French shipping group CMA CGM and Indian port developer Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) yesterday signed a joint venture agreement to operate a new container terminal (CT4) at Mundra Port, in the Indian state of Gujarat, CMA CGM reports.
The agreement implies a joint running of the facility by APSEZ and CMA CGM’s port operating subsidiary CMA Terminals for the next 15 years with an option to extend the contract twice for 10 more years.
According to CMA CGM, the construction of CT4 has been completed 3 months ahead of schedule. The 1.3 mln TEU facility spans over 27 hectares, with a 650m long quay and a draft of 16.5m. CT4 is equipped with 4 super post-Panamax STS cranes with twin-lift capability on the quay, making it the only container terminal on the west coast of India where the world’s Ultra Large Container Vessels of 18,000 TEU can call. The yard equipment includes 12 RTG cranes with a lifting capacity of 41 tonne and 7 containers wide plus truck lane.
CT4 has become the fourth container facility in Mundra bringing the port’s total container handling capacity to 5.5 mln TEU and making it India’s largest container port. Mundra’s other container facilities include APSEZ-operated Adani Mundra Container Terminal, Adani International Container Terminal (a JV between APSEZ and MSC’s TIL) and DP World’s Mundra International Container Terminal.
Rodolphe Saadé, CMA CGM’s Chief Executive Officer, commented: “We have been present in India for over three decades now and employ 4,000 people. This joint-venture with Adani Ports reinforces our position in one of the world’s fastest growing economies and highlights our firm belief in the potential growth of trade between India and the rest of the world.”
With CT4, CMA CGM will have 28 container terminals in its portfolio. It is the company’s first port investment in India and demonstrates its ambition to further increase its presence in this strategic and fast-developing country. CMA CGM is present in India since 1984 and with its 29 offices offers a wide range of shipping and intermodal solutions covering 51 inland locations, 6 gateway ports and 7 feeder ports in the country. The company offers connections to the port terminals through dedicated block trains and other intermodal options.
APSEZ, part of the Adani Group, is India’s #1 private port infrastructure developer. It runs three operating container handling facilities at Mundra, Hazira and Kattupalli and develops a transhipment hub in Vizinjham in Kerala and two other under construction terminals at Ennore in Tamil Nadu and Dhamra in Odisha.
