The Cochin Port Trust has decided to go back to private-public participation for its Rs 200-crore international bunkering terminal where vessels calling at the port or passing that way can fill fuel.
After a year of toying with the proposal from the Indian Oil Corporation to fund the project, the port has decided to request the five shortlisted companies to provide the financial modes, said P Ramchandran, port chairman.
“The port did consider the IOC business model of funding the project. But the fund would be treated as debt and considering repayment of the fund with interest, the port fears that it will land the port in a debt trap. Since it has been more than a year after IOC was asked to review its model and no favourable decision has been received, the plan has been dropped. The union shipping ministry has been informed of this and since the matter involves security risks, a detailed study of the companies is to begin very soon.
The environment impact assessment is already on,” he said.
Six companies had expressed interest in the project and those shortlisted are Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd, Indian Oil Tanking Infrastructure, Adani Group, Punj Lloyd Ltd and Gammon India Ltd.
It will be a multi-user liquid terminal on 26 hectares at the special economic zone at Puthuvypu, off Kochi. It will be on a design, build, finance, operate and transfer (DBFOT) basis for a period of 30 years.
Initially, the facility would have a capacity of 2 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) which would later be doubled. With the commissioning of the international container transshipment terminal in a few months, there would be a rise in the number of vessels calling at the port. During the last fiscal, the number of vessels that called at the port went up to 1,278 from 1,082 the previous year.
“As it will be strategically located close to international maritime routes, the terminal will be an ideal location even for vessels passing by which can be fuelled using barges from the terminal. With the Kerala government reducing the tax from 12% to 0.5%, a special rate for bunkering from the terminal, it would prove advantageous to the port,” he said. Even ships passing by can use the facility where bunkering would be done with barges.
About the Rs 3,000-crore international container transshipment terminal, he hoped to complete the work in another two months. “There has been delay in dredging the shipping channel which is expected to be completed soon and hopefully, the ICTT will be commissioned immediately after that,” says Ramachandran whose term gets over in January.