JSW Infra to invest ₹152 crore for capacity expansion of New Mangalore Container Terminal
JSW Infrastructure, the ports business of Sajjan Jindal-led JSW Group, will invest about ₹152 crore for the capacity expansion of the New Mangalore Container Terminal (NMCT). The company will fund the expansion from the proceeds of its planned ₹2,800-crore initial public offering (IPO).
The modernisation efforts would be undertaken by JSW Mangalore Container Terminal Private (MTPL), a subsidiary of JSW Infrastructure.
According to a 30-year concession agreement signed with New Mangalore Port Trust (NMPT), which houses the container terminal, JSW Infrastructure can increase the capacity to 6.02 Million Tonnes Per Annum (MTPA), which includes addition of 119,574 Twenty-foot Equivalent Units (TEUs).
The current installed capacity at NMCT, which handles containers and other cargoes, is 4.2 MTPA (including 239,148 TEU and 0.64 MTPA for bulk cargo). The container terminal has a backup storage area of 65,000 square metres for storage of containers.
Under the concession agreement signed in January 2020, MTPL will provide equipment for handling containers and other cargoes on a Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer (DBFOT) basis.
The construction for the second phase of the concession agreement is expected to commence by September 2023.
When contacted, JSW Group’s official spokesperson declined to comment
Last week JSW Infrastructure filed a Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP), or initial papers, with the regulator to raise upto `2,800 crore through an IPO. This would be the first IPO from JSW Group in the past 13 years, after the listing of JSW Energy in 2010.
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The IPO would be through a fresh issuance of shares, and the promoters of the company will not be diluting their current stakes. JSW Infrastructure will use the proceeds to retire debt and fund its capacity expansion plans, according to the DRHP.
With an installed cargo handling capacity of 153.43 million tonne per annum as of December 31, 2022, JSW Infrastructure is the second largest commercial port operator in India in terms of cargo handling capacity.