Essar Ports enters agreement with Visakhapatnam Port Trust.

Essar Vizag Terminals Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Essar Ports Limited has entered into a concession agreement with Visakhapatnam Port Trust for development and operations of 3 iron ore berths at Visakhapatnam Port on BOT basis over a period of 30 years. These 3 berths will have a combined capacity of 23 million tonne per annum.

The project will be developed at a cost of INR 1200 crore over a period of 3 years. The company will take over the two outer harbor berths soon and the operation and upgradation of the terminal will happen simultaneously. Visakhapatnam port handled 12.3 million tonne of iron ore during FY13 and this traffic is readily available for these berths from commencement.

The project will increase the company's total capacity for iron ore export on the east coast to 39 million tonne per annum with 4 highly mechanized iron ore berths.

Steel Guru