Chennai CT opens doubling capacity with 1.5 million more TEU

THE Port of Chennai home of Tamil Nadu's auto making has opened a new container terminal at the nation's largest east coast port.

The new terminal's annual capacity of 1.5 million TEU wills double the port's capability. The facility is run by Singapore 's PSA International together with local logistics giant Sical. The other container terminal, run by Dubai 's DP World, handled 1.4 million TEU last year.

The new Chennai container terminal is able to accommodate 8,000-TEU vessels, an achievement only one other port in India can offer so far, raising hopes that Chennai could surpass Mumbai - India's busiest container port, despite having to limit ships to 2,500-TEU because of shallow draft.

But American Shipper reports Chennai plans to develop a new deepwater terminal on reclaimed land to handle up to four million TEU a year within a decade.

•  Extracted from Asian Shipper News