Port Background
The JNPT was primarily built to decongest the Mumbai Port in 1989 becoming the second youngest port in India at that time. However, the JNPT failed to live up to the expectations it had generated regarding its performance since its inception right up to 1994. The JNPT also suffered from some of the drawbacks inherent in the Indian port sector, especially in terms of capacity that prevented it from achieving world standards of port efficiency and performance. Subsequently, the Port administration soon realized the urgent need to upgrade and augment the port‘s equipment to ensure larger cargo handling capability. The JNPT took the initiative to introduce private participation in ports for the first time in India. In1995, a proposal was made to invite private participation in creating a new container terminal while retaining the existing one under government ownership and operation. In 1997, the Nhava Sheva
International Container Terminal (NCIST) was appointed to construct a new two-berth container terminal of 600 – meter quay length on Build-Operate-Transfer basis for 30 years. Build–operate–transfer (BOT) is a form of project financing, wherein a private entity receives a concession from the private or public sector to finance, design, construct, and operate a facility stated in the concession contract. Following this project, third container terminal of 712 meters Quay length by Gateway Terminals of India Private Limited (GTIPL) - a consortium of AP Moeller – Maersk and CONCOR also on a BOT basis was added to the