The Adani Group owned Dhamra Port Company Ltd (DPCL) is gearing up to start container business operations in the next two to three months. According to the company, initially, the container operations will take off in a small way. Plans to build a full-fledged container terminal is on cards.

An increased competition with Kolkata and Paradip ports on the east coast is expected with the Dhamra port?s move to start container operations. Paradip port is actively pursuing its plans to set up a container terminal at an estimated cost about Rs 500 crore. The port would also handle clean cargo like break-bulk steel and fertilisers.

The Kolkata Port has already been handling container operations, but has draft limitations. With a draft of 14.5 m, bigger container vessels cannot call on the port. But, Dhamra has the potential to attract more container traffic, being a deep draft port (17.5 m).