Dredging giant Royal Boskalis acquires minority stake in Bhavnagar Port project: Why it matters

Dutch dredging major Royal Boskalis Westminster B.V. has acquired a minority stake in the Bhavnagar Port, an upcoming multipurpose port being developed in Gujarat.

In that regard, Boskalis has acquired a minority stake in the special purpose vehicle (SPV) involved in the development of the Bhavnagar Port Infrastructure Private Limited, an ET Infra report said, citing Ravi Mehrotra, the Founder and Executive Chairman of Foresight Ltd.

Foresight Ltd is a global shipping and oil drilling conglomerate that forms a part of the London-based Foresight Group.

The report added that the shipping major would hold the major stake in the SPV, with the Padmanabh Mafatlal Group set to be a third investor.

“We are waiting for the signing of the port user’s agreement. Once it is signed, we will complete the construction of the port in three years and it will become operational in 2029,” Mehrotra said.

This comes after the state-run Container Corporation of India Ltd (CONCOR) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in 2025 to operate and maintain a container terminal at the northern side of the upcoming port.

The move marked CONCOR's foray into operating container terminals, and "is expected to play a crucial role in catering to the logistics needs of Central Gujarat, the Dholera Industrial Belt, and even extend services to customers in the National Capital Region (NCR)", it had said in a statement at the time.

The port's development also involves the construction of the world's fourth-largest navigation lock—a water-tight structure that holds ships in place to stabilise changes in water levels and tide for the vessel's transit into, or out of, the port. This is significant because the port opens into the Gulf of Khambhat, which is prone to high fluctuations in tide.

The entry of Boskalis into the SPV marks a major push for the development of the Bhavnagar Port.

It is also the latest instance of the dredging giant's involvement in Indian port projects, with the most significant one being the Jawaharlal Nehru Port.

Back in 2017, it had entered into a 50:50 joint venture with offshore energy and dredging major Jan De Nul for the deepening and widening of the access channel towards the Mumbai-based port.

The areas dredged in the $266 million joint venture included a 35.5-kilometre-long access channel and various turning basins and anchorage areas at the port, which played a major role in its transformation into India's biggest state-owned container gateway today.

Boskalis, in partnership with NMDC Dredging & Marine, had also entered a bidding war in November 2025 for a Rs 19,238.57 crore project in connection with the upcoming Vadhvan Port in Maharashtra, as per another ET Infra report, citing Niels de Bruijn, CEO, NMDC Dredging & Marine.

The Boskalis side is bidding against a group comprising Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd, Van Oord, Jan De Nul, and the ISDPL for the dredging, reclamation, and construction of an offshore protection bund at the port under a Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM) agreement.

However, the results of the bid are not known yet.