The Hindu Business Line : Mumbai port in talks with oil PSUs for Rs 150-cr berth

MUMBAI port is in talks with PSU oil companies for investing in its proposed Rs 150-crore oil berth and a single buoy mooring (SBM) facility at the port.

"We are having a dialogue (with oil companies), but nothing is finalised as yet. We are open to oil companies having equity participation in these projects, as they will be the principal beneficiaries," Ms Rani Jadhav, Chairperson, Mumbai Port Trust, said.

The proposed oil berth, which will be the fifth berth at the Marine Oil Terminal, will have a capacity of 15 mt, with a draft of 17 mt to accommodate Suezmax tankers.

In the last fiscal, upgradation of oil handling facilities at a cost of Rs 564 crore was taken up. With this, the capacity of the port's Marine Oil Terminal has increased from 19 mt to 30 mt. "As we see a further growth in flow of POL products, we are keen to take up the new projects," Ms Jadhav told presspersons here.

The oil berth is one of the four major projects that the port is taking up, as part of its efforts to expand its cargo handling capacity to meet the future needs. While RFQs (request for qualification) have been received by 12 foreign and Indian terminal operators for the proposed Rs 1,200-crore offshore container terminal project, the other two projects — the Rs 75-crore chemical jetty and the Rs 115-crore redevelopment of the harbour wall berths — are yet to be taken up.

Ms Jadhav pointed out that the port has drafted a 10-year plan to enhance capacity for all types of cargoes from the existing 32 mt to 62 mt with active private sector participation.

The port handled a throughput of 35.12 mt of traffic, its highest so far, to retain its position as the fifth biggest port in terms of throughput for the second year in the just-ended fiscal. Experiencing a steady fall in its cargo flow since 1997-98, the port has been able to reverse the trend in the last two years. Last fiscal's throughput marks a 17 per cent increase over that of the previous year, when it was 29.99 mt.

"While in the years ahead we will continue to have a heterogenous mix of cargoes, our focus will be on general cargo," Ms Jadhav said.

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