Ahead of formal inauguration, 4th terminal begins ops at JNPT
The Port of Singapore Authority has said its Rs 4,000-crore fourth terminal at the largest container port JNPT has started operations. The Bharat Mumbai Container Terminals (BMCT) received its first container at a 'gate opening' ceremony on Monday, ahead of the berthing of CMA-CGM's vessel 'Centaurus' on Friday, an official statement said. The Singapore Port had won the bid to construct and operate the fourth terminal at JNPT in 2014, which will double the port's capacity by adding 4.8 million standard unit- handling capacity. The fourth terminal project is divided into two phases and it is a 2.4-million TEU capacity first phase which is getting operationalised now, a senior port official said. Receiving containers and berthing by the first vessel form a part of the necessary testing phase before the formal commissioning of a port, the official said, adding there is no official word yet on the formal inauguration. It can be noted that Union shipping minister Nitin Gadkari had recently asked Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis to request for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's time for the formal dedication of the terminal, saying the first phase is ready. The first phase of the fourth terminal has a 1-km long berth that can handle three vessels simultaneously. It has eight each in- and out-gates, paperless transactions, weighbridge and radiation detection facilities, the official statement said. The first containers arriving by road will be followed by containers arriving by rail and barge, it said, adding the terminal currently employs 165 people of which 80 per cent are Maharashtrians. PTI
