DP World invests Rs 100 cr for quay cranes

Chennai: The Dubai-based DP World, which owns DP World Chennai, the company that operates a private container terminal at the Chennai port, proposes to invest Rs 100 crore in the Chennai subsidiary. The investment will be made to purchase two new quay cranes.

The two quay cranes will be imported from China and are likely to be commissioned by September. The terminal currently has seven quay cranes – five super post panamax and two post panamax – and 24 Rubber Tyre Gantry Cranes.

With this, the total investment in the container terminal at the Chennai port will increase to nearly Rs 600 crore since the private player took over in December 2001.

In 2008, the terminal handled 1.20 million TEUs (twenty foot equivalent units), a 14 per cent increase over the previous year’s handling of 1.05 million TEUs. Among the global top 100 terminal, DP World Chennai is now ranked 83rd as against 87th last year, he said.

Also, DP World Chennai has been awarded the ISO 28000 standard for supply chain security management. The terminal now joins DP World’s Nhava Sheva and Mundra International Container Terminal as the only three facilities in the country to be so recognised.

The certification, given by Det Norske Veritas, has set in place processes and mechanism to address security vulnerabilities at strategic and operational levels and to assist with the establishment of preventive action plans.