The Chennai Port Trust has acquired from the Centre 67 percent stake in Kamarajar Port for a consideration of Rs 2,383 crore.
With this, Kamarajar Port is now the wholly-owned subsidiary of the Chennai Port Trust.
The immediate focus of the company will be to utilise the existing capacity in the Chennai Port Trust to the maximum and carry out expansion in Kamarajar Port. The company also targets to achieve cargo handling of 100 million tonne in coming years.
Soon after remitting the amount, both ports will operate as different entities for the betterment of export import trade, Kamarajar Port as corporate firm and the Chennai Port Trust as trust.
Both ports will be in a better position to meet competition from private players such as Adani’s Kattupalli Port and Krishnapatnam Port.
The Chennai Port Trust will continue to handle clean cargo such as containers, cars, liquid cargo, cruise and passenger traffic, while Kamarajar Port will create additional capacity for all other types of bulk, dry and liquid cargo.