By Our Correspondent, Paradip, March 7, 2015

Paradip Port Trust [PPT] on Saturday signed a concession agreement with Paradip International Cargo Terminal Pvt. Ltd., (PICT) for construction/development of a multipurpose berth through public private participation (PPP) mode on Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis in order to cater to the container traffic and clean Cargo at the Port.

The Concession Agreement was signed by PPT chairman, M.T. Krishna Babu, on behalf of Paradip Port and Dhruv Krishna Kotak on behalf of Paradip International Cargo Terminal Pvt. Ltd. (PICT) in the presence of the senior officers of PPTt and top employees of J.M. Baxi Group.

A Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) has been set up by United Liner Agencies India (Private) Ltd. which is a part of J.M. Baxi Group.

J.M. Baxi Group is one of India’s largest and most experienced Groups in Shipping and Logistics and has been operating at almost all the Ports in the country for the last 100 years. They are operating a state-of-the-art Container Terminal at Visakhapatnam on a 30 year BOT basis.

PPT spokesperson said, PICT became successful as the operator for this Terminal after being selected through a competitive bidding process. The concessionaire shall be responsible for financing, designing, construction, commissioning of the Project along with operation, management and maintenance under the concession agreement.

The concession period is 30 (thirty) years. The estimated cost is pegged at Rs.430.78 crores keeping with a construction period of 3 years. Out of this amount, Rs. 356.54 crores is the BOT operator’s component and Rs.74.24 crore is the PPT’S component towards capital dredging.

On completion of construction, five million tonnes of cargo per annum shall be added to the capacity of the Port. The draught of the proposed Berth will be 16 metres. with a length of 450 metres which will facilitate handling of cape size vessels upto 1,25,000 DWT.

The Berth will be equipped with modern and efficient machineries equipment like Mobile Harbour Cranes, Rubber Tyre Gantry Cranes, Reach Stackers and Forklifts/Payloaders to handle non-hazardous and dust free cargo including Iron & Steel products, Aluminium Ingots, Pig Iron, Finished Fertilisers, Food Grains, Sugar (both raw & finished ) and Containers .

A separate Rail siding is planned for the Berth where Rail loading/unloading of both Containers and other Clean Cargo can take place. This will enhance the viability of the project by attracting Rail-Borne Cargo.

This Project is envisaged to be developed at new location i.e. on the southern side where the area will be clean and will not be mixed up with other cargo. This will attract clean cargo and Containers to come to Paradip Port, in view of the rapid industrialisation of the Port’s hinterland, PPT spokes person claimed.