Adani Ports to pump ₹53,000 cr to expand capacity of Kattupalli port

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (APSEZ), India’s biggest private port operator, plans to invest as much as ₹53,031 crore to ramp up capacity of Kattupalli port located in Tamil Nadu’s Tiruvallur district to 320 million tonnes (mt).

The port currently has a capacity to handle 24.65 mt of cargo.

In June 2018, APSEZ acquired Kattupalli port from Larsen & Toubro Ltd for Rs 1,950 crore.

Master Plan

Kattupalli currently has approval for constructing five berths with total quay length of 1,900 metres, according to the original master plan. Of this, two berths are operational while the third is under construction.

APSEZ plans to build 9,567 metres of additional quay length besides another 1,250 metres of quay for barge berths and 12 port craft facilities in phases. It has filed a revised master plan with the Ministry of environment, forest and climate change to begin the approval process. BusinessLine has reviewed a copy.

The total quay length of berth proposed as a part of the revised master plan development will be 11,467 metres in addition to 1250 m long barge berths and two single point moorings or SPM’s.

This is the second revised master plan to be filed by Marine Infrastructure Developer Private Limited (MIDPL), 97 per cent owned by Adani Kattupalli Port Pvt Ltd, in less than a year to start the environment and coastal regulation zone (CRZ) approval process for the expansion of Kattupalli.

In July 2018, MIDPL had filed papers to seek approval for expansion of Kattupalli’s capacity to 259 mt.

The expansion will help APSEZ transform into a multi-commodity port for handling cargo such as liquid, bulk, break-bulk, project cargo, dry cargo, general cargo, containers, ro-ro, automobile and other non-hazardous cargoes such as liquid, gas and cryogenic cargo. Depending on the business requirements, LNG will also be handled through FSRU and LPG will be handed through FSO, in addition to land-based terminal, according to the revised master plan development.

APSEZ also plan to develop port back-up industries and industrial development area and its associated infrastructure, based on business requirement.

The revised master plan development of Kattupalli Port will be carried out in total area of 2,472.85 ha which includes 133.50 ha of existing area, 761.8 Ha of government land, 781.4 ha of private land and proposed sea reclamation of 796.15 ha.

The planned expansion will also make Kattupalli India’s deepest port with an average berth depth of as much as 25 metres.

Apart from existing breakwater, two new breakwaters of about total 12.10 km length is proposed, of which the new Northern breakwaters will be about 9.02 and 1.22 kms and the new Southern breakwater will be about 1.86 kms.

Cargo expansion

For easy evacuation of cargo, a new rail, road and utility corridor is also proposed within the existing port boundary. This rail line will connect Kattupalli port with nearby southern rail link at Ennore Rail-yard and proposed Northern Rail Link at L&T spur location. Parallel to the revised master plan development to cater to immediate cargo evacuation requirement, connection to southern rail link is being taken up and separate CRZ clearances are in progress.

When fully operational, Kattupalli will provide direct employment to about 1,500 persons, thereby opening up employment opportunities for the youth in the catchment region. Additionally, the induced development due to port expansion will generate indirect employment for about 4,500 people.

Currently, Kattupalli handles only containers from two berths with quay length of 710 meters, 6 quay cranes, 15 rubber-tyred gantry cranes, 5120 ground slots with the capacity to handle 1.2 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) per annum.

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