India’s ambitions of rising an Indian Ocean transshipment hub acquired a lift on October 15 when Vizhinjam Worldwide Seaport close to Thiruvananthapuram within the southern state of Kerala welcomed its first ship, the Hong Kong-flagged Zhen Hua 15 carrying cranes from Shanghai for the port web site.
Vizhinjam Port is India’s first deepwater container transshipment port. It has a pure draft of 18-20 meters, which implies that among the largest container vessels on this planet will be capable to dock right here. Port officers say that Vizhinjam Port will be capable to deal with container vessels with 24,000 twenty-foot equal items (TEU) capability and extra.
Importantly, Vizhinjam is positioned round 10 nautical miles from the worldwide transport route connecting Europe and the Persian Gulf with East Asia via which round 30 % of world maritime cargo passes.
Absolutely owned by the Kerala authorities, Vizhinjam Port is being constructed by Adani Vizhinjam Ports Non-public Ltd, a subsidiary of Adani Ports and SEZ Ltd (APSEZ), India’s largest non-public sector port operator.
The port is anticipated to be totally operational by Might 2024. It would have a capability of 1 million TEUs in part 1 and one other 6.2 million TEUs will likely be added in subsequent phases.
India has a 7,500-kilometer-long shoreline. Though round 200 main and minor ports dot this shoreline, the nation’s port infrastructure is dismal. Not one of those ports figures on this planet’s high 30 ports.
Apart from, most Indian ports have a shallow draft. Which means vessels with massive tonnage, more and more the norm in worldwide maritime commerce at this time, can not dock at Indian ports.
Consequently, massive container vessels with consignment meant for India should offload at close by transshipment ports the place the cargo is then loaded onto smaller feeder ships that may dock at Indian ports.
Ships with cargo headed to India have subsequently needed to dock at transshipment ports at Colombo in Sri Lanka, Jebel Ali in Dubai, Klang in Malaysia, and Singapore Port as a substitute of Indian ports. India has been closely depending on these overseas ports for transshipment of cargo.
Presently, practically 75 % of India’s transhipped cargo is dealt with at overseas ports, with Colombo, Singapore and Klang ports dealing with over 85 % of this cargo. Colombo Port alone handles 45 % of India’s transshipped consignments.
“Vizhinjam port is anticipated to vary this. It would have the capability to cater to 75 % of India’s container transshipment wants,” an official at India’s Ministry of Delivery and Ports instructed The Diplomat. It will save India “a considerable amount of overseas trade that it has been paying to overseas ports to fulfill its transshipment wants.” Moreover, “we predict a slice of the transshipment enterprise presently going to Dubai, Sri Lanka and Singapore to come back to India,” the official mentioned.
North of Vizhinjam port is one other container transshipment terminal at Vallarpadam at Kochi additionally in Kerala, which is operated by Dubai Ports World.
A 3rd transshipment port is being developed at Galathea Bay within the Nice Nicobar island of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. With a pure depth of 20 meters, Galathea Bay like Vizhinjam can accommodate massive container vessels. Situated some 40 nautical miles from the East-West transport route and mendacity exterior the crowded Malacca Strait, the port at Galathea Bay will likely be hoping to draw massive container ships with freight headed to international locations like Bangladesh and Myanmar amongst others which have been utilizing ports in Singapore and Malaysia.
So, what are the probabilities of the transshipment ports propelling India into a significant Indian Ocean transshipment hub?
The destiny of Vallarpadam Port doesn’t bode properly. Over a decade after the port started operations, it’s nonetheless functioning approach beneath capability. Apart from, it by no means reworked itself right into a transshipment terminal; simply 6 % of the containers dealt with by the port in 2020 had been transshipment containers. A serious a part of Vallarpadam’s downside is that its pure draft is simply 14.5 meters, which implies it can not accommodate massive container ships. It must be dredged commonly which provides to the prices of working the port.
Some have identified that the three Indian transshipment ports in such proximity — Vizhinjam port is about 180 nautical miles from Vallarpadam port — will make it troublesome for them to draw sufficient enterprise.
Jose Paul, former appearing chairman of the Jawaharlal Nehru Port at Mumbai, and former chairman of the Mormugao Port Belief in Goa attracts consideration to ports which might be positioned shut to one another and thrive. “Port Klang and Port of Tanjung Pelepas in Malaysia co-exist inside a distance of about 150 nautical miles, Jebel Ali and Abu Dhabi within the UAE are inside 81 nautical miles, and Tacoma and Seattle within the US are inside 33 nautical miles,” he instructed Rediff information portal. Likewise, “Vallarpadam and Vizhinjam can coexist as a result of Vallarpadam can solely accommodate container ships as much as a most of 10,000 TEU capability whereas Vizhinjam can accommodate even the extremely massive container ships with capability starting from 10,000 to 25,000 TEUs or much more.”
In different phrases, “these two ports can complement and complement one another of their respective segments and there needn’t be any rivalry between” them.
Whereas Vizhinjam’s pure endowments i.e., its deep draft and site make it a lovely transshipment possibility, this alone won’t be sufficient to attract the fiercely aggressive transport enterprise. “Aggressive pricing and turnaround time are vital to attracting transport visitors, the transport ministry official mentioned. Moreover, overland connectivity infrastructure, together with roads and railway hyperlinks, should be improved.
