India to inject $1.8b into port infrastructure

News was prepared under the information support of Online Daily Newspaper on Hellenic and international Shipping "Hellenic Shipping News".

30 Nov 2007

The Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) container port in Mumbai will develop its port infrastructure over the next five years at a cost of US$1.78 billion. The plan calls for the development of a fourth terminal at the port, an extension of Terminal One, deepening and widening harbour channels and the acquisition of three rail-mounted quay cranes and six RTG cranes. When fully developed, the capacity of the fourth container terminal and marine chemical terminal will be 4.4 million TEUs of containers and 15 million tonnes of liquid cargo. The harbour channel will be dredged to accommodate vessels up to a draught of 14m with 6,000 TEU capacity using the tidal window in the first phase. Work on the first phase is expected to start in the beginning of 2008.Trade unions resorted to strike in protest against the refusal of Kochi Port operator DP World to book labourers for handling ICD containers that come to the port by rail.