Essar Expands Capacity At Hazira Port With Rs 800 Crore Investment

Hazira (Gujarat): Essar Bulk Terminal Ltd (EBTL) will expand its bulk cargo handling capacity at Hazira Port to 50 million metric tonne per annum from existing 30 MMTPA by December at an investment of Rs 800 crore. EBTL is a special purpose vehicle of Essar Ports Ltd.

The company is investing Rs 800 crore to add 20 MMPTA at its Hazira Port in Surat to its existing 30 MMTPA capacity, Essar Ports Chief Executive Officer Rajiv Agarwal told reporters here.

The expansion work has been going on since the last one-and-a-half years, he said, adding with this, the company's total investment in Hazira Port has gone up to Rs 3,250 crore.

"The 550-metre berth of Essar Bulk Terminal is being expanded by a further 1,100 metre to take it to 1,650 metre. We have already completed work on 330 metre and expect to complete 1,100-metre terminal by December," Agarwal said.

"Post-expansion, the terminal will have the capacity to simultaneously handle seven vessel at any point of time. Currently, the terminal handles two vessels," he said.

The company has witnessed 80 per cent increase in cargo handling capacity in the first quarter of FY17 to 4.4 MMT, as against 2.4 MMT in the corresponding quarter in the previous fiscal, Agarwal said, adding cargo handling is expected to reach 24 MMT in FY 2016-17.

The cargo growth is backed by a ramp up of operations by Essar Steel Plant, which accounts for a bulk of freight handled by the Port, he said.

Apart from Essar Steel Plant, its anchor customer, the expanded terminal will also help handle third-party cargo which will include chemicals, petrochemicals, coal, iron ore, limestone and dolomite, among other commodities.

The EBTL has also received permission from the Gujarat Maritime Board to handle 15 MMT of third-party cargo over three years, he said.

"With this, our third-party cargo handling capacity is expected to grow to 5 MMTPA by financial year 2018 from 0.75 MMPTA in FY 2016," Agarwal said.

Essar Ports has current capacity of 140 MT at Hazira, Vadinar, Paradip, Salaya and Vizag ports, which are estimated to handle around 80 MT cargo in the current fiscal year.

Hazira Port is an all-weather, deep-draft port with 30 MT of dry bulk and break bulk cargo handling capacity, while deep-draft Vadinar Port has a 58 mt of liquid cargo handling capacity. Paradip and Vizag dry bulk terminals have 16 MT capacity each, while the newly commissioned dry bulk terminal at Salaya (in Gujarat) can handle 20 MT.

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