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Adani Hazira
Container Terminal set to roll on August 1
Salient features of this brand
new gateway highlighted to Mumbai trade
The Adani Hazira Container
Terminal (AHCT), described as the most opportune container trade gateway of
north-west India, is set to be commissioned on August 1.
This was announced to the Mumbai
trade earlier this week by senior officials of Adani Hazira Port Pvt. Ltd and
APSEZ, among them being Capt. Anil Kishore Singh, Senior Vice-President and
Business Head; Capt. Sandeep Mehta, CEO, Container and Logistics Business, APSEZ;
Capt. C. V. Ramnath, General Manager, Container Terminal, and Mr Harikrishnan
Sundaram, AGM-Business Development, in the presence of Mr Karan Adani, other
senior officials of APSEZ, and a cross-section of leading representatives from
the trade.
The container terminal is part of
the multi-purpose Adani Hazira Port (located 38 km from Surat, Gujarat. It
already commenced bulk operations in May.
It was highlighted that the
development of this project was spearheaded, from start to finish and in record
time, by Mr Karan Adani, son of Adani Group Chairman, Mr Gautam Adani.
The first vessel to call at the
terminal is expected to be from the ‘Prime Minister’ class of SCI’s Smile
service.
It was pointed out that the
terminal will initially start, in the first phase, with 2 berths of 650-m quay
and capacity to handle close to 1 million TEUs per annum. Four post-Panamax
RMQCs and 12 RTGCs are in place, with 2 more quay cranes expected in the coming
9 months and 4 RTGCs by March 2013.
The all-weather terminal has
3,500 ground slots and 120 reefer plug points at present, in addition to on-dock
CFS for stuffing/destuffing and warehousing of containerised cargo. The
warehousing space presently available is 150,000 sq. ft.
The aim is to have 4 berths with
2 million TEUs capacity in 2 years and about 6 million TEUs capacity over the
long term of 6-8 years, it was disclosed.
The terminal’s hinterland
comprises South Gujarat, Central India, North Maharashtra and even South
Rajasthan, with cargo potential of over 1.5 million TEUs. South Gujarat itself
could generate 1 million TEUs of containerised cargo in the near future, it was
underscored.
The terminal and port are
connected to National Highway 6 by 4-lane road, which is being expanded to
6-lane. For rail connectivity, the port has an agreement with Kribhco to use its
rail siding located at a distance of 14 km from the terminal and capable of
handling 6-8 trains a day. The long-term plan was to have on-dock rail, which
should be in place in 24-30 months, it was disclosed.
The present draught at the
facility is 12.5 metres, which would be dredged to 15 metres before the next
monsoon, making it capable of handling large vessels.
Also highlighted was that AHCT
would be the country's first e-terminal, or paperless terminal, thanks to the
implementation of ACTOS, a unique web-based container terminal operating
software developed by Adani and CMC-TCS, which would facilitate online customer
interface directly linking the terminal, lines, Customs, etc.
Adani Hazira Port Pvt. Ltd is the developer and
operator of this deep-draught private commercial port and Hazira under a
sub-concession agreement with Hazira Port Pvt. Ltd (Shell B. V. and Gaz De
France JV that operate an LNG terminal under a concession agreement with the
Gujarat government). Hazira Port Pvt. Ltd granted an exclusive sub-concession to
Adani Hazira Port Pvt. Ltd to develop non-LNG port facilities at Hazira.
Source :
Exim News Service - MUMBAI, June 21
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