News / MSC brings ULCV to Vizhinjam as it eyes new south Asia flows

MSC seems to be pushing firm strategic plans to redefine its container transhipment flow in South Asia.

The Geneva-based carrier is on an ad-hoc call spree at India’s new Vizhinjam port for regional transhipment movement, with the MSC Claude Girardet the latest “star addition” – believed to be the largest containership ever to call at any South Asian port.  Adani Ports-operated Vizhinjam Port kicked off trial operations in early July.

The 400m-long Claude Girardet, one of the largest in MSC’s modern fleet, was built in 2023. No scheduled or regular service has been declared for the vessel as of now, sources said.

The ultra-large vessel, with a nominal capacity of 24,116 teu, is due to arrive in Vizhinjam this week, tentatively scheduled for 12 September, proceeding from Tanjung Pelepas, according to available information. The upcoming milestone call follows a series of dockings by MSC at Vizhinjam, which started off with the MSC Deila berthing on 30 August.

While no “cargo details” for the mega call were immediately available, Adani sources told The Loadstar that MSC had indicated a total move count of some 20,000 teu at Vizhinjam for July.  “More calls are in the pipeline,” Adani officials said.

Adani believes a call of this scale presents a perfect opportunity for Vizhinjam to showcase its operational prowess.

“This wave of [ship] arrivals reflects the port’s strategic potential and operational readiness for larger global trade activity,” the Vizhinjam port authority said.

“We have been making every effort to set new productivity standards on each call,” one Vizhinjam operations executive said.

Adani Ports MD Karan Adani earlier claimed Vizhinjam was technologically superior to any other ports in South Asia.

“No other ports in India – including our own highly advanced Mundra – has these technologies, and Vizhinjam will be in a class of its own,” Mr Adani said.

Adani sources also said the terminal was fielding “port-of-call” enquiries from other major liners, including Maersk and CMA CGM.

For MSC, the frenzied vessel positioning signals its intent to use Vizhinjam as an alternative hub in South Asia, as Sri Lanka’s Colombo port has had to deal with significant capacity pressures in recent months amid stronger-than-expected volume spikes from the Red Sea-linked diversions.

Industry sources believe bigger calls like the Claude Girardet at Vizhinjam could become a game-changer for India’s long-contemplated hub ambitions, having yielded limited success out of the DP World-managed Vallarpadam terminal in Cochin, which began operations a decade ago.

“Some of the key advantages that the port offers are a 20-metre draught availability for berthing ultra-large container vessels with capacity of up to 24,000 teu and its proximity to the busy east-west international shipping axis, about 175 nautical miles from Colombo,” said Sunil Vaswani, executive director of the Container Shipping Lines Association (CSLA).

“Over a period of time, the port will have the opportunity to grab a larger share of the [transhipment] pie if it can live up to the expectations of the port users,” Mr Vaswani noted.

The previous record containership visit on Indian shores was by the 19,462-teu MSC Anna that docked in Mundra port on 26 May.