Adani Ports completes acquisition of Karaikal Port

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (APSEZ) has completed the acquisition of Karaikal Port for a consideration of Rs 1,485 crore ($181 million) after the proposal was approved by the National Company Law Tribunal. APSEZ was earlier declared the successful resolution applicant under the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process, says a release from APSEZ.

"Karaikal Port is an all-weather deep-water port on India’s eastern coast that was developed on the Build, Operate and Transfer format under the Public-Private Partnership by the Government of Puducherry. The Karaikal Port was commissioned in 2009, and was developed in the Karaikal District of the Union Territory of Puducherry, around 300 kms south of Chennai. It is the only major port between Chennai & Tuticorin, and its strategic location allows the port easy access to the industry-rich hinterland of central Tamil Nadu.

"The port gets a 14-metre water draft and has a land area of over 600 acres. Its existing infrastructure includes five operational berths, three railway sidings, two mobile harbour cranes and a large cargo storage space that includes open yards, 10 covered warehouses and four liquid storage tanks. With a built-in cargo handling capacity of 21.5 million tonnes, the port primarily handles cement, fertiliser, limestone, steel & liquids. The upcoming nine million tonnes refinery of Chennai Petroleum at Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu presents an opportunity for Karaikal Port to handle an additional large volume of liquid cargo."

Karan Adani, CEO, APSEZ says: “The acquisition of Karaikal Port is another milestone in consolidating our position as India’s largest transport utility. With acquisition of Karaikal port, APSEZ now operates 14 ports in India. APSEZ will spend Rs 850 crore over time to upgrade infrastructure in order to reduce the logistics cost for the customers. We are envisaging to double the capacity of the port in the next five years and also add a container terminal to make it a multipurpose port.”

Karaikal Port handled almost 10 million tonnes of cargo in FY23, the release added.