Essar Ports likely to get loan of Rs 700 crore for Vizag port

Essar Ports, the country’s second largest private port operator, is likely to receive a loan of Rs 700 crore in next six months for developing three iron ore berths at the Visakhapatnam port. The total project cost is estimated to be about Rs 1,000 crore. The company, in June this year, had bagged the said projects, which will have a combined capacity of 23 million tonnes per annum (MTPA).

The three iron ore berths at Vizag port alone would add 17 MTPA of third-party cargo for the company. At present, Essar Ports has a cargo handling capacity of 104 MTPA. The company is expanding its cargo handling capacity by 74% to 181 million tonnes (MT) annually by 2015-16.

Essar Ports, part of the multinational conglomerate Essar Group, is engaged in business of providing end-to-end logistics services with investments in ports and terminals, logistics services, sea transportation and oilfield drilling services.