Increased Iron Ore Handling Facilities at New Mangalore Port

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Oct. 20 – The New Mangalore Port Trust (NMPT) has signed an agreement with Sical Iron Ore Terminal (Mangalore) Ltd., a subsidiary of the Chennai-based Sical Logistics to set up mechanized iron ore handling facility.

The port has been handling iron ore fines in 2003 and volumes have been increasing steadily since then. Last year, there were eight million tons handled manually. The new investment mechanized this process and will lead to increased handling capabilities.

The new US$61million facility will come up at deep draft multipurpose berthon a build, operate and transfer basis. It is expected to speed up ore handling and reduce dependence on manual labor. The project will be funded by Sical Logistics and has offered 37 percent of the gross revenue share to the port and an annual US$2.5million license fee.

The facility is expected to finish by December 2012 and will reduce cargo handling costs and pollution due to the movement of trucks transporting iron ore. The pollution coming from the manual handling of iron ore in the port and its adjoining areas will decrease with the implementation of the project. The operator will provide services with increased productivity and efficiency as per set standard performance.

“This arrangement is typical of the type of domestic infrastructure arrangement that is taking place in India today,” Chris Devonshire-Ellis, managing partner of Dezan Shira & Associates in India told India Briefing. “Sical Logistics is a listed company in India whose stock price has soared in recent months specifically due to foreign institutional investors getting involved in, and indirectly financing the opportunities that exist in Indian infrastructure development projects.”