The Hindu Business Line : Visakha Container sees long-term biz growth

Visakha Container Terminal Ltd (VCTL) is betting on potential long-term growth at the Vizag port for its business to take off. It has plans to invest Rs 110 crore in phase II of expansion shortly.

Sensing the early mover advantage, VCTL, which is a joint venture of Dubai Ports World and United Liner Agencies of India (ULA), set up operations at the Vizag port in 2003 with an initial investment of Rs 100 crore to create infrastructure facilities for container handling.

IDFC tie-up

The entire funding for phases I and II has been tied up with the IDFC. "We will start phase II once the throughput of the containers crosses 100,000 TEUs a year. Thereafter, it would take 18 months to execute it," Mr Ankit A. Vaishnav, COO of VCTL, told Business Line.

Currently, the company is handling 4,000 TEUs a month. The break-even traffic load is 8,000 TEUs, which it hopes to reach very soon, given the growing opportunities because of the natural advantages the Vizag port enjoys, he said.

Being a congestion-free gateway, the port has greater potential. With JNPT overloaded four times its capacity and the Chennai port also handling far beyond its capacity, it is just a matter of time before brisk business comes the way of Vizag. Similarly, the rail network to the port is the best in the country, he added.

More offers

The growing traffic to China, Japan, and other Far East countries, as well as Singapore being closer by 1,000 nautical miles compared to Mumbai, is creating more attractive opportunities for shippers to transport more freight. This, in turn, opens up more business opportunities for VCTL, he said.

The Bhilai Steel Plant has routed 50 containers via the Vizag port from Ireland and plans to get five more lots, which are being handled by VCTL. Similarly, many companies are opting for Vizag, he said. VCTL organised a trade meet in Hyderabad recently to get feedback from the container trade.

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