The Hindu Business Line : Mundra seeks `Port of Future' berth

WHICH Indian port will be the country's answer to Singapore, Dubai or Rotterdam? The booming economy has prompted most Indian ports to chalk out major plans to fill that slot. But Mundra, a private sector port in Gujarat, believes that it has the magic formula to get it working.

Mundra has been working on improving the railway and road infrastructure for the port located in the Gulf of Kutch. It is busy expanding its capacity. It has the natural advantage of a good draught. The Port is strategically located, being close to international shipping routes and has a vast hinterland in northern and central India. But the biggest advantage that Mundra enjoys, according to Adani Group officials, is that it has a Port and Special Economic Zone (SEZ) as a single complex. In fact, the Mundra Port is set to be part of the upcoming 10,000-hectare Mundra SEZ area.

First, the port.

Mundra has six berths, with two dedicated container berths and a container terminal being operated by P&O Ports (now a part of Dubai Port International). The general cargo berths have a maximum draught of 17.5 metres while the container berths have a depth of 18.5 metres below Chart Datum. Mundra claims to be the only port in India that can handle Capesize vessels on the jetty.

To cater to the growing demand, Mundra is constructing six new berths, of which four will be for general cargo and two for containers, according to the Adani Group Chairman, Mr Gautam Adani. Two general cargo berths will be ready by April 2006, the other two by September 2006 while the two container berths will come up in March 2007, Mr Adani says.

"The Mundra Port today handles dry and liquid bulk, container and crude oil cargo. We will continue to grow these lines of cargo handling by adding more capacity and we anticipate nearly 100 million tonnes of cargo by 2015," Mr Adani says.

The Mundra Port recently commissioned a Single Point Mooring (SPM) facility with a capacity to handle 25 million tonnes of crude per annum. The SPM offers a draught of 32 metres and can handle Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCC) of up to 300,000 tonnes capacity. The Adanis have tied up with Indian Oil Corporation to handle six million tonnes of crude annually for IOC's Panipat refinery and are negotiating for another three million tonnes after the refinery capacity is expanded.

Simultaneously, the Adanis are in discussion with Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL), Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd (ONGC) and the Essar group to use the Mundra SPM for offloading their crude.

The IOC Director (Pipelines Division), Mr A. M Uplenchwar, perhaps gave the best compliment to the Adanis when he came for the commissioning of the SPM facility.

"A few years ago, I do not think anyone in the Adani Group would have even seen how an SPM looks like. Today, they have their own SPM up and running," Mr Uplenchwar said.

Perhaps guided by the same spirit, the Mundra Port has also chalked out a plan to set up a ship-building, repair and breaking yard. The cost estimate of the proposed project is put at Rs 1,600 crore and the company is drawing up a detailed blue-print.Also on the offing is a Rs 1,200-crore liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal on a unique user charge basis. Instead of tying up with a company, the Adanis are planning to let any petroleum company use the LNG terminal by paying a fee.

The SEZ

The Mundra story will be incomplete without a mention of the SEZ. The first phase of the SEZ, covering 6,893 acres, has been notified by the Centre as deemed foreign territory. That makes Mundra the first large format SEZ to be notified by the Government. "The Mundra SEZ will provide integrated infrastructure covering business, living, learning and recreation and other social facilities to make the zone a self-sufficient unit," says the Mundra SEZ Director, Mr S. J. Vijay.

The in-zone Port and container terminal offers operational ease as both the Port and SEZ will be bonded areas and, hence, no Customs clearance will be required for import or export from the territory.

At other SEZs, cargo has to first move out of the Port into the zone after due Customs clearances and the same process has to be employed in the case of finished goods flowing in the reverse direction.

Port and SEZ connectivity

Mundra also enjoys a strategic importance with regard to connectivity. While it is close to the international shipping routes, it has good rail and road connectivity with its hinterland. Mundra is connected to the National Highway 8 through the NH-8A extension and State Highways, SH-6 and SH-48.

Mundra has its own loading/unloading yard and a 57-km rail link to Adipur, from where it is connected with the national rail network. That makes Mundra the closest port by rail to North India.

But the rail distance between Mundra and North India is set to further reduce with the Adani Group, as a 20 per cent equity holder in the Kutch Railway Company, developing two alternative routes. The Gandhidham-Palanpur gauge conversion and the Samakhiali-Bhildi rail link will close the gap between Mundra and Kandla ports with their hinterland by about 350km.

The Kutch Railway Company has already completed the Viramgam-Mehsana gauge conversion, thereby obviating the need for traffic to flow through Ahmedabad, a saving of about 100 km.