Time to spur Vizhinjam project to avoid Ever Alots giving India wide berth

Myriad issues like recent protests by the fisherfolk, back-to-back floods in Kerala, Cyclone Ockhi have taken wind out of Adani Group's sails, forcing its Rs 7,500-cr project to move at snail's pace

Launched into the water in June 2022, with a carrying capacity of 24,004 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU), measuring 400 metres in length by 61.5 metres in width, Ever Alot snatched the world’s largest container ship record from Ever Ace. She is the seventh vessel in the Evergreen A class and the first ship in the class, and the world, to surpass the 24,000 TEU mark. She rivals the Empire State Building in length, can fit four football fields - and has berthed in Sri Lanka and Malaysia.

According to industry sources, the world’s largest container ship, which needs a draught of up to 17 metres, could only have docked at one port in India - the Vizhinjam International Transhipment Deepwater Multipurpose Seaport.

But myriad issues like the recent protests by the fisherfolk, back-to-back floods in Kerala, Cyclone Ockhi, and Covid caseload have taken the wind out of Adani Group’s sails, forcing its Rs 7,500-crore project to move at a snail’s pace.

Since India does not have any deep port or transhipment port, India’s transhipment business is being done at the ports in Colombo, Singapore, Dubai, and Salalah (Sultanate of Oman), leading to a foreign currency and revenue loss of about Rs 2,500 crore.

According to the initial contract signed on August 17, 2015, the project was supposed to be completed in 2019. But due to reasons cited earlier, even in January 2023, only 60 per cent of the project work is complete.

“About 60 per cent of the port’s work is complete. The state government has expressed hope that a trial vessel is expected to reach the port by September this year and the port will be commissioned by the end of 2024,” says Jayakumar, chief executive officer, Vizhinjam International Seaport, which is implementing the Vizhinjam deepwater multipurpose seaport on a public-private partnership basis.

The major advantages, experts highlight, include the natural depth of around 20 metres that Vizhinjam has that none of the Indian ports have the bragging rights for. This can be extended up to 24 metres. This is much higher than the 17-metre draught requirement for Ever Alot.

In addition, Vizhinjam is just half an hour, or 10 nautical miles, from the international shipping channel, compared to half a day for the International Container Transhipment Terminal in Cochin, and three to four days for Mumbai and Mangalore ports.

Vizhinjam also needs no major maintenance dredging. Although the Mundra Port in Gujarat, run by Adani Group itself, has the wherewithal for handling mega vessels, it is this long distance from the international shipping channel that is a roadblock.

The abridged distance between Vizhinjam and the international shipping channel is crucial, given about 95 per cent of India’s foreign trade in volume terms and 70 per cent in value terms is handled by the route.

More importantly, nearly 30 per cent of the world cargo movement takes place through the international shipping route south of the Indian peninsula.

“The 140-plus-day strike affected the project’s progress. The protesters lost the battle on various levels, including the courts and the National Green Tribunal. There is no proof that coastal erosion in the area is due to port construction work,” said Elias John, president, Vizhinjam Motherport Action Council.

According to those supporting the project, there were instances of coastal erosion in key areas like Shangumugham and Valiyathura, even before port construction started, back in 2005 and 2013.

John, however, indicates that locals are worried about the potential impact the Hindenburg Research report on Adani Group will have on the project. The Kerala government’s investment in the project is about Rs 5,071 crore, while that of Adani Group’s is Rs 2,454 crore.

Sources Business Standard spoke to dismissed such misgivings, saying a majority of the investment is already made and nothing will impair the port construction work.

Oddly enough, protesters are still raising hackles at the palpable coastal erosion. “Vizhinjam is not a natural port. All ports in India need dredging. When the breakwater is constructed, dredging will be required due to siltation. It is environmentally illogical and unsafe. Only Adani bid for Vizhinjam, no other player evinced any interest. We will wait for the monsoon season to start. If erosion takes place, the action council will rethink the protests,” says A J Vijayan, founder of the National Fishworkers’ Forum, and a former researcher with the International Ocean Institute.

Amid all these arguments and counter-arguments, supporters of the project say further delay may hit the country through more losses like Ever Alot giving India a wide berth.