Jindal Paradip Port Ltd has started commercial operations of a 12.5 million tonne per annum cargo terminal at Paradip Port in Odisha, giving Jindal Steel dedicated long-term port access as it expands domestic steelmaking capacity. The Phase-I facility began operations on October 15, according to an exchange filing cited by Jindal Steel.
The terminal is part of a ₹3,393-crore project being developed by Jindal Paradip Port Ltd, a subsidiary in which Jindal Steel holds a controlling stake. The company is developing a 25 million tonne per annum dry bulk cargo terminal at the Western Dock of Paradip Port in two phases.
Phase-I was commissioned ahead of the deadline set under the concession agreement with the Paradip Port Authority. The agreement required the first 12.5 MTPA phase to achieve commercial operation within 1,095 days of the award of the concession, with the scheduled completion date falling on October 16, 2026.
Jindal Paradip Port obtained the Phase-I completion certificate on October 12, one day before commercial operations began and ahead of the scheduled completion date. The company said both phases of the project are progressing simultaneously.
The facility is being developed on a build-operate-transfer basis under the concession agreement with the Paradip Port Authority. The arrangement gives the company responsibility for developing and operating the Western Dock terminal within the agreed concession framework.
For Jindal Steel, the terminal is intended to provide dedicated access to Paradip Port while the company enhances its domestic steelmaking capacity. Cargo terminals of this scale connect industrial production with maritime logistics, enabling the movement of dry bulk commodities through a dedicated port facility.
The total investment covers both phases of the project. Once completed, the terminal is planned to have an overall handling capacity of 25 MTPA, twice the capacity that has now entered commercial operation.
The commissioning also adds a new private-operated cargo facility to the logistics infrastructure at Paradip, one of Odisha’s key port locations. The project’s build-operate-transfer structure places its development within the port authority’s concession system, while its capacity is linked to the cargo requirements of an expanding steel business.
The immediate milestone is the start of commercial operations at Phase-I. The company has not provided, in the information available, a revised completion date for Phase-II or details of the cargo volumes expected to move through the terminal in its initial operating period.
