New harbour of hope: Country's first transshipment port sets sail

On Thursday morning, India’s dream of having its first transshipment port is set to become a reality. Adani Group’s Vizhinjam International Seaport, the country’s first semi-automated container port, is poised to receive its first container vessel from Maersk, called MV San Fernando, as part of a trial run.

Navigating new waters

•          Project cost: Rs 7,525 crore

•          Amount reportedly invested by Adani Group so far: Rs 4,500 crore

•          Amount earmarked by the company for Phase-II and Phase-III: Rs 9,500 crore

•          Expected year of project completion: 2028

Competing for prime docking rights
 

•          According to the detailed project report, Vizhinjam will compete with Cochin and Tuticorin for its gateway containerized cargo and with international ports like Colombo in Sri Lanka, Salalah in Oman, and Singapore for container transshipment traffic

•          During the first phase, the Vizhinjam port will have the capacity to handle 1 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), with subsequent phases adding up to 6.2 million TEUs

•          MV San Fernando is coming from the Port of Xiamen in China and has a total capacity of 8,000-9,000 TEUs. It will unload around 2,000 containers and rearrange another 400 containers at Vizhinjam

Anchoring future growth

•          The Vizhinjam International Seaport is only 11 nautical miles from the international shipping channel. Nearly 30 per cent of global freight movement occurs through this international shipping route south of the Indian peninsula. It will be India’s first international deepwater transshipment port

•          The port has a natural draft of more than 18 metres, scalable up to 20 metres, making it capable of hosting even the world’s largest container ships

•          Around 75 per cent of India’s transshipped cargo is handled by ports such as Colombo, Singapore, Salalah (Oman), Jebel Ali (Dubai), Tanjung Pelepas (Malaysia), and Klang (Malaysia). This cargo will be redirected to India once the transshipment hub is operational

•          Based on estimates, the annual economic advantage of this port will be around Rs 2,500 crore