Industrialist Sajjan Jindal-led JSW Infrastructure has invested about Rs 1,300 crore to set up a fully-mechanized terminal at Paradip Port Trust in Odisha, which commenced operations today.
The terminal, Paradip East Quay Coal Terminal, has an annual coal handling capacity of 30 million tonne, the company said in a statement.
The coal terminal has been built as a cape compliant terminal and will handle capesize vessels once the dredging at Paradip Port is completed. The terminal has the capacity to unload 25 rakes per day and can load two vessels simultaneously. The infrastructure of the terminal is built to ensure higher productivity, while reducing overall logistics cost to power producers.
JSW Infrastructure had won the bid from Paradip Port Trust to develop a fully-mechanized coal terminal on Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis for 30 years. Following the commissioning of this coal terminal, JSW Infrastructure’s current cargo capacity crosses 150 million tonne per annum (MTPA).
The company aims to have a total cargo handling capacity of 200 MTPA by financial year 2024.
“Paradip Port continues to be an attractive sea route for coal movement. With the commissioning of this terminal, India can now offer cape size shipments with efficient operations. During the last few months, steam coal prices globally have witnessed a sharp increase forcing thermal power plants and other coal-based industries to switch to domestic coal,” Arun Maheshwari, Joint manging director and Chief executive officer of JSW Infrastructure said.
“Start of this coal terminal has come at the right time to fill up the demand gap of domestic coal. Through high productivity and larger shipment size, we hope to reduce overall logistics costs for our coal cargo customers,” he added.
JSW Infrastructure also has an Iron ore terminal at Paradip Port with a capacity to handle 10 MTPA of iron ore and pellets. The terminal is designed to load cape vessels within 48 hours and has recently achieved the highest load rate of over 1-lakh tonne per day which is the best ever by any port in India.
