VOC Port signs agreement with container company; to enhance handling capacity

Project cost estimated at ₹434.17 crore

The V.O. Chidambaranar Port Authority has signed a concession agreement with Tuticorin International Container Terminal Private Limited for converting Berth No. 9 as a container terminal here on Sunday.

As per the agreement, the container handling facility would be developed by the concessionaire at an estimated cost of ₹434.17 crore, with an estimated capacity addition of 6 lakh TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) per annum.

The VOC Port Authority chairman T.K. Ramachandran and Tuticorin International Container Terminal Private Limited MD Dhruv Kotak signed the agreement in the presence of Bimal Kumar Jha, Deputy Chairman, VOCPA, V. Suresh Babu, Chief Mechanical Engineer, VOCPA, and other senior officers of the port.

The project would be executed on DBFOT (Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer) basis with a construction period of 21 months. The Port Authority officials said it would be completed by December 2024.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Ramachandran said the terminal with a length of 370 meters and draft of 14.20 metres would be able to cater to vessels up to 8,000 TEUs, thereby, attract more investments and pave the way for economic development of the region.

As per the PPP policy of Government of India, the VOC Port Authority had floated a global tender and M/s. JM Baxi Ports and Logistics Limited was the successful bidder, with their offer of ₹1,900.44 per TEU to the port. The JMBPL had formed a Special Purpose Vehicle, namely, Tuticorin International Container Terminal Private Limited, to implement this project, officials said.

The VOC Port Authority, at present, the second largest container handling port in Tamil Nadu, has a container handling capacity of 1.17 million TEUs per annum. The port had handled 7.6 lakh TEUs of containers during 2021-22. The compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of the container traffic of the port over the last 5 years was 6% and the port is expected to handle 1.16 million TEUs by 2024-25 and 2 million TEUs by 2034-35, officials added.