Essar Ports eyes 10% market share, to spend Rs 2,600 cr

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Ruias-promoted Essar Ports on Sunday said it is aiming to increase its market share in terms of capacity and cargo-handling to 10 per cent by 2013-14 and planning an expenditure of Rs 2,600 crore.

"We plan to increase our market share to 10 per cent by 2013-14 from 8 per cent in terms of capacity and 6 per cent in terms of cargo handling at present. We are in the process of implementing Rs 9,300-crore expansion plan," Essar Ports CEO and MD Rajiv Agarwal told agencies.

Agarwal said while the company has already invested Rs 6,700 crore to augment capacity to 158 million tonnes (MT) by March, 2014 from 88 MT now and plans an expenditure of Rs 2,600 crore in the next two years.

The capacity expansion plans include setting up a coal terminal at Paradip in Odisha at an investment of Rs 600 crore by 2014, besides a new port at Salaya in Gujarat.

He said that the firm at present focusses on bulk cargo, about 75 per cent of which came from assured anchor customers in the spaces of oil, power etc, while the remaining came from other parties.

Noting that the company would focus on container side too, he said the firm is expecting a significant increase in its total cargo in the coming months as expansion activities of some group companies are either over or would get completed soon.

The company, which has opened its Hazira terminal for third party cargo handling, is expecting 20 per cent of its overall cargo coming through this channel.

Essar Ports operates two ports at Hazira and Vadinar, both in Gujarat, while new terminals at Paradip in Odisha, and Salaya in Gujarat are under construction.

The company had posted over five-fold jump in its consolidated net profit to Rs 44.98 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2011, largely on account of increased realisations from its operations.