Hinting that the upcoming container port at Vadhvan in Maharashtra poses little threat to ports in neighbouring Gujarat, Girish Aggarwal, managing director of Gujarat Pipavav Port Ltd (APM Terminals Pipavav) said that the both Mundra and Pipavav will continue to be “cheapest hinterland-connected ports.”
“North India is landlocked and between us and Mundra, we continue to be the cheapest hinterland connected ports vis-a-vis a Vadhvan or a Nhava Sheva (in Maharashtra).” Aggarwal said during an earnings call held earlier this week. Talking about any possible competition from the upcoming Vadhvan port, Aggarwal said, “There is enough and more local cargo in the port of Pipavav and hence we stand on our own and that cargo cannot go anywhere.”
APM Terminals which currently has a four percent market share in India’s container business, operates the port at Pipavav, as well as the a container terminal through a joint venture — the Gateway Terminals India Pvt Ltd — with Container Corporation of India (Concor) at Jawaharlal Nehru Port at Nhava Sheva in Maharashtra.
Meanwhile, the under construction Vadhvan port at Palghar in Maharashtra will have container handling capacity of 24.5 million TEUs and the Phase-1 of the project is scheduled to be commissioned by 2029.
The Pipavav port official said that the proposed expressway connecting Deesa in the North Gujarat to Pipavav will help attract additional cargo volumes to Pipavav port in the future. Pointing out that rail will continue to be the best mode for movement of cargo to and from the port, Aggarwal said, “We continue to have 62-65 percent of our movement of cargo by rail which is broadly stable.”
The quantum of containers handled by the company saw a 14.1 percent decline in FY 2025. Compared to 808,000 TEUs in FY 2024, the company handled only 694000 TEUs.
The number of container trains handled also declined by a similar percentage with the port handling 1961 trains during the year, compared to 2281 trains during FY 24.
The company which currently awaits the renewal of its concession agreement with Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) said that it will start work on the new liquid jetty at Pipavav port in the second quarter of the current fiscal. This jetty with a capacity of 3.2 million tonnes is expected to go live in the second quarter of 2026-27.
Published on May 31, 2025
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