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State-owned Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) handled a record 4.83 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in FY 2018, clocking a growth of 7.4 per cent over the 4.5 million TEUs handled the previous year.
India’s busiest container gateway, which also handles liquid and dry bulk cargo, ended FY18 with total volumes of 66 million tonnes (mt), posting a 6.2 per cent rise over the 62.15 mt in FY17, a spokesman for the port located near Mumbai said.
JNPT has five container terminals, of which four are run by private entities while one is run by the port trust itself.
Top terminal
Gateway Terminals India Pvt Ltd (GTIPL), the facility run by a joint venture between APM Terminals Management BV and Container Corporation of India Ltd (Concor), emerged the top terminal yet again by handling 2.03 million TEUs, up from the 1.79 million TEUs it handled in FY17. APM Terminals is the container port operating unit of Danish conglomerate AP Moller-Maersk Group A/S, which also runs Maersk Line, the world’s biggest container shipping company.
This is the third time GTI has crossed the 2 million TEU mark in a year since FY14 despite a steep rate cut of 44.28 per cent ordered by the Tariff Authority for Major Ports (TAMP) in January 2012. The rate reduction was stayed by the Mumbai High Court.
The container terminal run by the government-owned port authority handled 1.48 million TEUs, lower than the 1.53 million TEUs it handled in FY17.
DP World performance
The operating performance of JNPT in FY18 presents an interesting insight into the two terminals run by DP World Ltd, majority owned by the Dubai government.
Nhava Sheva International Container Terminal Pvt Ltd (NSICT), DP World’s first facility at JNPT and operating since 2000, handled 640,000 TEUs, down from the 728,560 TEUs it loaded in the year ended March 2017. Nhava Sheva (India) Gateway Terminal Pvt Ltd (NSIGT), which was opened in September 2015, handled 660,000 TEUs, up from 445,111 TEUs in FY2017. In less than three years since starting operations, NSIGT has overtaken NSICT in volumes.
On the other hand, the volumes handled by NSICT has been steadily declining since 2012 when TAMP, the rate regulator for major ports, notified a rate cut of 27.85 per cent at the facility. The rate cut was stayed by the Mumbai High Court.
Besides, from 2012, NSICT is contractually mandated to handle only 600,000 TEUs till the 30-year concession it signed with JNPT ends in 2027.
NSIGT capacity
NSIGT is designed to handle 800,000 TEUs a year. It operates under the 2008 tariff guidelines on a revenue share format. NSIGT won the deal by offering to share 28.09 per cent of its annual revenues with JNPT.
NSICT is designed to load 1.2 million TEUs and operates under the 2005 rate guidelines which has become a contentious issue between the government and some 16 terminals covered by this regime across major ports. It follows the royalty model.
DP World, according to EXIM trade and shipping line sources, is diverting business to NSIGT, which sits adjacent to NSICT, because the rate structure under which it operates is “more commercially beneficial” than NSICT.
PSA International
Singapore’s PSA International Pte Ltd, which opened the first phase of a new terminal in February, handled 20,000 TEUs.
The port authority reckon that the port will be able to handle at least one million TEUs more in FY19 with the addition of much-needed capacity.
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