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Dakshin Bharat Gateway Terminal Pvt Ltd (DBGT) posted a 40 per cent growth in volumes in FY20, helping the Central government-owned VO Chidambaranar Port Trust (VOCPT), located in Tamil Nadu’s Thoothukudi district, handle 804,584 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) during the fiscal year that ended March 31.
In FY19, VOCPT had handled 738,386 TEUs.
Of the 804,584 TEUs handled at VOCPT, DBGT handled 634,112 TEUs, from 386,376 TEUs in FY19, clocking a growth of about 40 per cent and accounting for about 79 per cent of the overall VOCPT container volumes.
DBGT, one of the two container terminals operating at VOCPT, is a unit of India Ports and Logistics Pvt Ltd.
India Ports and Logistics is 51 per cent owned by Star Ports Ltd, a unit of Mumbai-listed Starlog Enterprises Ltd (earlier known as ABG Infralogistics Ltd), with Bollore Africa Logistics holding the balance stake. The latter is Africa’s biggest transport and logistics operator.
The container terminal run by DBGT has a capacity to load 750,000 TEUs a year.
PSA Sical’s performance
In comparison, PSA Sical Terminals Ltd, the container terminal operating at VOCPT since 1998, handled 170,472 TEUs in FY20, down from 352,010 TEUs the previous fiscal. PSA-Sical is contractually mandated to handle a minimum guaranteed throughput (MGT) of 300,000 TEUs in a year. It is 51 per cent owned by PSA International Pte Ltd, the world’s biggest container terminal operator and a unit of Temasek Holdings Pte Ltd, the sovereign wealth fund of Singapore.
Trade sources said most of the export-import container business at VOCPT has shifted to DBGT due to its deeper draft of 12.8 metres and twin-lift cranes that allows bigger ships to call.
With a draft of 10.7 metres, PSA Sical now handles only ships that ferry containers between two Indian ports.
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