Port of Chennai to develop US$833.1 million box shop

GOVERNMENT approval has been won for the development of a INR36.8 trillion container (US$833.1 million) terminal at Chennai that will be able to handle four million TEU a year and reduce transhipment from neighbouring foreign ports, notably the deep water ports of Colombo and Singapore.

The terminal will be developed on a design, build, finance, operate and transfer basis under the public private partnership (PPP) mode with a concession period of 30 years, reports India's Sify Finance portal.

According to Shipping Minister GK Vasan, private parties given the contract to develop the container terminal will invest INR31.2 billion while the Chennai Port will invest INR5.6 billion.

The first phase of the project is slated for completion by 2013 and the entire project is expected to be completed by 2017.

The new container terminal at Chennai is intended to reduce the need for transshipment as the terminal will be able to handle ultra large container vessels with deep drafts.

Chennai has two container terminals with an annual box handling capacity of two million TEU.
(Source:www.schednet.com)