Krishnapatnam Port Co Ltd which runs a private port at Andhra Pradesh’s Nellore district, is expanding the capacity of its container terminal to handle 2 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) from next year.
The container terminal, recently rebranded as Navayuga Container Terminal Pvt Ltd to reflect the name of the holding company, the Navayuga Group, can currently handle 1.2 million TEUs.
The terminal, earlier called Krishpatnam Port Container Terminal Pvt Ltd, recently started container transshipment operations. The expansion involves adding 250 metres of berth-length to the existing 650 metres and erecting three more quay cranes, Vinita Venkatesh, Director, Navayuga Container Terminal, told BusinessLine.
The terminal currently has five super-post panamax quay cranes. The twin-lift, 70-tonne ship-to-shore cranes can do 50 moves per hour, capable of servicing the biggest of container ships.
The berth extension and the commissioning of the three additional quay cranes will be completed by the second quarter of 2019, Venkatesh said without giving investment details.
The container terminal, which started operations in 2012, handled 4,81,408 TEUs in the year ended March 2018, clocking a growth of 88 per cent over the previous year. Krishnapatnam is one of India’s deepest ports with a draft of 18.5 metres.
Venkatesh said the port company is “open” to inducting a global container terminal operating company as a strategic partner.
The port, with a transit storage area of 6,800 acres, has the country’s largest waterfront area of 290 sq km.