Adani Ports SEZ aims to double cargo handling to 400mt by 2025.

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) has set a target of doubling cargo handling to 400 million tonne (mt) by 2025 after it recorded 200 mt recently, becoming the first Indian port to reach this milestone. 

The company, which was set up two decades ago, doubled its cargo handling last week from 100 mt reached in 2013-14. 

“Currently, about 95% of India’s trading volume is done through maritime transport and the total national traffic stands at about 1,200 mt. This gives us about 17% market share,” Karan Adani, CEO, APSEZ told ET in an email. “We anticipate that we will be able to increase our market share by about 1% annually and have set ourselves a goal to double our cargo handled to 400 mt by 2025.” 

While a significant amount of this cargo came from the company’s first port at Mundra, its other non-major ports at Hazira, Dhamra, Dahej and Kattupalli also contributed. 

“We will continue to add capacity at the appropriate ports as well as target new ports in other states including Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal,” said Adani. “The government’s ambitious Sagarmala and inland waterways initiatives will further help us augment our cargo growth. Hence, we anticipate that a combination of India’s growth and our network of ports will give us a strategic advantage hard for anyone to replicate.” 

The company aims to become market leader in end-to-end logistics with technology driven innovations. 

“The focus for the immediate future is to reduce the turnaround time, drive up volumes without adding resources and increase in-transit visibility utilisation by eliminating unproductive trips among other benefits. The sweetest part of the deal is for our customers who get real-time status of operations from the comfort of their locations,” said Adani. He said that India is important for all three major global shipping alliances and could potentially be a linking point for Asia, West Asia, Africa and Europe, offering new opportunities. 

ET