Adani Ports Set To Enter West Bengal Maritime Sector

Kolkata: Adani Ports, which is rapidly expanding its network on the east coast, is set to enter the maritime sector in West Bengal as it emerged as the top bidder for operating a berth at Haldia Dock Complex, an official said on Monday. 

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd outbid city-based Ripley & Co by quoting a royalty of Rs 75 per tonne for the rights to mechanise and run the dry bulk cargo handling berth at HDC of Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port Trust, formerly known as Kolkata Port, he said. 

Adani Group is also one of the bidders for six berths of Kidderpore Dock in Kolkata, the port official said. 

The country's largest private port operator has also shown interest in operating facilities related to inland waterways and said it would bid for multimodal terminals when these will be put under the hammer by Inland Waterways Authority of India.

"Adani is the highest bidder for Haldia berth 2 with Rs 75 per tonne royalty. The process of awarding the contract will take 15-20 days to complete. Adani is one of the companies which have shown interest in bidding for Khidderpore Dock berths. 

"The facility has 20 berths, and six of them will be privatised," SMP Kolkata chairman Vinit Kumar said.

The Haldia berth will be mechanised with an investment of Rs 298.26 crore to handle 3.744 million tonnes of dry bulk cargo. 

The Tariff Authority for Major Ports (TAMP) has approved a cargo handling rate of Rs 335.90 per tonne at the facility. 

The Adani group has an interest in developing inland waterways and will bid for multimodal terminals when it will be put under the hammer, a senior company official said.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)