Posted on November 3, 2025
A partnership between Royal Boskalis and NMDC Dredging & Marine, and another grouping of Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd, Van Oord, Jan De Nul, and ISDPL, is taking shape to bid for the Vadhvan Port contract, structured on PPP Hybrid Annuity Mode.
MUMBAI: Two strong bidding groups, one a partnership between Royal Boskalis B.V. and NMDC Dredging & Marine, and the other comprising Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd, Van Oord, Jan De Nul, and ISDPL are taking shape to bid for dredging, reclamation, and construction of offshore protection bund estimated worth ₹19,238.57 crore on Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) Hybrid Annuity Mode (HAM) for the planned port at Vadhvan in Maharashtra.
Dutch dredging giant Boskalis is teaming up with NMDC Dredging & Marine, a unit of Abu Dhabi government-backed NMDC Group P.J.S.C., to bid for the contract, the largest yet by size, scale, and value for building a new port in India.
“For the HAM contract at Vadhvan Port, we are tying up with Boskalis, and all the others are on the opposite side,” Niels de Bruijn, Chief Executive Officer of NMDC Dredging & Marine CEO told ETInfra on October 30 at the India Maritime Week held in Mumbai.
“Financially, we are very strong. We are fully supported by the Abu Dhabi government, they have lots of money and strong banks, and the financial position is good. That’s why I think we can make a difference in the financial bid. It’s (the work) complicated, but we are doing our best to give a better rate on the tender,” Niels de Bruijn added.
The second bidding group has a formidable line up with Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd, India’s biggest private port operator, joining hands with Dutch dredging and marine contractor Van Oord N.V., Belgium dredging group Jan De Nul and International Seaport Dredging Pvt Ltd (ISDPL), the entity promoted by Belgium-based DEME Group through its subsidiary Dredging International N.V., multiple sources confirmed.
HAM for the first time
This is the first time that dredging, offshore reclamation, and shore protection works for a new port in India are being implemented on public-private-partnership (PPP) under Hybrid Annuity Mode (HAM), which are typically implemented through the Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) route.
The HAM model promotes competitive bidding, shares risk with private players, minimises long-term maintenance costs, and ensures timely completion of Phase-I of Vadhvan Port by 2030, officials said.
“The project requires mobilisation of huge equipment, and, hence, no single entity will be able to execute the contract. That’s why many dredging and marine contractors are teaming up to bid for the tender,” said an executive with one of the bidding groups.
Vadhvan Port Project Ltd, a joint venture between state-owned Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (74 per cent stake) and Maharashtra Maritime Board (26 per cent equity), is implementing the ₹76,220 crore port, billed India’s biggest public port with a capacity to handle 298 million tonnes (mt) of cargo a year, including 23.2 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs).
The dredging, reclamation, and offshore protection bund construction work will be implemented on reclaimed land of 1,207 hectares in two phases, with the first phase costing ₹14,301.35 crore and the second phase another ₹4,937.23 crore, according to the tender documents.
The work will be implemented on a payment structure in the ratio of 45:55, whereby 45 per cent of the upfront payment will be made by Vadhvan Port Project Ltd and 55 per cent by the PPP operator on a concession period of 15 years, including five years for construction (in two phases of three plus two years) and 10 years for operation and maintenance.
According to the HAM model approved for implementing the works, the first 45 per cent of the total project cost will be paid as a fixed amount in five equal installments during the construction phase by Vadhvan Port Project Ltd, while the remaining 55 per cent will be paid as a variable annuity amount towards the balance bid amount along with interest on the residual debt after the completion of the project depending upon the value of assets created over a 15-year concession period.
The operation and maintenance (O&M) cost for 10 years (shore protection bund) has been pegged at ₹171.79 crore.
The bidder quoting the lowest cost will be awarded the project. Once the port construction is completed, the cargo terminals will be developed on a PPP mode.
Vadhvan Port will have nine container terminals with a total quay length of 9,000 meters, equipped with over 100 quay-side gantry cranes to accommodate container ships with a length overall of 350 metres or more. It will also have liquid cargo berths, a Ro-Ro facility, general/coastal/breakbulk cargo berths, a common railyard, tank farms, and storage areas.
