PM Modi dedicates Vizhinjam Deepwater Port to nation: Read how this Adani seaport is going to be India’s major player in global maritime trade
Prime Minister Modi today (2nd May) commissioned the Vizhinjam International Deepwater Multipurpose Seaport, India’s first deepwater transhipment port, in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. The event was attended by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Gautam Adani, chairman of the Adani Group, along with other dignitaries.
The Vizhinjam International Seaport, built at a cost of ₹8,900 crore, is also India’s first semi-automated port. Developed under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model, the port is operated by Adani Ports and SEZ Ltd (APSEZ), while the Kerala government holds the majority stake in it. It is a pivotal step towards the development of India’s untapped maritime potential, which is a focus area under the Modi government’s Maritime India Vision 2030.
The port received its commercial commissioning certificate on December 4, 2025, after a successful trial run. The trial operations commenced on July 13, 2024, which involved the handling of 272 large vessels and over 550,000 containers docked at the port. On December 3, 2024, full commercial operations started at the port, marking the completion of phase I. The next phases are expected to be completed by December 2028, after which the port will have an enhanced annual capacity of at least 3 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units). This will require an additional cost of ₹10,000 crore to be borne by Adani Ports.
At the beginning of the year, the port ranked first in the list of ports on India’s southern and western coasts for container cargo handling by managing more than 100,000 TEUs in a month. In another significant achievement, the Vizhinjam port was included in the Jade Service of Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), the world’s largest shipping company, known to include only high-capacity ports in its key services. The port thus joined the league of global giants like Qingdao, Shanghai, Busan, and Singapore ports.
The Jade Service is an important shipping route operated by the MSC, which connects Europe and Asia via the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. Vessels in the Jade Service will now sail from Singapore to Spain and Italy via Vizhinjam.
The Vizhinjam port received MSC Türkiye
In a remarkable feat, in April this year, the Vizhinjam International Seaport received MSC Türkiye, which is among the world’s largest cargo ships, having a humongous capacity of carrying more than 24,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUS), thus becoming the first Indian port to handle a vessel of this size.
MSC Türkiye (via DD News)
Vizhinjam International Seaport and its strategic location
The Vizhinjam International Seaport, the only transhipment port in the entire Indian subcontinent, is close to international shipping routes. The port has the potential to become a major transhipment hub in the subcontinent due to its proximity to the east-west international shipping lane, which is only 10 nautical miles away from it. Its advantage is its natural depth of 18-20 metres, a kilometre away from the shore, which makes it conducive and cost-effective for the world’s largest cargo vessels like MSC Türkiye to dock without dredging, which is a costly process required to deepen shallow ports by removing sediments and other material.
In addition to that, Vizhinjam’s minimal sand movement (littoral drift) along the coast is another natural advantage for the port as it reduces maintenance costs. Moreover, the port is located at a distance of 2 km from NH 66, 12 km from a main railway line and 15 km from Trivandrum airport, which will make the cargo movement across the country convenient. To facilitate faster operations, the port has fully automated yard cranes and remotely operated ship-to-shore cranes. One of the unique features of the Vizhinjam port is that it is equipped with India’s first indigenous, AI-powered Vessel Traffic Management System, developed with IIT Madras.
What is a transhipment port
A transhipment hub is used when a direct route is not available or economical for the transit of cargo bound for a longer journey. The port has terminals that provide an intermediate point where the cargo is transferred from one vessel to another, which takes it to its destination. Often, smaller shipments are loaded onto larger vessels for more economic transportation. Countries having strong global trade networks make use of transhipment ports to transit large amounts of international cargo.
Image via DD News
Before this, India lacked the infrastructure to handle large vessels in the absence of a full-fledged deepwater container transportation port. As a result, India used to rely on foreign ports like Singapore, Colombo, and Jebel Ali in the UAE, for about 75% of its transhipment cargo. This arrangement resulted in delays, loss of foreign exchange and revenue and hiked costs, which were incurred by domestic traders. The port will eliminate India’s reliance on foreign ports, which in turn will make India’s supply chains immune to global geopolitical changes.
India’s maritime vision
The Modi government expressed its commitment to boost the maritime potential of India by allocating ₹25,000 crore in this year’s budget. To provide impetus to the country’s shipbuilding industry, the government accorded ‘infrastructure’ status to large ships. In her budget speech in February this year, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that the ships above a specified size would be included in the harmonised master list (HML) for infrastructure.
Aligning with the central government’s vision of establishing India as a maritime power on the global level, the Maharashtra government announced a dedicated maritime policy on 29th April. The state cabinet approved the Shipbuilding, Ship Repair and Ship Recycling Policy, 2025, which aims to enhance maritime infrastructure and generate employment opportunities in the maritime sector.
Last year in August, the construction of a deepwater port at Vadhvan in the Palghar district of Maharashtra. Another transhipment is proposed to be constructed on Great Nicobar Island in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. At present, India has 13 major and 217 non-major ports.
News