Kamarajar Port Issues ₹4,288 Crore Tender for Second Container Terminal, Chennai
Kamarajar Port Limited (KPL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Chennai Port Authority, has issued a tender to develop its second container terminal at an estimated project cost of ₹4,288 crore. The terminal will be developed under the public-private partnership (PPP) model on a Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer (DBFOT) basis, with a 40-year concession period.
The project is designed to handle vessels of up to 24,000 TEUs with a maximum length overall of 400 metres, and is intended to meet growing EXIM and transhipment demand in line with the Maritime Amrit Kaal Vision (MAKV) 2047. The terminal will add capacity for around 2 million TEUs annually and will be developed in two phases: the first phase, estimated at ₹2,429 crore, will provide initial capacity of 1.1 million TEUs, while the second phase, budgeted at approximately ₹1,858.94 crore, will add the remaining 0.9 million TEUs.
Kamarajar Port's existing container terminal is operated by Adani Ennore Container Terminal Pvt Ltd (AECTPL) under a PPP concession signed in 2014, with a design capacity of 1.4 million TEU per year.
The tender follows approval from the Public Private Partnership Appraisal Committee (PPPAC) of the Union government. Under the project roadmap, the concession is expected to be awarded by February 2027, with construction beginning around August 2027 and the first berth entering operations in 2029.
Kamarajar Port, located on India's east coast about 24 km north of Chennai, handled 49.08 million tonnes of cargo in the year ended March 31, 2026, and operates nine berths with a total cargo-handling capacity of 58.44 million tonnes per year. The port has an operational draft of 18 metres following completion of a ₹440 crore capital dredging programme.