DP World, the world’s third largest container terminal operator, may face a 20 per cent drop in container throughput this year at the five terminals that it operates in India, in tune with the trend being experienced by other major ports in the country due to the downturn.

The container terminal operator may end 2009 with a throughput of about
3.5 million TEUs, which is about 18-20 per cent lower than its combined
throughput last year.

Capt Anil Singh, Managing Director of DP World
(Subcontinent Region), was, however, hopeful that 2010 will get back
the throughput levels of last year.

While continuing with its
expansion plans in India, DP World India is at the moment “standing
back and waiting for the turnaround to happen.” “There is no slowing
down on our expansion plans and our appetite (for expansion) has not
diminished. It is only that this period (downturn) has given us time to
think. There is enough potential for development of additional
container terminal capacities in India,” he told Business Line.

India
at present handles about 8 million TEUs of container traffic and
according to projections, the demand would be about 48 million TEUs by
2050. “It is clear India needs more capacities in container handling
sector,” he pointed out.

DP World is expanding the Nhava Sheva
International Container Terminal at JNPT from the present 1.5 million
TEUs to two million TEUs at a cost of $80 million, while the Vizag
terminal, in which it has a 26 per cent stake, is being ramped up from
100,000 TEUs to 500,000 TEUs.

Work on the Vallarpadam terminal is in
progress and the company expects the one-million TEU facility to be
operational by March 2010. “This will be India’s first transhipment hub
with a deep draft facility that can accommodate vessels of up to 13,000
TEUs. We are setting up the facility at a cost of Rs 3,000 crore,
including road connectivity, which will have a capacity of 3.5 million
TEUs in three years,” Capt Singh said.

At present, an estimated
three million TEUs of transhipment cargo is annually diverted to
Colombo, as India does not yet have a transhipment hub. DP World
expects to grab a significant chunk of this cargo through its
Vallarpadam terminal.

The company has also proposed a 600,000 TEU
terminal at Kulpi in West Bengal, for which it is awaiting necessary
Government clearances.

DP World, which at present operates container
rail services between Ludhiana and JNPT, Mundra and Pipavav, plans to
extend the services in the Kochi–Chennai-Visakhapatnam sector. “We
plan to operate seven rakes in this sector by next year, for which we
will be spending Rs 100 crore,” according to Capt Singh.

Source: The Hindu Business Line

Search to find what you want

• Container turnover in FCT, St. Petersburg to 25.4%, 156.000 TEU in January-February

    In the first two months of this year the throughput of the First Container Terminal (FCT, St. Petersburg) amounted to 156.196 TEUs, 25.4% up from the same period a year earlier.

• VCT cargo turnover by 20%, Q I-III 2009

    Vladivostok Container Terminal cargo turnover decreased by 20% (down to 141,515 TEUs) within 9 months 2009 as compared to the corresponding period of 2008. In September, 2009 Vladivostok container terminal box throughput amounted to 19,177 TEU (- 9.5% as compared to September 2008), stated company’s press-center. Within 9 months, 2009

• FCT Throughput of St. Petersburg to 20.7% – to 76.403 TEU in January this year

    Freight turnover at the First Container Terminal (FCT, St. Petersburg) in January 2010 increased by 20.7% compared with January last year, up to 76.403 TEUs. According to the press service of National Container Company (managed by FCT), this January, its terminals transshipped 37.392 TEUs of outbound commodities and 39.11 TEUs

• NUTEP (Novorossiysk) container throughput up 20.6% to 56,605 TEUs Januar-Juli 09

    In January-July 2009, container throughput of Nodal Transporting and Forwarding Company of Novorossiysk OJSC (NUTEP) fell by 20.6%, year-on-year, to 56,605 TEUs, PortNews IAA learnt from National Container Company managing the terminal.  Container terminal in the port of Novorossiysk (Nodal Transporting and Forwarding Company of NovorossiyskOJSC (NUTEP)) strated container handling in 2004.

• Nehru Port boxes by 7 percent

    Container throughput at India’s largest container port, Jawaharlal Nehru, fell 7 percent in the April-July period compared with a year ago, amid the continuing slump in the country’s foreign trade. Box traffic during the first four months of fiscal 2009-10 declined to 1.13 million 20-foot equivalent units from 1.4 million TEUs,

• Nehru container Fell 8 percent in 2009

    Container throughput at India’s Port of Jawaharlal Nehru dropped by 8 percent in 2009 compared with the previous year as the slump in trade hit cargo volume moving through the country’s largest container gateway. The west coast hub handled 3.8 million 20-foot equivalent units during the year, down from 4.17

• Nehru delays Box Berth Extension

    India’s Port of Jawaharlal Nehru cancelled a global tender to develop its planned 330-meter container berth extension project, originally estimated to cost $130 million. The decision was attributed by local shipping circles to a rather lukewarm response from potential bidders, amid slumping container volumes at Indian ports that saw throughput

• India: Major container ports Sign up 6.32% fall in dealing with

    Top three containers ports — JNPT, Chennai and Tuticorin — run by private container terminal operators, showed negative growth in box handling during the first half of the current fiscal ended September 30. This, in turn, led to a decline of 6.32 per cent in container handling across ports. Major

• If India container traffic 1.5 percent

    Container traffic moving through India’s major ports fell 1.5 percent during the April-December period, the first nine months of fiscal 2009-10, compared with a year earlier, the Indian Ports Association said in a statement on Wednesday.

• India: min transit seeks more container ports

    The shipping ministry plans to give a big push to containerization in India since the country’s rate of containerizing cargo or making break bulk cargo amenable to containers is only 45% compared to the global average of more than 70%. A shipping ministry official told FE that out of 12

• Kolkata port througput container up to 34,287 TEUs in July

     Kolkata Dock System (KDS) handled a record 34,287 TEUs of container traffic in July 2009, according to The Economic Times. This is the largest number of container shipments handled in a single month at the Kolkata docks, eclipsing the previous high of 33,219 TEUs in June 2009. Significantly, during April-July, 2009, KDS

• Jordan to expand container terminal

    The Aqaba Container Terminal (ACT) has announced a terminal expansion project, including a 460 meter extension of the quay, which will increase annual container throughout capacity to two million TEUs when fully completed and equipped. The port’s 2009-2013 action plan calls for capital expenditure of US$235 million, bringing total investment

• Cosco Pacific 3Q net profit down 48% to U.S. $ 40.03 million

    The board of directors of COSCO Pacific Limited (the “Company”) presents the unaudited condensed consolidated results of the Company and its subsidiaries (the “Group”) for the third quarter and the nine months ended 30th September 2009. Results Highlights Profit attributable to the equity holders of the Company for the

• Box Indias traffic on 6 percent

     Container traffic at major ports in India fell 6 percent in the April-October period, the first seven months of fiscal 2009-10, despite a 3.6-percent increase in overall tonnage. The country’s 12 gateway hubs handled 3.9 million 20-foot equivalent units compared with 4.1 million TEUs during the same period the previous fiscal

• Stevedore Eurogate s 2009 Traffic Drops 12.3 percent

    Eurogate, Europe’s biggest container stevedore, said traffic at its 10 container terminals in the North Sea and the Mediterranean declined 12.3 percent in 2009 from a year ago, but it will still book a profit for the year. The Bremen-based group’s overall traffic slipped to 12.5 million 20-foot equivalent units