Toyofuji Shipping Company, the Japanese finished vehicle specialist in which Toyota Motor has a 50 per cent stake, is setting up an exclusive car terminal in India.
Discussions were held on Monday between a delegation headed by Kazuaki Makina, Group Leader, Project Group, Overseas Marketing Division, and the Chennai Port Trust, with further meetings to be held in the ports of Ennmore, Mumbai and Tuticorin.
Plans are for full car terminal operations, marine transport of vehicles, stevedoring and freight forwarding to be operational by 2011. Customers will include Toyota and Nissan among other carmakers.
For its part, Chennai Port Trust is considering a multi-level parking yard and is constructing a container terminal to handle 4 million TEUs a year. The Chennai port handled 1.12 million TEUs in 2007-08.
At the same time, the Port of Ennore has announced a project to develop a general purpose terminal of its own and has signed an memorandum of understanding with Nissan Motor of India (NMIPL) for the export of its vehicles to Europe. Nissan, which is setting up-plant at Tamil Nadu near Chennai with Renault, will be the first motor company to use Ennore port as its export gateway. Production is expected to start in the beginning of 2010.