Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust's third container terminal project has reportedly achieved financial closure. ABN Amro Bank, it is understood, has tied up the debt component for the project.

Gateway Terminals India Pvt Ltd, a special purpose vehicle floated by Maersk A/S and Container Corporation of India , for building and operating a new container terminal, the port's third, at JNPT.

The Maersk-Concor combine had signed the concession and licence agreement with the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) for developing and operating the new container facility for a 30-year period on August 10, 2004. As per the tender documents, the successful bidder had to attain financial closure within 180 days (by February 10) of signing the concession and license agreement. Maersk holds a majority stake of 74 per cent in the SPV while the remaining 26 per cent is with Concor.

Gateway Terminals is planning to raise about Rs.700 crore from banks and financial institutions to fund the project.

As per plans, Gateway Terminals is expected to start part-operations at the new terminal by January/February 2006 from a single berth initially. When fully operational, the new terminal is designed to handle 1.3 million TEUs per annum.

Meanwhile, the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust-run Jawaharlal Nehru Port Container Terminal (JNPCT) has touched the one million TEU mark for fiscal 2004-05 on February 20.

JNPCT is likely to handle 1.14 million TEUs for the entire fiscal ending March 31, as against 1,038,434 TEUs in 2003-04.

The throughput at the neighbouring Nhava Sheva International Container Terminal (NSICT), run by P&O Ports, is 1,085,895 TEUs. The terminal touched the one million-TEU mark for fiscal 2004-05 on January 28, around the same time as the last fiscal. NSICT has projected a throughput of 1.25 million TEUs for the current fiscal as against 1,230,555 TEUs in 2003-04.