Mundra Port, the flagship port of tycoon Gautam Adani-controlled Adani Ports and Special Economic Port Ltd (APSEZ), has crossed the 7 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU's) mark for the first time since starting operations some 25 years ago and just days before the fiscal year ends on 31 March, the port operator said on Friday.

"This achievement underscores Mundra Port's robust infrastructure, efficient operations, and capacity to handle large volumes of cargo," the Mumbai-listed Company said.

Mundra is India's biggest commercial port as well as the nation's largest container facility.

In FY23, Mundra Port handled 6.64 million TEUs, accounting for 64 percent of the 155.4 million tonnes (mt) of cargo handled at the port, a record since the port's inception.

In comparison, the 12 major ports owned by the Union government handled a combined 11.391 million TEU's in FY23 of which Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority handled 6.05 million TEU's.

Since FY 2009-10, Mundra port has witnessed around 16 percent CAGR growth in container volumes.

The growth in Mundra container volumes has been catalysed by a customer-centric approach - higher productivity, innovative logistics solutions, faster vessel turnaround and faster container evacuation through railway and double stack container trains, the company said previously.

Container is one of the highest growth segments at Mundra port. In the last 10 years, Mundra's container volume has witnessed 15 percent CAGR growth, even as total ports volume grew 7 percent CAGR.

Mundra runs five container terminals spanning 12 berths with a combined capacity of some 8 million TEUs.

A new berth-T3- with a capacity of 0.8 million TEUs is being commissioned to cater to the rising volumes at Mundra Port.

At an annual average growth rate in double digits, Mundra Port will soon reach its full container handling capacity and needs expansion to cater to the demand.

Globally, a capacity utilisation of 70 percent is considered the ideal level for ports/terminals to operate efficiently without facing congestion and productivity issues. "At 70 percent capacity utilisation, the terminal works at full efficiency. Above that, the efficiency drops, and delays start occurring," said a port industry source.

Mundra Port's container terminals are currently operating at about 85 percent capacity utilisation but has managed to ward off bottlenecks that could hurt its smooth operations.

Source: The Economic Times 

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