Kamarajar Port Ltd, the state-owned entity in charge of the Ennore port, near Chenai, India, has awarded Sical Iron Ore Terminals Ltd the concession contract to carry out the conversion of the port's inactive iron ore terminal into a coal terminal under PPP model.

Sical Iron Ore Terminals Ltd is a joint venture company formed by Sical Logistics Ltd and state-run commodity trader MMTC Ltd. Sical Logistics is 57.08% owned by Tanglin Retail Realty Developments Pvt. Ltd, a unit of Bengaluru-based Café Coffee Day Group promoted by V.G. Siddhartha.

Sical Iron Ore Terminals Ltd signed the contract after Chettinad International Coal Terminal Pvt. Ltd was disqualified from competition.

Sical was the only bidder to match the reserve revenue share price bid of 52.524% set by Kamarajar Port Ltd in the tender. Sical will be responsible to develop and operate the new coal terminal under a 27 year agreement. The total project investment is expected to stand at INR2.2 billion (US$32.7 million).

Sical was the company in charge of the concession of the iron ore terminal in Ennore port for 30 years. The terminal was awarded in September 2006 and was designed to load 12 mt of iron ore in two phases of 6 mt each. However, the terminal has been idle since January 2011 due to the ban on iron ore export. The top court partially lifted the ban on mining and exports in 2015.