"It's Much Better Equipped": Karan Adani On Kerala's Vizhinjam Port

Karan Adani, the Managing Director of Adani Ports and SEZ Ltd (APSEZ), on Friday said Kerala's Vizhinjam Port is "much better equipped" and said it will "enable the growth" of the country.

The Vizhinjam International Seaport in Kerala - India's first mega transshipment container terminal - was formally inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday

It has been built by the APSEZ, the country's biggest port developer and part of the Adani Group, in partnership with the government under a public-private model. The project cost around Rs 8,900 crore and received its commercial go-ahead in December last year after a successful trial phase.

Speaking to reporters after the inauguration event, Mr Adani thanked PM Modi and Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for their support.

He also said the average cost of calling a ship to Vizhinjam Port would roughly be $40 per box.

"We have to be enablers of the growth in the country, and we do believe that whatever we are building today, it's not enough. When we built this (port), everybody was questioning whether this would be filled up or not. Today, we are clocking almost 100 thousand moves every month," he said.

Mr Adani said the APSEZ is targeting 90 per cent utilisation of the resources.

Speaking on the impact of tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump, Mr Adani said that any disruption in trade routes "definitely impacts shipping lines and the movement of cargo".

"In that way, some of the transhipment points actually benefit from disruptions because shipping lines will have to re-route some of the cargo. That is from a transhipment perspective. I think from a trade perspective, we are seeing that a lot of manufacturing is moving into India and the export boxes increasing from India to the US," he added.

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