The Hindu Business Line : Mumbai, Chennai port container terminal bids

Hutchison Port Holdings is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hutchison Whampoa Ltd, which is one of the world's leading port investors, developers and operators. It operates 242 berths in 41 ports and handled 47.8 million TEUs (twenty foot equivalent unit) in 2004.

Chennai , Dec. 29

THE Centre has given Hong Kong-based Hutchison Port Holdings security clearance to bid for container terminals in India, according to an industry source.

The clearance was delayed as Indian security agencies had raised concerns over a possible threat to the country's infrastructure, the source said.

The company is bidding for the offshore container terminal in Mumbai and for Chennai port's second container terminal in association with Larsen & Toubro.

It may be recalled that while two other consortium bidders — Port of Singapore Authority/Sical and Emirates Trading Agency/Gammon India — received clearances to bid for the Rs 492-crore project in Chennai, the Centre kept in abeyance the clearance for Hutchison.

Hutchison Port Holdings is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hutchison Whampoa Ltd, which is one of the world's leading port investors, developers and operators.

It operates 242 berths in 41 ports and handled 47.8 million TEUs (twenty foot equivalent unit) in 2004, says information available at its Web site.

The Chennai Port Trust will invest Rs 100 crore in the project for dredging, modernising the wharf and providing connections to the terminal coming up in East Quay.

The quay did not yield even 20 per cent revenue for the port trust, he said.

The second terminal would provide an alternative to the existing private terminal operated by the Chennai Container Terminal (CCT), which is likely to touch one million TEUs in the next couple of years. In the last financial year, CCT handled 6.15 lakh TEUs. For the Rs 1,164-crore offshore terminal in Mumbai, the Mumbai Port Trust will take up the project on BOT (build, own and transfer) basis in two phases — the first phase envisages construction of two berths with a capacity to handle 0.8 million TEUs and the second involves construction of a third berth to take the total capacity to 1.2 million TEUs.