While the proposal for the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) to acquire a 49% share in Adani Vizhinjam Port Private Limited (AVPPL) at TRV remains undecided, the speed and interest seen in our neighbouring countries are surprising. The French company CMA CGM, which operates around 700 ships, ranks third globally behind MSC and Maersk. Handling 12.6% of global trade, they have ships with a capacity of 4.2 million containers. Such a company has agreed with the Red Sea Gateway Terminal to develop Terminal 4 at the Jeddah port in Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea. Accordingly, they will invest USD 434m (INR 41bn) there. This is only a third of what MSC promised to invest in TRV. MSC’s offer is USD 1.397bn, or INR 132.2bn. While this offer remains uncertain, the French-Saudi agreement became a reality very quickly. Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman and French President Emmanuel Macron personally attended the ceremony in Paris to witness it. That is the importance each country gives to shipping and maritime trade. Failing to understand this, we continue to delay things by citing lame excuses.
MSC, which made the largest investment offer in India’s port sector, should have been welcomed by the Indian Prime Minister himself. Instead, some, including the opposition in Kerala, approached it with suspicion. Regardless, the people of Kerala, especially in the capital, have already welcomed MSC’s investment with great interest. Today, they have more knowledge about shipping and global trade than the governments.
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