V.O. Chidambarananar signs Concession Agreement with Tuticorin International Container Terminal Private Limited (J M BAXI Group)
On the 3rd September, a Concession Agreement has been signed between
V.O. Chidambaranar Port Authority (VOCPA), Tuticorin, and Tuticorin International Container Terminal Private Limited (TICTPL) (A wholly owned subsidiary of M/s. JM Baxi Ports & Logistics Limited) (JMBPL) for conversion of Berth No.9 as a Container Terminal at V.O. Chidambaranar Port Authority.
The Concession Agreement was signed on behalf of V.O. Chidambaranar Port Authority, Tuticorin, by Shri T.K. Ramachandran, IAS, Chairman, and on behalf of Tuticorin International Container Terminal Private Limited, by Shri Dhruv Kotak, Managing Director, JM Baxi Ports & Logistics Limited in the presence of Shri Bimal Kumar Jha, Deputy Chairman, VOCPA, Shri V. Surash Babu, Chief Mechanical Engineer, VOCPA, Shri Tamal Roy, Chief Strategy Officer-JMBPL, Shri Sandeep Wadhwa, President (Corporate affairs)- JMBPL, Shri K.K. Krishnadas, President & COO- JMBPL, and other senior officers of the Port and JMBPL.
As per the Concession Agreement, the Container handling facility will be developed by the Concessionaire at an estimated cost of Rs. 434.17 Crores, with an estimated capacity addition of 6,00,000 TEUs per annum.
The Project would be executed on DBFOT (Design, Built, Finance, Operate and Transfer) basis, with a construction period of 21 months and is slated to be completed by December, 2024.
Speaking on the occasion, Shri T.K. Ramachandran, IAS, Chairman, stated that the terminal with a length of 370 meteres and draft of 14.20 metres would be able to cater to vessels upto 8000 TEUs, thereby, facilitate attracting more investments and pave the way for the economic development of the region.
As per the PPP policy of Government of India, V.O. Chidambaranar Port Authority, had floated a global tender and M/s. JM Baxi Ports and Logistics Limited was the successful bidder for the Project, with their offer of Rs.1900.44 per TEU to the Port.
M/s. JM Baxi Ports and Logistics Limited has formed a Special Purpose Vehicle, namely, Tuticorin International Container Terminal Private Limited, to implement this project.
V.O. Chidambaranar Port Authority, presently, the second largest container handling Port in Tamilnadu, has a container handling capacity of 1.17 Million TEUs per annum. The Port had handled 7.6 Lakh TEUs of Containers during the last financial year 2021-22. The Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of the Container traffic of the Port over the last 5 years is 6% and the Port is expected to handle 1.16 Million TEUs by the year 2024-25 and 2 Million TEUs by the year 2034-35.
