Dhamra Port, a deep draught port off the coast of north Odisha controlled by Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) has achieved 47% growth in its cargo traffic in 2016-17.
The spike in cargo volumes was on the back of key commodities like coal and iron ore.
In FY17, the port handled 21.4 MnT compared to 14.7 MnT achieved in the year-ago fiscal. Of the total figure, imports contributed 14.4 MnT while exports accounted for the balance cargo volume.
Dhamra port, a deep draft port along the coast of northern Odisha, has two berths with a combined capacity to handle 25 MnT each year. Due to slide in iron ore exports over the past few years, the port barely managed to operate at 50-60% of its rated capacity.
However, Dhamra port has an ambitious plan to ramp up cargo handling capacity to 300 MnT per annum. The authorities of Dhamra Port Company Ltd (DPCL), a special purpose vehicle (SPV) that manages the port operations has sought permission from the Union ministry of environment, forest & climate change to expand capacity. DPCL is a fully owned subsidiary of APSEZ which oversees ports and logistics operations for the Adani Group. The larger plan, here is to scale up the Dhamra port to bring it at par with APSEZ’s flagship port operations at Mundra. The port has been in commercial operations since May 2011.
Reaching a cargo volume of 300 MnT is a long-term vision and may take 2030 or beyond to realise. This master plan envisages 35 berths compared to 14 approved in the original plan.
The massive expansion needs significant land. Hence, DPCL authorities have decided to reclaim 2,000 acres of land after obtaining approval. DPCL, meanwhile, has already received advance possession of 686 acres of land from the Odisha government to go ahead with its second phase expansion.
In the second phase, DPCL is raising cargo capacity to 100 MnT pa to diversify to liquid cargo and containers. This phase expansion needs INR 10,000 crore. In this phase, the proposed LNG terminal costing INR 6,000 crore, is also expected to be commissioned. The port is gearing up to start construction activity on the LNG terminal proposed to be built at a cost of INR 6,000 crore. Apart from Adani Enterprises, Indian Oil and GAIL would have stakes in the project.
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