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OPERATOR
International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI)
submitted its bid along with some of the world’s biggest
construction companies to build container terminal
Ennore Port, one of India’s major gateways.
Ennore
Port Trust has trimmed down the bidders, which included
ICTSI, from the original 22 that made offers to build a
$305-million container cargo terminal in the port, with
a maximum capacity of 1.5 million 20-foot equivalent
units. ICTSI has placed a bid of its own, while Gammon
Infrastructure Projects has partnered with Dragados
Spain and Australia’s biggest construction firm Leighton
Holdings.
The
other bidders were DP World, which partnered with
India’s IDFC (Infrastructure Development Finance Co.
Ltd.) Projects Inc., while PSA Singapore has also linked
up with ABG Infralogistics Ltd. The Macquarie group, NYK
Line, Mundra Port and Mitsui are the other bidders.
The
bidding faces delays after DP World and PSA plan to go
to court and question the move that trimmed the number
of bidders.
Ennore
port handles “dirty cargo” as it mainly deals with
thermal coal for power stations owned by the Tamil Nadu
Electricity Board.
Documents of the Asian Development Bank, which gave
loans for the port’s development, show that Ennore is
the 12th major port in India and has adequate road and
rail links. It has a 560-meter-long coal wharf for
berthing two panamax- size vessels and fully mechanized
systems for handling 16 million tons of cargo a year.
It was
designed as a world-class port with two breakwaters—one
in the north measuring 3,080 meters, the other in the
south measuring 1,070 meters. It has the capacity to
develop 22 berths for handling a variety of bulk, liquid
and container cargo.
Located
on the Coromandel Coast some 20 kilometers north of
Chennai, Ennore is the first “corporatized” port in
India. Envisioned to become a satellite port to
decongest and improve the environmental quality at the
bustling Chennai Port, Ennore now wants to evolve into a
full-fledged port with the capacity to handle a wide
range of products.
Ennore
Port, designed as Asia’s energy port, has only 16
employees. It operates under a landlord-port concept,
since all services for its operation and maintenance
needs are outsourced to other companies. Plus, the new
terminals are being developed with the participation of
the private sector.
The
company planned to develop in phases facilities for
handling iron ore, coal, petroleum, oil and lubricant
products, liquefied petroleum gas, liquefied natural gas
and containers.
ICTSI,
on the other hand, began its port operations in Manila
in the late 1980s when it took over—under a
concession—the Manila International Container Terminal,
the Philippines’ biggest container port.
Since
then, ICTSI has expanded and won concessions in Buenos
Aires and Vera Cruz, Mexico. It has joined the shipping
and logistics firm American Presidents Line in a
concession in Karachi and won the concession for Dammam
in Saudi Arabia.
Shortly
after winning the bid, the terminal operator was able to
convince the Saudi government to allow it to handle
transshipment cargo for Bahrain and Doha, producing a
substantial increase in volume.
When the
financial crisis struck Asia during 1997 and 1998, ICTSI
sold assets to avoid going belly up.
A few
years ago ICTSI resumed its global expansion, focusing
more on the small- to medium-sized ports.
Today,
ICTSI has facilities in Brazil, China, Colombia,
Ecuador, Georgia, Indonesia, Madagascar, Poland and
Syria. |
