Adani’s Mundra Port nearing full capacity in Container handling; capacity addition underway

AHMEDABAD : Mundra Port, India’s biggest commercial and container port located in Gujarat, handled 6.64 million twentyfoot equivalent units or TEUs in FY23 and is banking on a new under construction facility to meet the demand for shipping cargo in steel containers into and out of India’s northwesternregion.

Mundra, the flagship port of Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (APSEZ), India’s biggest private port operator, runs four container terminals with a combined capacity of 7.5 million TEUs.

In FY22, Mundra handled 6.52 million TEUs. Globally, a capacity utilisation of 70 percent is considered the ideal level for ports/terminals to operate efficiently without facing congestion and productivity issues. “At 70 percent capacity utilisation, the terminal works at full efficiency. Above that, the efficiency drops, and delays start occurring,” said a port industry source.

Last year, APSEZ started work on a container terminal which will add as much as 1.2 million TEUs at Mundra port. The firm, though, is yet to disclose a timeline for the new terminal to begin operations.

APSEZ is expected to run the terminalonitsown,sourcessaid.

Containers are the fastest growing cargo segment at Mundra port. Of the 155.54 million tonnes (mt) of cargo handled by Mundra port in FY23, containers accounted for 6.64 million TEUs or some 100 mt, while dry cargo andliquidcargoaccountedfortherest.

APSEZ is adding capacity at Mundra port when it has some 8 years left of the 30-year concession given by the Gujarat government to develop and run the port. The firm is banking on securing extension of the concession from the State Government while investing in a new container terminal at theport.