Most Ports Along India’s Coast Aren’t Deep Enough To Handle Bigger Vessels: Report

In India APL Raffles with a capacity of 17,292 TEU has been the biggest vessel to dock in January 2022 with 13,159 TEUs on board

Weak port infrastructure has been a major setback for the government's vision to attract more trade in India. A Bloomberg report says that most harbors along India’s coast aren’t deep enough to handle bigger vessels. India’s ports like Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, Mumbai, and Mundra Port lack the infrastructure needed to navigate vessels like Ever Alot, the report said. 

Ever Alot, the world’s largest boxship, 400 meters long and with a capacity of more than 24,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU), has docked in Sri Lanka as well as Malaysia in recent months but so far has skipped India.  

In India APL Raffles with a capacity of 17,292 TEU has been the biggest vessel to dock in January 2022 with 13,159 TEUs on board.

In May 2022, RBI has highlighted this problem in one of its reports. The RBI said that poor shipping connectivity has hindered India’s integration into the global value chain. The RBI said, “India’s GVC integration, as measured by the GVC participation index, has been low – 34.0 per cent, of total exports – relative to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries (45.9 per cent of gross exports). Shipping connectivity, greater GVC participation, higher FDI flows, and lower tariff rates are driving this phenomenon.”

However, Shailesh Garg, a director at Drewry Maritime Advisors told Bloomberg, “Ultra-large ships provide economies of scale. However, increasing the vessel size alone will not help in speeding up the movement of goods to and from the hinterland.” Adding that road and rail links from ports to warehouses, factories and shops also need to be improved. 

According to the report, this lack of Infrastructure risks India falling behind in the competition for a bigger share of trade as businesses move away from China as Southeast Asian countries like Vietnam are stepping in to fill in that shoe. 

Even India’s highest-ranking port in terms of performance, Mundra is at 48th position in an index compiled by the World Bank and S&P Global Market Intelligence.

A.P. Møller – Mærsk A/S one of the biggest shipping company told Bloomberg, “the existing port and terminal infrastructure in India do limit the possibility of utilizing the full strength of ultra large vessels.” Maersk said that factors include “the draft in the ports, cranes at terminals used for loading and unloading cargo, port throughput capacity.”

According to Maersk, Indian importers and exporters are spread across the country, and it is more cost and time effective to send and receive cargo through a port closer to their operations.

“In such a case, smaller vessels offer flexibility to go to more ports and move smaller volumes, than concentrate on a single hub,” Maersk said.

Although India has a strategic location between the Suez Canal and the Strait of Malacca, the report says in terms of container throughput, India’s 16 million TEUs as of December 2020 compares with 245 million TEUs for China.

Vizhinjam Port in Kerala is a deep-sea facility with a natural draft of 20-24 meters, so it is capable of attracting bigger ships. It is expected to be operating by 2024, Adani Group told Bloomberg, The group is behind the development of the port. 

Another port in Maharashtra that has a natural draft of 18 meters is expected to be completed in 2028, according to the government’s Maritime India Vision 2030.