DP World plans container port in West Bengal

DP World, on the lookout for more investment opportunities in India, is keen to develop a container port at Kulpi in West Bengal's 24 Parganas district, reported The Hindu.


Discussions with the West Bengal government and the Central government on the project were in an advanced stage, said Anil Singh, senior vice-president and managing director of DP World Subcontinent.


He was speaking after the inauguration of the first phase of the International Container Transhipment Terminal on Vallarpadam Island, close to the Kochi port.


Investment in port infrastructure in India was still viable because there is a shortage of capacity in the country, said chief executive officer of DP World Mohammed Sharaf. The Kulpi project was first mooted 15 years ago and it was to come up within a Special Economic Zone.


Singh said the new DP World facility in Kochi was state-of-the-art and would achieve the highest benchmark in container handling time and turnaround time.


Chairman of Cochin Port Trust N. Ramachandran said that the Port Trust authorities had conveyed its opinion on the Cabotage law, rules governing the movement of domestic cargo.


Amendment in the Cabotage law has been a contentious issue because the present law does not permit foreign flag vessels to operate for coastal cargo.


Both Ramachandran and Singh said that they did not want to comment on the High Court order to continue operation of the Rajiv Gandhi Container Terminal for another three months. The matter is under the consideration of the court and it would not be in order to comment on the case, they said.


Singh had said that as per the initial agreement between DP World and Cochin Port Trust, container operations from Rajiv Gandhi Container Terminal would be shifted to the new facility over a shorter period.


However, there would still have been an overlapping period of about two weeks, he said.


Singh said that all the major shipping lines had shown interest in the Kochi project and expressed the hope that the facility would soon be able to service 10,000 TEU vessels.


Singh said that container trade in India has been growing 15 per cent annually and there was considerable potential to expand the terminal over time.


DP World operates terminals at Mundra, Nhava Sheva, Chennai and Visakhapatnam. In 2010, the company handled nearly 50 million TEUs across its portfolio stretching between the Americas and Asia. Capacity is expected to rise to 91 million TEUs by 2020 in line with market demand.
(Source:http://www.cargonewsasia.com)