JNPT terminal selloff hits a roadblock

MUMBAI: Privatisation is a dirty word at India’s largest container port Jawaharlal Nehru Port. Workers, protesting privatisation of port services, have taken the wind out of the port’s ambitious plans for its new container terminal.

The JNPT board has deferred its decision on the project and may take a call on the issue at its meeting at the end of the month. In response, the workers’ unions, which threatened an indefinite strike against privatisation of port operations, have postponed their strike for now.

Arun Bongirwar, chairman of JNPT, said, “We have not decided on the project yet. We may take up the matter for discussion at the next board meeting.� JNPT was set to issue a global tender for the project, but an aggressive response from the workers has put a spanner in the works.

Port workers came down heavily on the decision and threatened to bring operations to a standstill, if “reckless privatisation� continued. Representatives of workers’ unions said they were not against the new project, but wanted JNPT to operate the terminal.

According to the port’s plans, a new container terminal was to be set up by converting the four existing bulk berths — BB1, BB2, BB3 and BB4. Bulk cargo traffic has been declining and the four berths are currently under-utilised, and hence the decision to set up a container terminal instead, say port officials.

Interestingly, about half-a-dozen international port operators and global shipping giants were interested in building the new container terminal at the port. The project was offered on a BOT (build, operate and transfer) contract for 30 years.

Among the companies that submitted an expression of interest (EoI) are the Port of Singapore Authority (PSA), P&O Ports, Hutchison Port, NYK, Kelang Port, Maersk-Sealand and Evergreen.

Dry bulk cargo traffic at Nhava Sheva is seasonal, and except for a few months, the berths lie idle. The berths were designed for dry bulk imports in vessels up to 70,000 deadweight tonnage (DWT).

P&O Ports, an Australian port operator is already operating a container terminal at JNPT — Nhava Sheva International Container Terminal under a 30-year BOT agreement.