Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Limited (APSEZ) on Friday said it has secured a five-year Operation and Maintenance (O&M) contract for the container facility at the Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port in Kolkata.

With this, APSEZ has to deploy cargo handling equipment within seven months from the letter of acceptance (LOA) date, the company said in a statement.

"APSEZ won the five-year O&M 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," the statement said.

"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," it said.

APSEZ whole-time director and CEO Ashwani Gupta said, "The award of the O&M contract for container handling facilities at Netaji Subhas Dock to APSEZ underlines our commitment to develop ports and logistics infrastructure across the country and the potential we see in West Bengal.

"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.” Netaji Subhas Dock is the largest container terminal on the eastern coast of India.

It handled around 0.63 million TEU ( (Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit) in FY2023-24, serving a vast hinterland encompassing West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Assam, the northeastern hill states and the landlocked neighbouring countries of Nepal and Bhutan.

The Kolkata port is 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.

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