The Vizhinjam port along Kerala’s coastline has been developed by Adani Ports and SEZ Ltd. in collaboration with the local state government.
Key ports
- Zhen Hua 15 — a heavy load cargo carrier sailing from the East China sea — unloaded at Vizhinjam port in Kerala.
- It has put India on the map for world’s biggest container ships.
- Located near the southernmost tip of the country, the Vizhinjam transshipment container port — the first of its kind in India was inaugurated on Oct. 15.
- It will allow India to grab a bigger slice of the international maritime trade currently dominated by China.
- It will also bolster its aspirations to be an alternative manufacturing hub by reducing logistics costs for cargo coming to and from the country.
- The proximity to the international shipping routes that accounts for 30% of global cargo traffic and a natural channel that goes up to 24 meters below the sea makes Vizhinjam an ideal hub for some of the world’s biggest ships to call in.
- Until now, the biggest container ships have been skipping India because its harbors weren’t deep enough to handle such vessels and docking at neighboring ports such as Colombo, Dubai and Singapore.
- Transshipment refers to transferring cargo from an original ship to another, bigger mother ship at a port on the way to the cargo’s final destination.
- The upcoming ports at Vizhinjam (Kerala) and Vadhavan (Maharashtra) have natural drafts in excess of 18 meters that would enable ultra large container and cargo vessels to call on the ports thereby boosting the efforts to make India the world’s factory.
