City-based Sravan Shipping Services Group is on a massive expansion mode with an investment of Rs.390 crore in next couple of years creating 2,400 jobs.
Among other things, it plans to develop a Free Trade Warehousing Zone and Special Economic Zone on the lines of Free Trade Zones of Singapore and Dubai near Visakhapatnam Steel Plant.
“We are very confident of setting up Container Freight Stations (CFS) in Visakhapatnam, Kakinada and Krishnapatnam. We will create an integrated logistic park with seamless connectivity and all world-class facilities under one roof near NTPC Simhadri Super Thermal Power Station at Parawada,” Sravan Shipping Group managing director G. Sambasiva Rao told The Hindu on Thursday.
The group signed an MoU with the State government on its investment proposals at the just-concluded CII Partnership Summit and Sunrise Andhra Pradesh Investment Meet.
Buoyed by its success story ever since it forayed into warehousing and shipping activity after the group was formed in August, 1998 with a seed capital of Rs.5 lakh, the company registered a total turnover of Rs.74 crore last fiscal. It is the leading firm in warehousing and to start a Container Freight Station at Gajuwaka in the entire Andhra Pradesh in the private sector in 2004.
Mr. Rao said they wanted to develop Visakhapatnam as a transhipment hub for domestic cargo. The Free Trade Zone and SEZ will provide establishing units within 24 hours with fast-track clearances and easy exit option. The investors will also be eligible for several duty exemptions.
For their CFS in Visakhapatnam, they would need 100 acres.
For Kakinada, 25 to 30 acres will be acquired. Krishnapatnam CFS is planned in an area of 25 to 50 acres. The group is also planning to set up a CFS at Nellore.
On the timelines set by them, Mr. Rao disclosed that they wanted to commission their second CFS in the city this year. Kakinada will be operational next year. The Free Trade Zone will be ready by 2017-18.
