Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (APSEZ) on Friday said it has received a letter of intent for the operation and maintenance of the container facility at the Netaji Subhas Dock at the Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port in Calcutta.

“APSEZ won the five-year O&M (operation and maintenance) contract through a competitive bidding process, which mandates the successful bidder to deploy cargo handling equipment within seven months from the letter of acceptance (LOA) date,” APSEZ said in a statement to bourses.

The company did not specify the size of the order stating that it is “not ascertainable”, as it would depend on future cargo.

Netaji Subhas Dock is the largest container terminal on the eastern coast of India. It handled around 0.63 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) in 2023-24, catering to Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Assam, the northeastern states and the landlocked neighbouring countries of Nepal and Bhutan.

According to data from the Indian Ports Association, in April and May, the total traffic to the Kolkata Dock System was 2.35 million tonnes compared to 2.6 million tonnes in the corresponding period of the previous year. The Kolkata port is also the nominated port for the Indo-Bangladesh Protocol on Inland Water Transit and Trade route.

“Netaji Subhas Dock has regular liner service calls from the hub ports of Singapore, Port Kelang and Colombo. The presence of APSEZ at the dock is likely to improve connectivity between the terminal and its container ports, particularly with the transhipment hubs at Vizhinjam and Colombo that are targeted for commissioning during the year,” APSEZ said.

Earlier in 2022, HDC Bulk Terminal Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of APSEZ, had signed an agreement with Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port for the mechanization of berth number 2 at the Haldia Port. That agreement, to maintain and manage the bulk terminal with a capacity of 3.74 million tons per annum, had a much larger concession period of 30 years compared to the current agreement at the NSD of 5 years.

“We will bring our experience of over two decades of efficiently managing various container terminals within India and outside, benefiting customers and the people of the state,” said Ashwani Gupta, whole-time director and CEO, APSEZ.

Sri Lanka plans

The Adani group plans to invest over $1 billion in setting up projects in Sri Lanka to generate electricity from wind in what would be the island nation’s single largest foreign direct investment and the biggest ever power project, sources said.

Adani Green Energy Ltd will set up two wind farms in Sri Lanka’s Mannar town and Pooneryn village in the northern provide with a total installed capacity of 484 megawatt at an investment of about $740 million.