The Deendayal Port Authority (DPA) and Assam Petro-Chemicals Ltd (APCL) on Saturday laid the foundation stone for a 150 tonnes-per-day (TPD) e-methanol plant at Gandhidham, in a project estimated to cost ₹2,300 crore and expected to create more than 3,500 direct and indirect jobs.
The facility, being developed as a joint venture between DPA and APCL, is aimed at supplying cleaner fuel to the maritime sector and is part of Kandla’s larger plan to develop itself as a green-fuel and bunkering hub. The foundation stone was laid at Gandhidham in the presence of Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, and Union Ports, Shipping and Waterways Minister Sarbananda Sonowal.
The project brings together APCL’s industrial capabilities with DPA’s port infrastructure. The plant will produce 150 tonnes of e-methanol a day. The project is expected to support the development of a wider ecosystem covering production, storage, handling and bunkering of green fuels at Kandla Port.
The project has evolved from an earlier proposal. In January, DPA and APCL had signed an MoU for the 150-TPD facility, with the investment then pegged at ₹1,200 crore. The latest announcement puts the project cost at about ₹2,300 crore.
The businessline had first reported about Kandla’s larger green-fuel plan in August 2025. The report said DPA was looking to position Kandla as a bunkering hub for methanol-fuelled ships and was exploring an e-methanol project with an estimated investment of about ₹3,500 crore and much larger proposed production capacity. The plan was linked to the development of green shipping corridors and Kandla’s potential role as a low-carbon marine-fuel supply point.
The 150-TPD project now being taken forward is smaller than the capacity envisaged in the earlier proposal, but forms part of the same broader strategy to develop Kandla as a green-fuel hub. DPA has been working on building infrastructure for the transition towards cleaner marine fuels. The port’s green-energy plans include facilities for green hydrogen, bio-methanol and e-methanol, alongside infrastructure for storage and bunkering. For Kandla, the objective goes beyond producing e-methanol. The port wants to establish an ecosystem that can eventually allow ships calling at the port to access alternative marine fuels, helping reduce the shipping sector’s dependence on conventional fossil fuels.
Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel said the project would strengthen Kandla’s role in India’s green-energy transition and support the development of green shipping infrastructure. He said Deendayal Port was being developed as a green-hydrogen hub under the National Green Hydrogen Mission, with an ecosystem for the production, storage, handling and transportation of green hydrogen and its derivatives. For Assam, the project provides APCL an entry into the emerging green-fuel economy through a major western Indian port. For Gujarat, the partnership adds another green-energy project to Kutch’s growing industrial and renewable-energy ecosystem.
Published on September 26, 2026
