DP World Nhava Sheva wins new service after concession dispute is settled
A recent breakthrough in the decades-long tariff dispute over DP World’s terminal operations at the Indian port of Nhava Sheva (JNPA) seems to have set off a reconfiguration of ocean carriers’ berthing windows in the harbour.
The stalemate had been a barrier to DP World Nhava Sheva optimising quayside capacity at the port, which handles a significant portion of India’s containerised export/import volumes.
With a settlement, the private concessionaire, the oldest at Nhava Sheva, has begun targeting more liner customers – and a terminal switch announced by the intra-Asia consortium, led by Taiwanese carrier Wan Hai Lines, is proof of that push.
The South East Asia-India (SI8) service has terminated its fixed-day berthing slot deal with PSA International-operated Bharat Mumbai Container Terminals (BMCT) to move weekly calls to DP World’s Nhava Sheva India Gateway Terminal (NSIGT), “with immediate effect”, Wan Hai Lines India told customers.
The SI8 deploys four 3,000 teu ships, two from Wan Hai and one each from Korea Marine Transport Co (KMTC) and Interasia Lines, on a weekly rotation of Jakarta-Surabaya-Singapore-Port Klang-Mundra-Nhava Sheva-Port Klang-Jakarta.
The joint loop was launched in April 2024 to tap into the trade growth linked to diversifying Asian supply chains.
DP World has two marine facilities in Nhava Sheva, offering a combined capacity of a little over 2m teu annually: NSICT began operations in 1997, equipped with a 600-metre quay and 1.2m teu capacity; NSIGT went live in 2015.
The tariff settlement involving NSICT operations was a win-win outcome for both sides, as the port authority also needed terminal scalability to handle growing volumes and fend off any further loss of cargo to rival ports run by Adani Group due to space constraints.
“This settlement provides substantial benefits to the port, resolves a long-standing dispute, and sends a positive signal regarding the robustness and success of the PPP [public-private-partnership] model in India,” JNPA said.
“This is expected to significantly boost traffic at JNPA, generating higher revenues to the port from vessel-related charges, berth hire and royalties.”
At the centre of the dispute was a flawed government policy for terminal concessions, awarded in India’s nascent port privatisation era in the 1990s. As a result, older terminals were forced to scale back capacity within their committed throughput levels instead of maximising utilisation through efficiency.
Meanwhile, PSA has now begun handling vessels on BMCT’s extended Phase 2 wharf at Nhava Sheva, on a limited scale, adding 2.4m teu capacity for its operations once the entire 1,000-metre berth space is ready in the coming months.
That capacity consolidation could heat up competition among Nhava Sheva’s terminals as they woo carriers in a bid to retain and boost market share, industry sources believe.
JNPA saw fiscal year 2024-25 volumes climb 14% year on year, to 7.3m teu, an all-time high. Of this, DP World contributed 2.3m teu, but it could build on that with is now greater operational flexibility.
However, its hinterland connections remain an issue, as they have for other terminals in the port.
Over the past week, DP World Nhava Sheva had to face trucker pushback over long gate delays that vehicle owners claimed caused serious productivity setbacks and supply chain risks for cargo owners.
The terminal responded by promising “proactive efforts to keep the road queue under control”.
