Mumbai: The Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPA) signed an agreement with JM Baxi Ports and Logistics Ltd (JMBPLL) on Tuesday to operate and maintain two of the terminals inside its premises.
These two terminals are crucial in handling local cargo.
On Tuesday, the agreement was signed by JNPA Chairman Sanjay Sethi and JM Baxi Group's Managing Director Dhru K Kotak to operate the two terminals for a period of 30 years. As per the contract, a special purpose vehicle titled 'Nhava Sheva Distribution Terminal Private Ltd' is formed to manage the port through a public-private partnership.
"The shallow water and new coastal berth terminals shall be developed in a single phase of three years," Mr Sethi said.
According to him, hereon, with JNPA being a landlord port, the responsibilities of marketing, business development, and supporting infrastructure facilities shall be on the government.
The shallow water berth is 445-metres-long with an annual capacity of 4 million metric tonnes (MMT), of which 125 metres is for the Roll-On-Roll-Off terminal. The coastal berth was developed recently in November 2020 to handle around 2.80 MMT of coastal cargo, annually. It has another area of 9 hectares for storage and ancillary operations.
A port and logistics company, won a 30-year concession
In July this year, JM Baxi Group, a port and logistics company, won a 30-year concession to upgrade, operate, maintain and develop a 15-metre deep draft multi-user container terminal. Jawaharlal Nehru Port Container Terminal (JNPCT) was the only container terminal at the port to be handled by the government, as the rest are already privately managed. With this, the JNPA became India's first port to become a 100% landlord port.
With the rights of JNPCT, shallow water berth and new coastal berth terminals with JM Baxi's, it will have an edge over its peers to handle domestic cargo as well as making it the most connected hub in India.
Jawaharlal Nehru Port Container Terminal (JNPCT) was the only container terminal at the port to be handled by the government, as the rest are already privately managed. With this, the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority became India's first port to become a 100% landlord port.
With the rights of JNPCT, shallow water berth and new coastal berth terminals with JM Baxi's, it will have an edge over its peers to handle domestic cargo as well as making it the most connected hub in India.
