Happenings

DP World, the world's third-largest container terminal operator, will complete the first phase of the 3,000 crore Vallarpadam terminal project in Kochi by June and is expected to commission it by this year-end. When the International Container Transhipment Terminal (ICTT) is up and running, containerised trade from south India will no longer have to use international transshipment ports like Colombo and Singapore, bringing down cost and time for shipping lines as well as exporters and importers.

"DP World is targeting end June for completion of phase 1, while operations will commence by year end. The first phase of the project has seen an investment of Rs 1,250 crore," industry sources told ET. The project was earlier scheduled to be commercially operational by the first week of April, but has been delayed.

Feb. 11 (Bloomberg) Cochin Shipyard Ltd., building the first Indian-made aircraft carrier, may hold an initial public offering to help fund a 10-billion rupee ($215 million) dry-dock as the government presses ahead with privatization plans.

The state-owned shipbuilder will likely sell new shares, Chairman Muthukrishnan Jitendran said in an e-mailed reply to Bloomberg questions yesterday. He didn’t say how much the company plans to raise or give a time frame for the sale.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government has revived share sales in state-run companies after the Bombay stock exchanges Sensitive Index surged the most in 18 years in 2009. Shipyards in India, the world’s fifth-biggest by order book, are raising capacity as they compete with China, the Philippines and South Korea for contracts to build new vessels.