Kandla Port Trust on expansion mode; eyes 180 mt capacity by 2020.

In a bid to consolidate its position as one of the largest ports in India, Kandla Port Trust (KPT) is undertaking several measures including expansion of jetties, revision of rentals on storage and achieving higher discharge rates.

The measures are collectively aimed at taking up KPT's total handling capacity from 120 million tonnes (MT) as on date to 180 mt by 2020. For this, KPT is enhancing both liquid and dry cargo handling capacities at the major port.

Among such measures include the recent revision of rental rates on storage which have been rationalised to Rs 130 per kiloliter (kl) per month, down from Rs 500 kl per month in recent past. According to Ravi Parmar, chairman of KPT, the revision of rates alone have led to its profits jump by 100 per cent in financial year 2016-17 to close at Rs 700 crore.


Having seen diversion of traffic and losing pace against other major ports in liquid and dry cargo, KPT is undertaking measures to regain its share.

To begin with, since February this year, KPT started handling container cargo as well. With coastal movement of cargo, growth in container cargo would come to KPT, felt Parmar. 'Container is the future of port business. If we are not in this crucial segment, we will lose out,' Parmar told Business Standard.

Already this year from Kandla to Chabahar port in Iran, a 300 containers vessel has gone with a consignment of basmati rice. The Chabahar port is being jointly developed by KPT (40 per cent equity) along with JNPT (60 per cent equity).

However, in liquid cargo, lately Kandla port had begun witnessing storage capacity constraints that led to auctioning of plots for inviting more tank storage owners. As far as liquid cargo at KPT goes, there was a lack of storage facility and handling capacity. Lack of storage coupled with increased rental value, diverted some traffic to other ports.

'Kandla port is emerging as a hub for storage vegetable oils and chemicals. We took a strategic decision of more auction of plots for purpose of tank storage. Our storage capacity was limited and import was higher. So there was no storage available. So whatever storage was available was given on a premium. Tank owners began charging higher rates making Kandla uncompetitive against other ports like Mundra and Hazira.

The auctioning of plots would create additional capacity for 1.5 mt, leading to 2.5 mt of liquid storage capacity. In addition, rentals have also come down from Rs 500 kl per month to now Rs 130 kl per month, resulting in reversal of cargo diversion. As a result, in FY17, KPT handled 12 mt of liquid cargo, becoming a hub for vegetable oils and chemicals, which is up from 11.5 mt in FY16.

BS