Adani Mulls Necklace of Ports in India

The group is keen to complete its own 'Sagarmala' (Necklace Ocean) dream by having presence in the three key states of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, apart from setting up trans-shipment terminals in Southeast Asia and East Africa.

“We are also keen to have trans-shipment terminals in Southeast Asia, especially in Myanmar and Bangladesh, and also in East Africa, so that these facilities can serve the upcoming Vizhinjam facility,” Karan Adani, Executive Director of the APSEZ and son of group Chairman Gautam Adani said.

The Gautam Adani-led company, which began work on its first international trans-shipment container port at Vizhinjam in the state of Kerala on Friday, now operates nine ports which would have an installed capacity of 490 million tonnes (MT) by the next fiscal. 

With this, the Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) becomes the country's largest ports operator in the private sector. 

Report says that the company has set a target of exceeding 200 MT of cargo handling by 2020 at an investment of Rs.9,000 crore, but it is likely to achieve it by 2018.

Vizhinjam, about 30 km from the Kerala capital, is located strategically close to the southernmost tip of the Indian peninsula, making it an ideal location for the container transshipment hub that Adani is building. 

The project is billed as India's first transshipment hub that will compete against those in Dubai, Singapore and Colombo. It will, on completion, be able to berth Triple E mega container vessels that can only dock at a few ports in the world.   

After becoming India’s largest private port operator, the Adani Group wants to be the country’s top dredging company as well.

The group’s fleet of 16 dredgers that are used to deepen and maintain shipping channels in harbours will soon be operated by Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (APSEZ), Vinod George, chief operating officer, dredging, Adani Group, said.