Billionaire Gautam Adani is charting new waters, with plans to build a state-of-the-art port in Vietnam as part of his ambitious global expansion.
This venture by Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd. has reportedly received “in-principle approval” from the Vietnamese government for a greenfield development in Da Nang, revealed Karan Adani, the company’s managing director.
This project, still in its nascent stage, will feature container terminals and multipurpose berths to handle diverse cargo, with investment details yet to be finalized, according to a Bloomberg report.
This will be Adani group’s fourth international port, joining its counterparts in Haifa, Israel; Colombo, Sri Lanka; and the Port of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Just last Friday, Adani’s new mega port in southern India welcomed its first mother ship, signaling the company’s intent to aggressively expand and capture a larger slice of the international maritime trade, an arena currently dominated by China.
“The vision is to establish India as a maritime hub,” said Karan, the elder son of Gautam Adani. “We are focusing on countries with high manufacturing output or large populations, driving high consumption. Our target is to boost export volumes in these regions.”
As India’s largest port operator, Adani Ports currently derives about 5% of its volume from international operations and aims to double this to 10% by 2030. The company is eyeing opportunities in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, East Africa, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Vietnam, and Cambodia, regions that are pivotal to India’s trade.
Adani is also doubling down on his investment in the Vizhinjam port in southern India, committing $2.4 billion to accelerate its expansion and attract some of the world’s largest vessels. “We plan to invest $2.4 billion in the Vizhinjam international transshipment terminal by 2028,” Karan said in an earlier presser.
The aim is to quintuple the port’s capacity to 5 million TEUs, surpassing the initial plan of 3 million TEUs. Adani has expedited the expansion timeline from 2045 to 2028 to better compete in the international maritime trade sector, currently led by China.
Strategically located near India’s southern tip, Vizhinjam sits adjacent to crucial international sea routes and boasts some of the world’s deepest shipping channels, making it ideal for accommodating large vessels. This strategic positioning and significant investment underscore Adani’s vision of transforming India’s maritime infrastructure and boosting its global trade footprint.
