Mundra on course to become India’s top port of call

Go to the website of the Indian Ports Association (IPA). There you will come across statistics about the ports in India. This data can be misleading, because it does not give information about privately held ports.

Had that data been given, it would have been the beginning of a public embarrassment for the government. It would have confirmed this publication’s statement almost a year ago, that the Mundra Port could soon grow bigger than any other merchant port in the country.

In fact, this has become quite evident from a mere glance at the way volumes have moved through Mundra Port .

Compare this performance with other ports.

Mundra has already begun to account for 14% of cargo moved by all the minor ports put together. This may not be a big deal. But it is an indicator of things to come.

Take the case of coal. Within the next two years, Mundra will have to import nothing less than 35 million tonnes of coal annually merely to feed the requirements of the two mega power plants of Adani Power (4,662 mw) and Tata Power (4,000 mw), both located at Mundra itself. That item alone will propel it to the rank of one of the top three ports in India.

In order to cater to this demand, Mundra is already building a dedicated coal terminal, the largest of its kind in the world, capable of handling 1,500 tonnes an hour. This will be in addition to the coal Mundra imports for other power plants in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan.

Take another item, oil and other liquid (petrochemical and edible oil) products. The New HPCL Mittal Energy (HMEL) plant at Mundra already has a tank farm which can store 3.5 lakh kilolitres (kl), and is building another 7.2 lakh kl for its crude oil. Mundra already has 10.25 lakh kl of tank farm capacity of both HPCL and Indian Oil, making it the largest private sector tank farm location in India.

The Adani group’s own liquid storage requirements (for bunkering and for edible oil required by Adani Wilmar are being increased from the present 81 tanks aggregating 3.45 lakh kl to 6.9 lakh kl. HPCL has a pipeline connecting Panipat to Mundra, while HMEL will connect its storage tanks to Bhatinda in Haryana and the NCR, Delhi.

No merchant port in India is likely to take away this business, as none in the country can berth very large crude carriers, which require a minimum depth of 29 metres, Mundra’s single point mooring (SPM) offers a depth of 32 metres. The port can accommodate four more SPMs, and one is already being built exclusively for HMEL.

Look at container traffic. Last year, Mundra Port accounted for 78% of all container traffic handled by all the minor ports in the country. This number is bound to increase rapidly in the coming years for several reasons.

First, its geographical location. Mundra remains the closest port for industrial and agricultural centres in North and West India. The paucity of passenger traffic along Kutch and Rajasthan makes its railway routes relatively free for cargo railway traffic. When the Dedicated Freight Corridor is ready (expected by 2017), Mundra is likely to remain the biggest beneficiary.

Mundra is also India’s largest port for cars —- Maruti Suzuki at the present, and possibly for at least three other vehicle manufacturers in the near future (Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland and Nissan are in discussions). During the first quarter of 2008-09, Mundra Port handled 16,181 cars. In order to cater to this surging demand, Mundra is building a ro-ro (roll-on-roll-off) berth dedicated exclusively to vehicles.

Moreover, the existing 4 berths are expected to up container traffic this year from 0.7 million TEUs to well over a million.

December itself should see the monthly average of 1,600 TEUs swell to 2,300 TEUs at Mundra. Within the next three years, the port expects to cater to 2.5 million TEUs. Capacity, however, will be expanded to cater to 6.56 million TEUs.

“Some people in the port business talk about capacity utilisation, which is joke,” says Capt Umesh Abhyankar, chief operating officer of Mundra Port. “We plan to operate at not more than 65% of our capacity, so that any ship can call on us with just one hour’s notice.”

Finally, what Mundra offers is lots of land and lots of skilled workers. Without space for storing, loading and evacuation of cargo, a port cannot function. Mundra and other Adani group companies together control over 30,000 acres of land.

It has permitted Mundra to offer space to Maruti-Suzuki for its pre-delivery-inspection bays. It also allows companies like Thermax to construct huge equipment —- like the 600 tonne boiler it recently fabricated and Mundra for export, and is in the process of constructing another weighing 800 tonnes. It has space for coal, fertilisers and foodgrain, in addition to temperature controlled storage.

Add to this the efficiency at the port, and it is easy to understand why Mundra has already become the most profitable port in India. Today, its cranes achieve around 35 moves an hour, which is the international standard. Container vessels turn round within 14-16 hours, compared with longer periods at most ports in India. Liquid tankers turn around within 18-20 hours —- almost 6-10 times faster than any other merchant port in the country.

“By 2012-13, we hope to do 100 million tonnes a year,” adds Abhyankar. Mundra’s growth story will have more achievement to talk about soon.