It is reported that Hyderabad based infrastructure developer Lanco Infratech Ltd has teamed up with the Sharjah based container port operator, Gulftainer Company Ltd to bid for the planned coal and iron ore berths at Paradip port. Lanco and Gulftainer signed an agreement last week to bid jointly for various port and transportation projects both in India and abroad.

The report cited a Lanco Infratech official as saying that “Gulftainer has joined us as the port operator for the coal and iron ore projects. Lanco Infratech is among 17 entities that have submitted initial bids for the project.”

Mr Peter Richards director & GM of Gulftainer said that “There are a couple of projects in India and other countries in which we would be working together. The two entities are assessing projects in West Asia, India and the eastern Mediterranean worth close to USD 1 billion."

These two projects, each with a capacity to handle 10 million tonnes of imported coking coal and iron ore a year will cost about INR 900 crore to build. The bid document required that entities seeking to qualify for the projects should have experienced port operators as their partners.

Gulftainer was set up in the Emirate of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates primarily to manage and operate the container terminals in Port Khalid and also Khorfakkan on behalf of the Sharjah Port Authority.