PSA lands Mumbai port concession

   The global container terminal operator PSA International has won a bid to build the fourth container terminal at the Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNP) complex outside of Mumbai.
   The 30-year concession will see Singapore-based PSA develop and operate the Bharat Mumbai Container Terminal (BMCT), which is designed to have 2,000 meters of quay and to handle 4.8 million TEUs per year. The terminal would have the deepest berths in the port complex, at 16.5 meters.
   The concession would seem to bring to a close a long-running chapter in the development of India’s largest container gateway. The Indian government has tried for years to add a fourth terminal at JNP (also known as Nhava Sheva), but several rounds of bidding have been unsuccessful for various reasons.
   At one point, PSA rival APM Terminals had won a bid to build the fourth terminal, but vacated the bid after it deemed India’s tariff restrictions too onerous. BMCT gives PSA a stake in India’s biggest port, where rivals APMT and DP World already operate terminals (the government operates the third existing terminal).