News / 'Made in India' export push lures major box lines into adding services

Amid the trade diversion in Asia, India’s manufacturing push is attracting container lines searching for growth opportunities beyond their traditional markets.

MSC is to add a weekly Asia-South America East Coast service for Indian cargo via Colombo in Sri Lanka.

The Carioca service port rotation also includes direct calls at Rio de Janeiro, Paranagua, Imbituba, Itajai and Santos, while the carrier also promises additional coverage for Paraguay (Caacupemi), Montevideo and Buenos Aires, through relays at Rio.

MSC Agencies (India) told customers: “It will provide additional coverage as well as increasing connectivity and frequency for cargo originating from India.”

The first Carioca sailing will be by the MSC Nairobi, which has an ETA in Colombo of 10 September.

The move comes as Indian exports to Latin America are gaining measurable traction, with global importers increasingly looking beyond China for procurement. Commodities moving in large volumes from India to the region include automobile and polyethylene (PE) products, according to industry sources.

And according to available data, the value of Indian exports to Latin America and the Caribbean jumped 19% year on year in fiscal year 2022-23, to some $22.4bn.

Meanwhile, other carriers have also shown greater interest in India-LatAm trades: HMM has extended its Asia-Lat Am service known as FIL to India, with a call at Kattupalli port, near Chennai. And the carrier has adopted a strategy to aggregate cargo out of western India by using its China-India (CIX) string that has stops at Nhava Sheva and Mundra.

After a three-month streak of gains in the new fiscal year that began in April, Indian merchandise exports reported a marginal 1% dip in July, by value, according to new data. But Ashwani Kumar, president of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations, believes that while there are headwinds due to geopolitical reasons, the long-term outlook for the export trade remains positive.

“Some exporters have diverted to the domestic market as profitability in exports have taken a hit with a sharp rise in international freight (both ship and air),” he said.

“Had it not been for these trade disruptions, led by logistical challenges such as lack of container availability, shipping space, irregular shipping schedules and ships skipping Indian ports, merchandise exports would have recorded yet another positive growth in July.”