Gujarat Pipavav drops container berth plan

MUMBAI: Gujarat Pipavav, run by AP Moller-Maersk group, dropped its plan to build a new container berth at its port and put its plan to increase bulk cargo handling capacity on hold, thus slashing the cost of expansion to $76 million from $199 million earlier. The company, in a regulatory filing on BSE, said that against the earlier to plan to build 348 meter new container berth, it will now just look at strengthening its current multi-purpose berth to handle more container cargo.

Container handling capacity at the end of expansion will jump from 850,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) to 1.35 million TEUs. It was earlier suppose to go up to 1.50 million TEUs. The Pipavav Port, situated on Saurashtra coast in Amreli district, was also earlier going to increase bulk handling capacity to 20 million tonnes (mmt) from 4-5 mmt currently. This plan is now on hold given the declining cargo volumes in the segment. “We have no visibility on the bulk business. There are no new power plants in the region,” managing director Prakash Tulsiani told ET. The company saw a decrease of bulk volumes by 29% in the quarter ended December compared with the same quarter last year, mainly hurt by declining coal imports.