Five battle it out for Calcutta

The Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) is responsible for both Calcutta Port, which lies 120 nautical miles inland, and Haldia.  It has named those invited to submit final proposal as: Adani Ports, APM Terminal, DP World, along with two joint-venture consortia comprising Concast Infratech with Hyundai Engineering and Construction, and IL&FS Maritime Infrastructure and Pembinaan Redzai Sdn Bhd.

The Trust now says that a period of between six to eight weeks will elapse before the final selection stage is reached, with the possibility that the two-year construction work could start this October.  Once complete, the new terminal will have a capacity of around 1.2m teu.  Currently container turnover at Calcutta is around 600,000 teu.

The proposed container terminal will have a quay length of 900 m supported by a 37 ha container yard.  Situated at Diamond Harbour, which is about 150 km from the Sandheads, the development would mean ships saving 75 km sailing.  Presently vessels discharge at Diamond Harbour from where cargo is barged to Calcutta.