HMM Vadhvan MoU signing ceremony
Photo: India Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Waterways

South Korean container line HMM has become Asia’s first major shipping line to put its name down to associate with the planned new Indian mega-port of Vadhvan.

Yesterday HMM signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPA) to collaborate on the development of the port, which received the go-ahead from the Indian government last June.

“Under the MOU, HMM will support the development and operation of Vadhvan Port, a large-scale project by the Indian government to become one of the world’s top 10 container ports by 2040,” an HMM spokesman said.

At full build-out, the port will have an annual handling capacity of 23m teu across nine container terminals, and JNPT is understood to have inked provisional agreements with a number of international terminal operators for a public-private-partnership (PPP) model. They includeDP World, APM Terminals, PSA and CMA Terminals – all currently operating facilities in Nhava Sheva’s port area.

However, with a natural water depth of 20 metres, compared with the 15.5 metres at Nhava Sheva, the port could accommodate HMM’s 24,000 teu vessels, and will offer strong connectivity to India’s inland logistics network.

HMM said: “We hope this partnership leads to strong cooperation for port development. We will continue investing in terminals to grow our integrated logistics business, a key part of our mid-to-long-term strategy.”

Next month, HMM and ONE will jointly launch the India-North Europe Express (INX) service, which, according to the eeSea liner database, will also include Yang Ming – which would effectively make it a Premier Alliance product – and deploy 11 ships with an average size of 6,600 teu.

The first sailing will be the 5 February departure of the 6,350 teu Hyundai Oakland from Karachi, on a port rotation of: Karachi-Hazira-Mundra-Nhava Sheva-Colombo-London Gateway-Rotterdam-Hamburg-Antwerp-Karachi.

The aggressive expansion of Indian port capacity has been a key plank of prime minister Nahendra Modi’s efforts to revitalise the country’s manufacturing sector, while at the same time Nhava Sheva has effectively run out of space. Last year, the port handled 7.05m teu, 11% more than in 2023 and around double the global market growth average.

However, terminal utilisation has breached 90% and new capacity is urgently needed.

This month, PSA’s Bharat Mumbai Container Terminal will commission its second phase, to add 2.4m teu capacity, while the Nhava Sheva Freeport Terminal, operated by CMA Terminals and Hapag-Lloyd-owned JM Baxi (NSFT), also has an upgrade plan that could add as much as 1m teu. India’s Shipping Ministry said yesterday that with the current growth projections, “container handling capacity is expected to go up to 10.4m teu”.

Visiting the port to add his name to the MoU, Indian shipping and ports minister Sarbananda Sonowal (pictured above, centre) said: “As India’s trade volume increases, from sectors as diverse as manufacturing to textiles, from electronics to agriculture, our ports are investing in capacity building, as well as creating efficient solutions to support growing container traffic.”

 

Listen to this clip from The Loadstar Podcast to hear Henrik Schilling Managing Director, Global Commercial Development at Hapag-Lloyd AG giving host Mike King an Asia-Europe and Transpacific contracting update from Hapag Lloyd:

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