Mumbai-listed Shreyas Shipping & Logistics Ltd, Global United Shipping India Pvt Ltd and Seaport Cargo Logistics Pvt Ltd have submitted initial bids on a tender floated by Container Corporation of India Ltd (Concor) to start coastal shipping operations.

The State-run rail hauler of containers has sought bids from fleet owners to hire two Indian flag vessels of 22,000 dead weight tons (DWT) with a capacity to carry at least 700 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) each for as much as ten years, according to a tender issued by the navratna PSU. The ships should not be more than 15 years old.

Tenders submitted

Global United Shipping India is a unit of Singapore-based Global United Shipping (S) Pte Ltd which is 45 per cent owned by Japanese trading house Mitsui & Co Ltd. Global United Shipping has submitted the tender through a special purpose vehicle which will time charter the two ships if it wins the contract, a person briefed on the plan said.

Seaport Cargo Logistics is a company of the CVR Group that runs Krishnapatnam Port in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh. It is said to have partnered for the bid with the NDR Group, which recently sold its flagship multi-modal logistics firm Central Warehousing Corporation (Nhava Sheva) Ltd, to a consortium of global port operator DP World Ltd and India’s National Investment and Infrastructure Fund Ltd (NIIF).

Shreyas and Global United confirmed their participation in the tender while Seaport Cargo declined to comment.

As a part of its plan to strengthen logistics infrastructure along the East-Coast and West-Coast Corridor, the company has felt the need to commission coastal shipping services, Concor said in the tender.

Winner’s task

The entity winning the bid will have to arrange port handling and coastal transportation of bulk/break-bulk cargo and loaded and empty containers between Kandla International Container Terminal at Deendayal Port Trust (formerly Kandla Port Trust) in Gujarat and New Mangalore Port Trust, Cochin Port Trust and VO Chidambaranar Port Trust.

The rate finalised through competitive bidding will remain valid for the entire contract period except for variation in bunker fuel prices.

comment COMMENT NOW