The Hindu Business Line : Kochi box transhipment terminal contract

DUBAI Ports International has incorporated India Gateway Terminal Private Ltd to manage the Rajiv Gandhi Container Terminal (RGCT) and later on to develop and manage the proposed international container transhipment terminal (ICTT) at Vallarpadam.

A top DPI official said that the India Gateway Terminal was registered in Kochi recently. "As of now, it is a 100 per cent subsidiary of DPI. However, a couple of other partners are expected to come on board. Our interest is primarily to get partners with strategic presence," the official said.

Kochi-based Chakiat Agencies Pvt Ltd has expressed interest in the project. The exact percentage of equity to be put in by Chakiat has not been firmed up as yet. "This equity investment by Chakiat is more based on the relationship enjoyed between the two of us over the years," the official said.

Apart from Chakiat, several other parties, including financial institutions and infrastructure development organisations, have expressed interest in the Rs 2,118-crore project, the official said without disclosing the names of potential partners with whom DPI is finalising arrangements to join the India Gateway Terminal.

DPI, the international port management and consultancy arm of Dubai Government's Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation had won the bid to develop and operate the ICTT at Kochi port by quoting the highest revenue share of 33.30 per cent. The Cochin Port Trust has issued a Letter of Intent (LoI) to DPI after the proposal was cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA). The successful bidder will have to accept and return the LoI by October 13 and sign the licence agreement with the port trust before November 24. The ICTT will be developed as a load centre to cater to large container vessels having a capacity of over 8,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs).

Meanwhile, the port trust officials said here that the congestion problem facing the RGCT has eased drastically. "The situation is back to normal since Monday," he stated. In the wake of the congestion at the RGCT, the weekly container service run by a consortium of P&O Nedlloyd, Mitsui O.S.K.Lines and Delmas linking Kochi with Port Klang, Singapore and East Africa had decided to drop Kochi and opt for Tuticorin as their new port of call. P&O Nedlloyd's 1,116 TEU capacity vessel `Malindi' called at Tuticorin on Monday to mark the inaugural service.