Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) has revealed that its earlier proposal to invite in private operators to convert an existing shallow berth currently used for new vehicles traffic to work with container handling is being rethought. JNPT chairman, Ravi Budhiraja noted, " Nothing has yet been finalised. We are going through various options."
HPH has also grabbed another four berths in a joint venture with the commercial arm of Shanghai's port authority, Shanghai international Port group.
The berth, which offers alongside draught clearance of just 9 metres, is located between the existing JNPT container terminals and Container Terminal III terminal, which will be developed by Gateway Terminals India, a joint venture between Maersk and Concor, as part of a $259.68m scheme. Although 17 companies recently showed interest in the shallow-water berth, the port trust now believes that given the low levels of investment required, it might make sense to operate the facility itself, especially since with throughput levels of between 100,000 and 150,000TEUs there would be little profit to be made, given that only geared vessels could call there. This change of mind is also being driven by the reaction of many of the potential bidders, some of whom are seeking changes in the concession agreement to pay annual lease rentals, rather than the revenue share scheme favoured by the trust.
