Essar Ports enters into agreement with Visakhapatnam Port Trust

 Essar Ports Ltd., a part of the $39 billion Essar, has announced that Essar Vizag Terminals Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of the company, has entered into a concession agreement with Visakhapatnam Port Trust for development and operations of three iron ore berths at Visakhapatnam Port on BOT basis for 30 years. These three berths (two outer harbour berths and one inner harbour berth) will have a combined capacity of 23 million tonnes per annum (MTPA).
 The concession agreement was signed at a ceremony in Chennai in the presence of GK Vasan, Minister of Shipping as the chief guest, Dr Vishwapati Trivedi, Secretary, Ministry of Shipping and RPS Kahlon, Chairman, Visakhapatnam Port Trust.
 The project will be developed at a cost of ` 1,200 crore over 3 years. Essar Ports will take over the two outer harbour berths soon and the operation and upgradation of the terminal will happen simultaneously. Vishakhapatnam Port handled 12.3 million tonnes of iron ore during FY13, and this traffic is readily available for these berths from commencement.
 “We will develop the terminal to create one of the most competitive, modernised and world-class facilities,” Rajiv Agarwal, MD, Essar Ports, said. “This project will significantly increase our third-party cargo handling capacity as well as boost our presence in the east coast. Iron ore export traffic at Vizag will increase substantially due to the competitiveness of this terminal which will facilitate industrial growth in the region.”

27