A container terminal operator APM Terminals, part of A.P. Møller – Maersk Group, has through its Mumbai terminal established a new record for Indian ports by handling a total of 2.01 million TEUs during the 2014-15 fiscal year.
APM Terminals Mumbai is one of three terminals currently operating at Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNP), India’s largest container port, accounting for 45% of JNP’s throughput, and approximately 20% of India’s total container traffic.
Larger vessels of the 9,000 TEU capacity class have begun calling APM Terminals Mumbai since 2013. The deepening of the Mumbai harbor channel in 2014 combined with an increase in the vessel size and container volumes are contributing factors to the growth.
The increase, however, is straining the existing Indian port infrastructure, which must also deal with regulatory issues which have held back further infrastructure investment.
”The need of the hour is to ensure we find an acceptable solution with the authorities on the longstanding issue of the tariff that we are allowed to charge at the terminal,” said APM Terminals Mumbai, Chairman, Rizwan Soomar.
In February 2015, APM Terminals Mumbai set a new record for highest February volume recorded by an Indian container terminal, with 164,678 TEUs.