APM Terminals wins court battle to bid on Mumbai terminal project

APM TERMINALS, Maersk's port operator, has won the right to bid on development of a fourth container terminal at Jawahralal Nehru Port from an Indian Supreme Court ruling.


In 2009, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) refused APMT application because conditions of a licence for its joint venture unit Gateway Terminals India (GTI) prevented a private operator already handling cargo in a port to bid on another terminal project.


Two years before, JNPT refused the company from bidding on a third container terminal on the same grounds. APMT petitioned the Mumbai High Court to bid on the fourth terminal.


Port congestion problems would be addressed with the development of the fourth container terminal which would more than double the port's capacity by 4.8 million TEU from its current four million TEU.


"We need to build capacity badly, that's our priority," said JN Port chairman L Radhakrishnan in a report from Mumbai-based Indian Urban Infrastructure Review. "Last year, the three container loading facilities at the port operated at 113 per cent of their combined capacities. No port can operate at such levels; the machinery will break down."


The container terminal has five bidders: DP World, PSA, Mundra Port, GVK Group and Sterlite Industries.
(Source:http://www.schednet.com)