The Madras High Court has granted an interim stay against converting Jawahar Dock (East) berth in Chennai port into a container terminal.

The order was given based on a writ petition filed by the Tamil Nadu Power Producers Association, which said the conversion would create hardship to private coal importers and that there was not enough capacity at Ennore port to handle coal for them, according to an official of the association.

A senior official of the Chennai Port Trust also confirmed that the High Court has given an interim stay.

The association said the port trust should not go ahead with the container terminal project since there was a case in the Supreme Court on shifting coal handling to Ennore

The port stopped handling dusty cargo such as coal and iron ore, following a direction from the Madras High Court to move the cargo to Ennore.

Financial bid In a related development, three short-listed bidders — DP World, PSA and Adani — for the container terminal project did not submit their financial bids. This could be due to the high reserve tariff, which was based on JNPT and also due to the High Court order, according to Chennai Port Trust board members.

At the meeting of Chennai Port’s board, a member suggested that ChPT could look at revising the reserve tariff based on nearby ports, including Ennore, to make it viable, sources said.

Jawahar Dock (East) berth was used to handle coal till a few years back, but has been lying unused after coal handling was shifted to Ennore port. ChPT plans to give the berth to a private player on a 30-year concession on design, build, finance, operate and transfer basis.

A few modifications will be required before giving JD East to the private player. For instance, the approach channel for ships to enter the Jawahar Dock needs to be widened and the access road needs to be improved.

On the eastern side, there are large storage tanks and godowns that must be removed to make space to stack containers, he said.

raja.simhan@thehindu.co.in

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