ALBA Asia Pvt Ltd has opened a new coal terminal at VO Chidambaranar Port Trust (VOCPT) in Tamil Nadu?s Thoothukudi district. The 10-million-tonne (mt) terminal will help VOC port raise its coal handling capacity to 24 mt by 2019. A 50:50 joint initiative between the Mumbai-based Starlog Enterprises and French shipping firm Louis Dreyfus Armateurs S.A., ALBA Asia won the contract in 2010 through a public tender to build and operate a coal-loading facility at VOCPT for 30 years by placing the highest revenue share price bid of 52.17 per cent. Tuticorin Coal Terminal Pvt Ltd (TCTPL), the special purpose vehicle (SPV) set up to implement the project, invested Rs 640 crore to construct the facility. The total project cost overshot the original estimates of Rs 465 crore mainly due to a two-year delay in dredging the berth by VOCPT to accommodate Panamax-size ships at the facility.