Kandla Port to choose ship bunkering developer by March
Kandla Port Trust (KPT) plans to choose a partner to develop a ship bunkering terminal and oil jetty at old Kandla, in India, by March 2013, Indian business newspaper Business Standard reports.
About nine players, including Gammon India, Welspun Infratech and Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) have submitted proposals for the project, according to anonymous sources quoted by Business Standard.
Plans for the project, which will be built and operated as a public-private partnership, include an oil jetty for liquid cargo with a handling capacity of 3.4 million tonnes per annum (mtpa), which would more than triple Kandla port's current total capacity, said to be 1.5 mtpa.
The jetty would be 300 meters wide and able to receive vessels with 13 meter draughts, and the operator will also get 12 acres of land for storage capacity development.
Traffic at the port has jumped from 24.5 million tonnes in 1993-1994 to 81.88 million tonnes in 2010-2011, and the project is intended to ease pressure on existing oil terminals and cater to growing volumes of liquid cargo, according to KPT's request for qualification for the project.
"India has the potential to be a major bunker supplier given the large amount of trade passing through its ports," the statement said.
"Administrative problems have often been blamed for the relatively slow progress made by the country's bunker sector. Infrastructure development in India is progressing at a rapid pace and thus allowing not only the domestic but the international bunker market to grow by leaps and bounds.
"On the west coast, Kandla, Mundra, Mumbai and Cochin are major ports with low taxes and attractive prices."
