OREANDA-NEWS. Essar Ports Limited (EPL) today announced the taking over of Vishakhapatnam Port Trust’s (VPT's) Iron Ore Handling Complex (OHC) on a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) basis for a period of 30 years. Essar Vizag Terminals Limited (EVTL), a wholly owned subsidiary of EPL, will comprise three berths (two outer harbor berths and one inner harbor berth) with a combined capacity of 23 Million Tonnes per Annum (MTPA) which will be developed in two phases.

“Enhancing the cargo handling capacity and mechanization of port facilities for efficient management is crucial for long term sustenance. We are very sure that Essar will develop the OHC facility with latest state-of art handling facilities and achieve higher loading rate thereby reducing the overall turn around by at least 50 percent”- Mr M T Krishna Babu, Chairman, Vizag Port Trust (VPT).

The project will be developed at a cost of Rs1200 crore over a period of three years and will cover the upgradation of Outer Harbor Berths (OB I & II) in  Phase I and mechanization of inner harbor berth (WQ-I) in Phase II. With the takeover of the outer berths, the operation and upgradation of the terminal will be carried out simultaneously.

Commenting on the development, Mr Rajiv Agarwal, CEO and Managing Director, Essar Ports, said: “The facility is well placed to cater to both the domestic and international steel industry. It will serve major iron ore consuming countries like China, Japan and Korea in addition to coastal movement within India. The facility has dedicated rail connectivity to India’s iron ore mining belt. This, along with the mechanized CQ III facility in Paradip port, will take Essar Port’s total east coast iron ore handling capacity to 39 MTPA.”

Mr Ch Satyanand, CEO, EVTL, added: “It is a proud moment for us as we will now be operating the Vizag Port’s prestigious mechanized iron ore handling complex. We expect to achieve one of the highest cargo handling capacities across ports in India.”

EVTL has taken over the ore handling complex of the VPT by paying an upfront payment of Rs185 crore. In addition, EVTL will also pay a revenue share to VPT. VPT had handled close to 14 MT of iron ore during FY 14, the highest by any port in the country.

About Essar Ports
Essar Ports Limited is one of the largest port companies in India with a current capacity of 104 MMTPA. The capacity is being expanded to more than 200 MMTPA over the next few years.

Essar Ports has three operational terminals at Hazira, Vadinar and Paradip. The Hazira port is an all-weather, deep-draft port with 30 MMTPA of dry bulk and break bulk cargo handling capacity. Vadinar is also an all-weather, deep-draft port with 58 MMTPA of liquid cargo handling capacity. Paradip, a dry bulk terminal, was commissioned in December 2012 and is an all-weather, deep-draft port with 16 MMTPA of dry bulk cargo handling capacity.

Essar Ports is currently developing one terminal at Paradip which will be a coal berth of 14 MMTPA. The company is also setting up a dry bulk terminal at Salaya with a capacity of 20 MMTPA. Additionally, the company plans to expand its Hazira port capacity by 20 MMTPA – taking its capacity to 50 MMTPA. The three iron ore berths will have a capacity of 23 MMTPA at Vizag Port.