Nissan is considering the upcoming private Kattupalli port as an alternative to the neighboring Ennore port for export of its cars. The possible shift is due to delays in creation of necessary infrastructure and high vessel-related charges at Ennore, which is country's first corporatised port.

According to sources, for the last couple of months talks have been going on between officials of Nissan and Kattupalli port. Last week, Nissan's corporate vice president, Mr John Martin, met senior officials of Larsen & Toubro, which is building the Kattupalli port north of Ennore.

A Nissan official on condition of anonymity said that Japanese car maker is seeking from Ennore Port Ltd a level playing field with other ports. The high charges at Ennore port is making it very expensive to export cars.

The scale of charges set rate for a vessel of 5,000 units capacity at Ennore was USD 122,000 per vessel as against USD 68,000 in Chennai port while Ennore had to build infrastructure from scratch, it was already in place at Chennai. At USD 13.60 per car, Ennore is the most expensive in India and globally, claimed an official of Nissan.

A Nissan spokesperson said that “Export efficiency is critical to our Indian operations and we are having some issues with Ennore port in this respect where there is a lot of work to be done on costs and general infrastructure. We are in close communication with the port authority on these issues.”

He added that for instance, the dredging work in the car terminal was completed only last week. This was after a delay of nearly a year. The main approach channel was too shallow for a car carrier of 5,000 vessel capacity to enter the port.

Mr Kiminobu Tokuyama CEO and MD of Nissan Motor (India) said that the infrastructure relates to deepening of the breakwater, which port authorities have done to a certain extent. However he said that “We are in discussion relating to port costs.”

(Sourced from BL)