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00:00It was a historic day today for Kerala and also for Vizhenjam port as its dream of 33
00:05years has come to reality today with the commercial operations starting today with the inauguration
00:10of the first phase of the Vizhenjam port.
00:12We have with us the Managing Director of Adani Ports and SEZ who is also building this port
00:17along with the state government to talk to us about the significance as well as the vision
00:22for the port going ahead.
00:24Welcome to NDTV Mr. Adani.
00:26Sir, I would like to start with by asking about what exactly is the significance of
00:30this port.
00:31This is the transshipment port, first port and the largest transshipment hub that India
00:35is creating.
00:36So going ahead, what is the relevance of this port for the country and also for the group?
00:40I think as you rightly said, it is a big day.
00:44This is country's first transshipment terminal, semi-automated as well as automated terminal.
00:50It is the deepest transshipment port in the country and apart from the infrastructure,
01:00it is a showcase from a technology perspective because this is the port where we have implemented
01:05all the AIs, IOT, video analytics, all the kind of technology that we can think of to
01:13make the operation most efficient.
01:17It is a very significant development because as you know that most of the Indian cargo
01:22gets transshipped into other parts of the world, other parts of the region.
01:29This gives us an opportunity to bring the cargo of Indian importer and exporters into
01:34the country and help in reducing the logistics cost and in turn help our manufacturing companies
01:44to be more competitive at the global scale.
01:46If I can ask an additional question to this, like with the operation of the first phase
01:50and then finally the second phase and third phase, what kind of impact do you see?
01:55You spoke about the EXIM trade benefits that might accrue to us.
01:59So have you all done any kind of calculation, the kind of benefit that India would get from
02:03this port?
02:04We do expect at least 4-5% reduction in the logistics cost with having your own transshipment
02:11hub within the country.
02:14And you spoke about this being the largest, deepest natural harbour that we have.
02:20So with this, what kind of investments we are doing in this port and what are the plans
02:25or the visions going ahead for this port?
02:28So far, total investment between Government of Kerala, Government of India and APSCJ,
02:33total investment port is 8,800 crores.
02:37Apart from that, APSCJ has put in 3,600 crores of capex.
02:46Going forward, once we get the environment clearance for the whole master plan, we would
02:52look at investing additional 20,000 crores by 2028-29.
02:56So this is over and above 8,000 crores, the additional 20,000.
02:59So total 28,000 crores total investment.
03:02And can you talk about the total capacity of this port in various phases?
03:05So currently, the capacity is 1 million TUs, 1 million boxes.
03:10With efficiency, we can take it up to 1.5 from the current phase.
03:14This 1.5, we will take up to 5 million boxes by 2028-29.
03:192028-29, so the final completion of the project.
03:24So earlier, I think it was planned to 3 million tons, which has now been increased to 5 million
03:29tons.
03:30And we are also closer, I mean, this is the closest port that we have to the international
03:36sea channel that we have.
03:37So what kind of strategic importance this port can hold for the country as such?
03:42So as you rightly said, it is on the international trade route.
03:47This allows the largest ships to come in.
03:50It allows, you know, hub and spoke model for Indian ports to create and make Vizinjam as
03:58a hub and, you know, distribute from here to all the other ports.
04:02A lot of value addition which can happen with transshipment.
04:05It's not just about transshipment, but what more value addition from a manufacturing perspective
04:10we can create over here.
04:12And that is what we are looking at.
04:14And as I said that we are looking at reducing the logistics cost for our customers and also
04:19reducing the transit time because you don't have to now move into any other international
04:26location for transshipment.
04:28So earlier it used, I read somewhere that it used to take almost one month also at some
04:32of the transshipment hubs before the products are delivered, you know.
04:35So with these kind of transshipment hub, that time period can be reduced by how much?
04:39By almost 30 to 40 percent.
04:4230 to 40 percent.
04:43Okay.
04:44You are also expanding globally, you know, in terms of ports, you'll have done a lot
04:47of acquisition in Israel, South Africa, Australia, we already have.
04:51South Africa, East Africa.
04:52Sorry, East Africa.
04:53Then we also have in Sri Lanka.
04:55So what are our acquisition plans going ahead?
04:57Would you be looking at strategic locations or you are open to other locations?
05:01So we are more focused on Southeast Asia and East Africa and Middle East, so and obviously
05:07Bay of Bengal, so Bangladesh and this is the region that we are focused on.
05:14Basically looking at countries which are of, has a high manufacturing base or look at countries
05:19which have high consumption.
05:22And basically the idea is that from a trade perspective, how do you make Indian ports
05:26as the hub and supply from the Indian ports into all of these countries.
05:32Would it make sense to have, look at ports even in say Latin American countries?
05:37Not as of this time.
05:39So one last question on groups total capacity, you know, the kind of capacities you are looking
05:44at in the short term as well as in the long term, say between 2025 to 2030, what is our
05:49plan going ahead?
05:50So our plan is by 2030 we want to be handling 1 billion tonne of cargo, that is our aspiration.
06:00From that roughly 900 million tonnes will come out of India and as the country, if country
06:07reaches the 5 trillion dollar mark, I think we would achieve that goal because we are
06:15indirect beneficiaries of the country growing.
06:21And so we would look at expanding our capacities across all our 14 ports and look at giving
06:28better service to our customers.
06:30So Vadhavan port is what government has announced recently that they will be coming up, you
06:34know.
06:35So would you be looking at participating in those terminals also or bidding out from those?
06:38We keep evaluating all possibilities on PPP mode which are available and we would definitely
06:45look at.
06:46Thank you very much for talking to NDTV.
06:48Thank you.
06:49Thanks.
06:50Thank you.