JSW Infra commissions terminal-1 at NMPT

New Delhi: Ports company JSW Infrastructure has commissioned its first container terminal at New Mangalore Port Trust (NMPT) in Karnataka and will make a phase-wise investment of Rs300 crore to expand its capacity to 4 lakh twenty equipment unit (TEU) by FY24.

The commissioning of the container terminal at NMPT marks foray of JSW Infrastructure into container cargo business. Part of $13 billion steel-to-sports JSW Group, JSW Infrastructure is among the top five port companies in India.

"JSW Infrastructure has commissioned its first container terminal at NMPT. It marks JSW Infrastructure's diversification and foray into the container cargo business," a company statement said on Wednesday. The container business, JSW Infrastructure said, would provide it a firm footing to bid for future container handling projects in Indian and international markets.

"Our terminal at NMPT helps us diversify into container cargo business as part of our strategic roadmap to achieve 200 MTPA cargo capacity in India. The terminal will also help us achieve an optimal cargo mix to steadily increase the share of third-party cargo business," Arun Maheshwari, Joint MD and CEO of JSW Infrastructure said. "In order to tap the emerging business opportunity in container cargo, we are investing more than Rs 300 crore to create a total capacity of close to 400,000 TEUs by FY24," Maheshwari added.

Sharing details of the terminal, the company said it has a 30-year concession agreement with NMPT for the said container terminal on design, build, finance, operate and transfer (DBFOT) basis. The terminal has a quay length of 350 meters and a backup storage area of 15.5 hectares. The terminal has a current cargo capacity of 2.4 Lakh TEUs. Further, the terminal at NMPT is designed to handle mainliner cargo vessels of up to 9,000 TEUs.