The Hindu Business Line : JNPT unsure about privatising shallow water box terminal

JAWAHARLAL Nehru Port is having a re-think on its proposal to hand over the development and operation of a shallow water container berth project at the port to a private terminal operator.

Even though its recent tender inviting EOI bids for the project met with substantial response, with 17 companies showing interest, the port is now exploring the option of developing and operating the berth on its own. Admitting that this was one of the options being examined, Mr. Ravi Budhiraja, JNPT chairman, said: "Nothing has yet been finalised. We are going through various options."

After recently concluding the Licence Agreement with Gateway Terminals India Pvt Ltd, a joint venture between Maersk and Concor, for development and operation of the Rs 1,200-crore third container terminal, the port is now inclined to think in terms of deploying the necessary cargo handing equipment at the shallow water berth and operating it on its own. This is especially because it involves relatively low investments, as the berth would allow only geared vessels.

In fact, the port has proposed conversion of the shallow water berth, which is located between JNPT terminal and the proposed third terminal, quite some time ago. But the media hype that the bidding process for the third terminal attracted had shadowed the interest in the smaller berth, which was being used by the port for car cargo.

When the car cargo began to thin to a trickle, the port decided to develop it into a small container terminal through private participation. It was proposed that the berth would have container handling equipment that could service ships of 180 mt LOA and nine-mt draft. The port has projected a throughput of between one lakh to 1.5 lakh TEUs for the shallow water berth.

A few months ago, the port had invited EOI bids from private operators, with about 17 companies responding. However, the bidding process got stalled with many of the bidders wanting some major changes in the tender conditions. While the port had proposed a revenue sharing system on a revenue-per-TEU basis, the bidders were more inclined towards a clean lease basis, where in they would have to pay a certain lease charges for operating the berth. For a per-TEU formula, the bidders wanted a minimum time guarantee for the lease period from the port.

Now that the port has concluded the license agreement for the third terminal and is going ahead with its plans to develop a fourth terminal through similar private participation, it is now willing to operate the small berth on its own by procuring the necessary equipment.