Essar Ports to handle cargo at Hazira terminal for three years

MUMBAI: Essar Ports has received approval from Gujarat Maritime Board to handle 15 million tonnes of third party cargo at its Hazira terminal over three years. This will help the operator increase third party shipments at the port.

“Earlier, for each third party shipment, we had to seek permission from GMB. Now there is a blanket approval for 5 million each year,” said Essar Ports’ managing director Rajiv Agarwal.

The all-weather deep-draft port has the capacity to handle 30 million tonnes of cargo annually while the port does about 2-3 million tonnes of third party shipments. It is expanding capacity to handle 50 million tonnes annually.

The Gujarat Maritime Port granted the approval under its port policy, as per which jetties made for captive purposes are enabled to handle half of total cargo from third parties.

Agarwal said in the future the company may seek permission to handle 10 million tonnes of third party cargo, double the amount it has been given permission for.