India plans new container line, sees maritime path to global goals
In a move that underscores the country’s expanding global ambitions, India announced a multifaceted maritime initiative to bolster trade and widen the country’s reach in seaborne commerce.
Plans call for the launch of a new liner operator, Bharat Container Line, which New Delhi hopes will reduce India’s reliance on foreign vessel operators.
The project initially envisions a fleet of 100 vessels to ply what published reports described as key trade routes.
By comparison, the world’s largest container carrier, Mediterranean Shipping Co., operates almost 900 vessels.
National carrier Shipping Corp. of India (SCI) operates just four container ships, two owned and two chartered, according to data compiled by Alphaliner.
This week India Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited ocean carrier CMA CGM’s headquarters in Marseilles with French President Emmanuel Macron, for discussions on logistics cooperation.
“With the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), a visionary initiative led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Marseille is set to play a strategic role as a key hub for Indo-Mediterranean trade,” said Rodolphe Saade, chairman and CEO of CMA CGM, in a post on LinkedIn. “[W]e are fully committed to this ambition. More than just infrastructure, IMEC is about connecting economies, fostering sustainable growth, and shaping the future of global trade.”
India also announced a $3 billion Maritime Development Fund aimed at expanding domestic shipbuilding and port infrastructure overseas. India’s ambitions compare to the extensive belt-and-road development in other countries by China.
India’s plans also have come into sharper focus amid China’s increasingly fraught relationship with the United States, the latter’s largest trading partner.
On Wednesday, SCI agreed to a strategic partnership with one of India’s largest downstream petroleum importers, government-owned Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd., another element of the government’s maritime strategy.
After imports of Russian crude oil were banned by the European Union following the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, India became a key transshipment hub for diesel, aviation fuel and other products made from discounted Russian oil and sold to buyers in Europe. So much so that Russia replaced Iraq as India’s biggest crude supplier, according to the Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
Recent U.S. sanctions on 160 Russian tanker vessels — a “dark fleet” of older ships with murky ownership — sought to further cut Russia off from crude markets, with partial success. While some ships and their cargo have been halted, others have made their way to terminals in China and India, according to published reports, turning off their satellite identification equipment in order to hide their locations.
Modi met with President Donald Trump in Washington on Thursday.
This article was update Feb. 13 to add comments from CMA CGM Chairman and Chief Executive Rodolphe Saade.
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