APSEZ expands East India operations with new 18 MMT Paradip dry bulk berth win

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Limited (APSEZ), India’s largest and one of the world’s fastest-growing Integrated Transport Operators, has emerged as the highest bidder and received the Letter of Award (LoA) for the development and operation of two dry bulk berths at Paradip port in Odisha. The addition of 18 Million Metric Tonnes (MMT) of new capacity will take APSEZ’s total portfolio to 671 MMTPA, advancing its target of reaching 1 billion tonnes of cargo throughput by 2030.

Under the 30-year concession, the project will be executed under the Public-Private Partnership model. APSEZ will develop CQ-I and CQ-II berths with state-of-the-art mechanised cargo handling systems, deep-draft berths and large-scale storage infrastructure.

Ashwani Gupta, Whole-time Director and CEO, APSEZ, said the Paradip concession will strengthen the company’s presence on the East Coast and expand its access to one of India’s most important industrial and mineral-rich hinterlands. He said that with Paradip, APSEZ’s network grows to 16 ports and terminals across India’s 11,000-km coastline, strengthening the company’s ability to deliver integrated port, logistics and marine solutions through the country’s most comprehensive transport infrastructure platform.

Located in a mineral-rich hinterland amid major steel plants, Paradip is India’s second-largest major port and a vital bulk cargo gateway. The Paradip terminal will boost APSEZ’s capacity to handle rising volumes of coal, limestone and other dry bulk commodities, while expanding its reach across core industrial and manufacturing clusters in eastern and central India.

This capacity addition addresses high utilisation across India’s East Coast ports amid growing cargo demand. Supported by hinterland steel expansions and the government’s push for domestic coal, the project is expected to ease regional capacity bottlenecks and drive industrial growth.

APSEZ, part of the globally diversified Adani Group, is a leading Integrated Transport Operator spanning cargo origination, port handling, rail transport, multi-modal logistics parks, warehousing and final delivery via road transport to customer gates. The company operates a comprehensive ecosystem of 16 strategically located ports and terminals across India’s west, south and east coasts, combined with a diversified marine fleet of 136 vessels, 12 multi-modal logistics parks, 3.1 million sq ft of warehouses, and more than 25,000 trucks operating on its proprietary platform. APSEZ also operates four international ports across Australia, Colombo, Israel and Tanzania.

With a current cargo handling capacity of 653 million tonnes per annum, APSEZ commands approximately 27% of India’s total port volumes. The company has been recognised among the top 5% of global transportation and transportation infrastructure firms in the 2025 S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment, with five of its ports featuring in the World Bank’s Container Port Performance Index 2024.