The Hindu Business Line : PSA-Sical can bid for proposed box terminal at Tuticorin port

PSA-Sical Terminals Ltd, the private container terminal operator at Tuticorin port, can participate in a tender for the proposed second container terminal.

The Union Shipping Ministry has given its approval for this, according to Mr N.K. Raghupathy, Chairman, Tuticorin Port Trust (TPT). The port trust plans to convert its eighth berth into a container terminal at a cost of Rs 150 crore, he told Business Line.

It may be recalled that when the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust went in for a second container terminal, the private operator Nhava Sheva International Container Terminal (NSICT), operated by P&O Ports, Australia, was barred from participating in the tender.

However, in Tuticorin, PSA-Sical, a joint venture between the Singapore-based PSA International and the Chennai-based South India Corporation (Agencies) Ltd, will be allowed to participate in the tender since the BOT (build, operate and transfer) concession agreement between TPT and PSA-Sical says that if the berth eight is converted into a container berth, PSA-Sical will be allowed to participate in the bidding, Mr Raghupathy said.

"There is no policy as on date on debarring existing terminal operator in the nation as a whole. It was a specific decision in the case of JNPT. It set a precedence that Government policy will prevail over what has been agreed in a specific port," he said. The TPT made a reference and the Ministry examined it, and decided that PSA-Sical will be allowed to participate in the competitive tender, which will be advertised in a few days, he said.

The new container terminal, which is expected to be ready 2006-end, will be under a BOT for 30 years. The berth will be constructed with a 10.7-m draft, and is likely to create a capacity to handle 4.5 lakh TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) annually. The port trust will also stipulate a minimum guaranteed traffic from the first year of operation. The terminal will start with 1.2 lakh TEUs in the first year and gradually move up to 4.5 lakh TEUs in five years. Whether or not the concessionaire reached the particular level of traffic, the company needs to pay the revenue assessed for that volume, Mr Raghupathy said.

PSA-Sical will also be in a position to handle 4.5 lakh TEUs from 2005-06. The terminal handled 3.07 lakh TEUs in 2004-05 against 2.53 lakh TEUs in 2003-04, an increase of 21.05 per cent, he said.

For port users, the new terminal means more number of vessel calls irrespective of whether the present concessionaire bags the terminal. If there is a different concessionaire, there will be competition generated.

Today, the quay length of 340-m at PSA-Sical has been the limiting factor for the number of (vessel) services that the port can receive. This constraint will be removed with the construction of the new terminal, he said.

The expansion would take care of the anticipated growth for the next four or five years. In addition, the port has the flexibility of converting berth nine into a container berth, which will also have a quay length of about 340 m, at short notice.

If the container traffic grows at the present level of around 20 per cent, which it is expected to, the port trust may be inclined to convert berth number nine into a container berth after three years, he said.

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