput of 40 mtpa over the next five years to be able to handle container business and also set up the infrastructure for imports of LNG and LPG. Ports on the eastern coast have a very good potential to handle LNG and the estimated potential could be 20-25 million tons each year, source said.