VOC Port Authority’s ambitious ₹7,056 crore outer harbour project had to be called off as it failed to attract any bidders for the second time. The tender has been removed from the list of tenders available, as per sources. It could be restructured, they added.
In December 2024, The VOC Port Authority in Thoothukudi re-tendered the request for proposal (RFP) for project. The earlier tender was cancelled due to poor response – only two (Vedanta and Premier Science and Technology) applied and both were disqualified. The second time the eligibility criteria was modified to enable larger participation. However, it failed to attract bidders.
The project will involve dredging and construction of breakwater on design, build, finance, operate and transfer basis with a total handling capacity of 4 million TEUs (twenty foot equivalent units) per annum in two stages.
The indicative project cost of the first stage of 2 million TEUs is ₹4494 crore and involves development of container terminal 1 (berths I and II), dredging and construction of breakwater and other common project facilities. The second stage (2 million TEUs) will cost ₹2561 crore for developing container terminal-2 (berths III and to IV).
The port needs an outer harbour with the growing size of container ships in the past five years — lengths extending beyond 400 m and carrying capacity of nearly 22,000 twenty foot equivalent units (TEU) — whereas VOC port can handle only half this size.
Mere modernisation of the inner harbour and optimisation of existing berths cannot equip the port to handle the large vessels. An outer harbour is needed to meet future demand, says the detailed project report.