PM Narendra Modi opens Vizhinjam port, says capacity ramp up soon

Port to bring back 75% of India's transshipment cargo from foreign shores

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who formally commissioned the Vizhinjam International Seaport in Thiruvana­nthapuram on Friday, said it would witness a multifold increase in capacity soon. The port, India’s first transshipment hub and first deepwater container terminal, is expected to have a capacity of 5 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) annually by 2028.

 

During the welcome speech, state’s Port Minister V N Vasavan called Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani a ‘partner’. On this, in his speech at the event, which was marked by political barbs, Modi said: “A Communist minister is calling a businessman like Adani a partner. This is the face of changing India.”

 

 

In a jibe at the Opposition INDIA bloc, which the Congress leads and of which the Left parties are also constituents, the PM said the presence of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Congress Lok Sabha member Shashi Tharoor at the commissioning of the seaport would give "sleepless nights" to many. 

 

“I would like to say to our chief minister, you are a big and strong pillar of the INDI Alliance. Tharoor is also sitting here, and I would like to say that today’s event will take away the sleep of many," Modi said. However, the person translating his speech did not translate it properly, and it prompted Modi to say: “The message has gone across to whom it was meant”. In the past couple of months, including after the Pahalgam terror attack and his praise of the PM’s deft diplomacy on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, his party colleagues have accused Tharoor, the Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram, of going soft on the BJP. Congress General Secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal, who is also a Lok Sabha MP from Kerala, hit back at the PM, saying even after the Pahalgam terror attack, Modi remains fixated on “disturbing the sleep” of the opposition leaders. 

 

The Vizhinjam port’s Phase 1 capacity is designed to handle one TEU annually with an investment of around ₹8,867 crore. Of this, the Kerala government has contributed ₹5,595 crore towards connectivity and rail infrastructure. The Adani Group spent ₹2,454 crore and over ₹800 crore came as viability gap funding (VGF) from the Centre.

 

“The capacity of the port is also going to be increased multifold in the coming days. The world’s big ships will be able to come here. So far, around 75 per cent of India's transshipment was happening outside our country. This was leading to a lot of revenue loss for us. The money that was going out will create a new economy for the country, Kerala, and Vizhinjam,” Modi said.

 

 

At present, India’s transshipment cargo is handled by ports such as Colombo, Singapore, Salalah (Oman), Jebel Ali (UAE), Tanjung Pelepas and Port Klang (both in Malaysia). This will be routed to India once the Vizhinjam transshipment hub is fully operational.

 

The port’s developer and operator, Adani Vizhinjam Port Private Limited, has constructed a 3,000-metre breakwater and an 800-metre container berthing facility. Modi added that in the last 10 years, Indian ports have seen a 30 per cent reduction in turnaround time, thereby improving efficiency. The port is hardly 11 nautical miles away from the international shipping channel. Nearly 30 per cent of the country's freight movement takes place through this international shipping route south of the Indian peninsula.

 

India's first international deepwater transshipment port has a natural draft of more than 18 metres, scalable up to 20 metres. This makes it capable of hosting even the world's largest container ship.

 

“According to the tender, the project can be completed by 2045. We did not wait for that and started commercial operations by 2024, and so far over 250 ships have come. We are planning to complete everything by 2028,” said Kerala CM Vijayan. “For the first time in India, a state is contributing the lion’s share of a port. So far, our cargo was diverted to foreign ports. We will be able to reduce our country’s losses through this port,” Vijayan added.