MSC: acquires 49% of Vizhinjam port from India’s Adani Group for $1.4bn

(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - The Indian conglomerate Adani Group has announced the sale of a 49 per cent stake in its deep-draught container transhipment port at Vizhinjam, in southern India, to the shipping company MSC for approximately $1.4 billion. The acquisition of the stake by MSC, the world’s largest container shipping company, based in Switzerland, represents “the largest ever private foreign investment in Indian port infrastructure”, Adani stated in a press release.

The Indian group expects that the partnership will increase cargo volumes at Vizhinjam and enable the port to capture a larger share of container traffic to and from Bangladesh, which currently passes through other Asian hubs.

The Vizhinjam International Seaport, situated in the Indian state of Kerala, is India’s first deep-draught container transhipment port designed to accommodate the largest ships. India aims to develop a network of major seaports and reduce its reliance on regional transhipment hubs such as Singapore and Colombo, by handling a larger share of its cargo within its own territory.

Red-Sim