Ennore Port Ltd has commenced activity on at least four major projects at the 12th major port of India located about 24 km north of Chennai Port, Tamil Nadu, as part of its development plan. Ennore is the first port in India to be designated as a public company.

The four projects, which are currently in various stages of execution, are an LNG storage and regasification terminal, an additional coal berth, a container terminal, and a multipurpose cargo terminal.

LNG Terminal: EPL, through Indian Oil Corporation Ltd, has planned to set up a 5-million tpa LNG storage and regasification terminal for import of liquefied natural gas. The Union Cabinet has approved lease of land at Ennore Port for the import terminal. IOCL has already carried out a feasibility study for its proposed terminal with regasification facilities. The public sector oil company will have a majority stake in the project. The project is estimated to cost Rs.4,500 crore and is expected to be commissioned by 2016-17.

Ennore Port_ProjectsMonitorCoal Berth: The port company has started pre-project activities for the construction of a third coal berth that would handle an additional 9 million tonnes of coal required by Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation. TANGEDCO requires the captive berth for exclusive import of coal for its existing thermal power plants as well as for a new joint venture project with NTPC. Construction work is scheduled to begin by end of the current year.

Container and Cargo Terminal: In light of the global trend of containerised transportation of cargo, Ennore Port Ltd has decided to develop a container terminal at an estimated cost of Rs.1,270 crore. The terminal will have a capacity of 1.40 million TEUs and a length of 730 metres. On the other hand, the proposed 2-million tpa multipurpose cargo terminal is being developed to meet the exim traffic of bulk and project cargoes like turbines and generators, and windmills, as well as fertilisers and wooden logs. It would have a quay length of 270 metres. Ennore Port Ltd is developing these two projects jointly on DBFOT basis and has already invited RfQ

Minister for Shipping G.K. Vasan has said that Ennore Port was expected to handle 24 million tonnes during 2013-14 against 17.89 million tonnes in 2012-13. During the 12th Five-Year Plan, the port had plans to increase capacity from 30 million tpa at present to 66.80 million tpa. The minister was speaking during the signing of an agreement between Ennore Port Ltd and Ford India Pvt. Ltd for export of Ford cars though Ennore Port for a period of 10 years.

The agreement with Ford India is one of many initiatives by the Ministry of Shipping to attract investment in the infrastructure sector, particularly in ports and automobile sectors, he noted. Between September 2010 and December 2013 Ennore Port Ltd exported about 4,49,720 automobile units, including those of manufacturers like Ford, Nissan and Ashok Leyland from Chennai, Toyota from Bengaluru, and Honda from Delhi. EPL has already developed a general cargo-cum-car terminal at a cost of around Rs.140 crore, which includes a car parking yard of 35 acres for 10,000 cars at a time, the biggest amongst all the major ports in India.


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