Anil Ambani group's Reliance Power is looking to invest about $1 billion (Rs 4,000 crore) towards purchase of large-size vessels for shipping coal from abroad to its Krishnapatnam and other projects.
Reliance Power, which has bagged the country's two ultra mega power projects of 4,000 MW each at Sasan in Madhya Pradesh and Krishnapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, has already received initial quotations from some major shipping yards in China, Korea and Japan towards its order for Capesize vessels.
Capesize vessels are among the world's biggest shipping vessels with capacity of up to 200,000 tonnes and these ships are mostly used in handling deep water terminals for raw materials such as iron ore and coal.
Reliance Power would initially use these vessels for shipping coal to its Krishnapatnam project, while in future they would be used for other imported coal-based projects as well, sources close to the development said.
The delivery is expected to start by 2011, coinciding with the commissioning of the Krishnapatnam project, they added.
A company spokesperson could