News / Vizhinjam gets a head start in its quest to be a major transhipment hub

Adani's proposed transhipment hub at Vizhinjam

Vizhinjam Port, touted as India’s “hub counter” to Colombo in Sri Lanka, is gaining interest from major carriers for transhipment calls.

According to industry sources, MSC has lined up an ad-hoc call at Vizhinjam this week, after Maersk docked the 8,714-teu San Fernando at the new harbour on 11 July, trialling commercial operations at the port.

The 2006-built MSC Roma – nominal capacity pegged at 9,200 teu – departed Le Havre on 2 July and is scheduled to berth at Vizhinjam on Friday, sources noted. Details of expected container moves were not available.

Over the past week, Vizhinjam has seen two feeder vessel calls to pick up containers offloaded from Maersk’s San Fernando for onward movement.

The Danish carrier, which wants to offer a more integrated logistics offering through its upcoming Gemini agreement with Hapag-Lloyd, was bullish on the potential of the new Indian hub after the trial run.

“We certainly look forward to seeing how we can bring more value to our customers through Vizhinjam Port,” said Maersk.

However, MSC has always been seen as a more potential liner customer for the Adani Group port, because of its strategic partnerships with the Indian conglomerate at Mundra and Ennore. Additionally, the Geneva-based carrier often holds unscheduled or extra calls at Mundra for regional transhipment, and it’s believed some of that trade could shift to Vizhinjam as operations scale up there.

Adani Ports MD Karan Adani has claimed that Vizhinjam has infrastructure comparable with the top global ports, with its state-of-the-art container-handling equipment and automated terminal management systems.

He said: “What we have already installed here is South Asia’s most advanced container handling technology.”

Adani believes Vizhinjam would facilitate direct transhipment for India’s containerised exports and imports, as opposed to relaying them over foreign hubs which makes shipping costlier and transits often unpredictable.

“Until now, despite India’s rising trade with the world, the country did not have a dedicated transhipment port, resulting in 75% of its transhipped cargo being handled by ports outside India,” said the company.

Meanwhile, Colombo has had significant capacity problems in recent months, as transhipment demand spiked from Red Sea-linked vessel diversions. This strain could give Vizhinjam a head start as Adani prepares to officially commission the project soon.

Sunil Vaswani, spokesperson for India’s Container Shipping Lines Association, noted: “Some of the key advantages the port [Vizhinham] 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.”