The Adani Group, India’s largest port developer and logistics solutions provider, is on an investment spree.
Continuing its network expansion push, the group, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Adani Logistics Ltd (ALL), has now signed a deal with Mumbai-based Navkar Corporation Ltd. to acquire one of the largest inland container depots (ICD) in West India. The “ICD Tumb” in Vapi, a major industrial location in Gujarat State, has a capacity of 500,000 TEU.
The transaction is valued at Rs. 835 crore (about US$105 million).
The inland logistics facility is strategically located to serve trade to/from both the ports of Nhava Sheva (JNPT) and Hazira, along with access to the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC) designed to speed cargo flows between North India hinterlands and gateway ports on the western coast. Adani Ports owns and operates cargo terminals at Hazira Port.
“The associated 129 acres of land provides an additional expansion path to increase capacity and cargo in near future as additional industrial corridors and logistic parks get added along these DFC routes,” the group said in a statement. “The Tumb ICD has a private freight terminal with four rail handling lines connected with Western DFC and has custom notified land & bonded warehouse facilities.”
Karan Adani, Adani Group CEO, in a statement, noted, “Tumb is one of the largest ICDs in the country. Given its strategic positioning in the middle of one of the busiest industrial zones and access to the dedicated freight corridor allows it to meaningfully serve the vast hinterland with access to two of the busiest ports on both sides, Hazira & Nhava Sheva.”
Adani went on to add, “In addition to cargo moving by rail being 5X greener than that moving by road, another prime benefit of the access to the DFC is the savings in average transit times that is expected to be 10 hours by rail versus 24 hours by road. This acquisition fits well with our transformation strategy towards becoming a transport utility as well as moving us closer to our objective of providing economical door-to-door services to our customers. We are confident to grow the volumes at the ICD at high double digits as we build out a sustainable world-class multi-modal supply chain solution for the nation”.
The inland expansion deal comes days after the Adani Group secured a long-term concession for Israel’s Haifa Port and announced a joint venture partnership with AD Ports (Abu Dhabi Ports) to jointly explore investment opportunities in Tanzania.
Adani Logistics has a network of ICDs and multi-modal logistics parks across India, providing end-to-end logistics services.
Jenny Daniel
India correspondent
Contact email: j.daniel@container-news.com
