July 2009 Port Volumes:

• Volumes at the major ports are down 1% YoY for July 2009, but cumulatively for YTD-FY10 are up 1% YoY.
• We believe that this indicates continued sluggishness in global trade vis-a-vis India.
• The key drivers for the YoY decline in July 2009 have been Haldia (-29.4% YoY) and Cochin (-10.1% YoY) ports. This decline was offset by increase in cargo volumes at Paradip (22.2% YoY), Mormugao (19.0% YoY) and Kolkotta (18.9% YoY) ports.
• Segmenting the data by commodity (YTD-FY10 vs YTD-FY09), thermal coal volumes have risen 20.4% YoY, but coking coal volumes have fallen 24.3% YoY, with all other commodities being almost flat. Container volumes are down 5.4% YoY.
• However, monthly trends reveal slow but steady increase in Iron-ore, thermal coal and container volumes, while coking coal volumes have been steadily decreasing.

Mundra Port consortium bags concession to operate Coal Terminal at Mormugao Port

MPSEZ has announced that it has won the concession to operate a coal terminal at Mormugao port. The concession is on a DBFOT (design, build, finance, operate and transfer) basis for a period of 30 years. MPSEZ has won this concession in consortium with Adani Enterprises (Not Rated). The coal terminal is expected to have a capacity of 6.5 MnMT per annum at an estimated cost of Rs252 crore. The revenue share agreed with Mormugao Port is 20%. The coal terminal is likely to begin operations in FY12. The concession agreement is scheduled to be signed on 27th August 2009 and the official date to operationalise the project is 28th February 2013, i.e. three years from starting of work on the project.

MPSEZ expects to fund the project through internal accruals as its equity portion, and debt-financing the balance portion.

I expect this news to have a positive impact on the company.