The Adani Group will further consolidate its position in the east coast with the acquisition of the Gopalpur Port in Oidisha. Sandwiched between two government-owned major ports at Visakhapatnam and Paradip, respectively, Gopalpur will be the sixth Adani port on the east coast after Dhamra, Gangavaram, Krishnapatnam, Katupalli and Karaikal.
Gopalpur port will add 20 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) cargo handling capacity to the Adani group’s existing capacity of 252 mtpa on the east coast and 607 mtpa capacity across 14 ports countrywide.
Both Paradip and Visakhapatnam ports do not anticipate any impact from the Gopalpur port acquisition due to the distance, according to sources.
However, when asked if cargo may be diverted from the two major ports to Gopalpur, Ennarasu Karunesan, Global Maritime, Port and Logistics Expert, replied, “Yes, cargo will flow wherever there is time and cost efficiency in logistics”, irrespective of whether a port is major (owned by the Central government) or non-major (under state governments or private players).
Adani’s acquisition of Gopalpur port is expected to be a game changer for port infrastructure on the east coast. It is located 290 km north of Visakhapatnam Port Authority (VPA) and 270 km south of Paradip Port Authority (PPA), which have a cargo handling capacity of 125 mpta and 300 mpta, respectively.
The transfer of Gopalpur port from the Odisha Maritime Board to the Adani Group will greatly benefit the country’s export-import trade due to a reduction in logistics cost, Karunesan said.
Over two decades, the Adani Group has provedthat its port operations and management are highly efficient and benchmarked to global standards, he added.