New Delhi: The proposed India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEEC) that will connect India and Europe through the Arabian Peninsula via rail and sea links may still be at a very conceptual stage, but India is already gearing up to cater to the increased cargo demand as and when it is ready, ThePrint has learnt.
Senior shipping ministry officials said India is already working to augment the capacity of its western ports to support EXIM (export-import) cargo, and it will come in handy once the corridor takes off.
The IMEEC was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Delhi on 9 September.
Shipping officials, who did not wish to be named, told ThePrint that there are four ports on the western coast, which could be linked to the IMEEC corridor — the Jawaharlal Nehru Port (Navi Mumbai), Deendayal Port (Kandla, Gujarat), Mundra Port (Gujarat) and the upcoming Vadhavan Port (near Dahanu, Maharashtra).
“At Kandla Port, new terminals are being added to augment its existing capacity, while the greenfield Vadhavan Port, touted as India’s largest, is being developed. India will have more than adequate capacity to handle the EXIM cargo at our western ports once the IMEC is ready,” the official said.
The Kandla Port will have an annual capacity of 2.19 million TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit) after new terminals are added, while the upcoming Vadhavan Port will have a capacity of 24.9 million TEUs, a shipping ministry official said. TEU is a standard unit of measurement for cargo capacity and is also used to determine container capacity. A twenty-foot equivalent unit refers to a shipping container that is 20 feet long, 8 feet wide and 8 feet tall.
The Rs 66,544 crore Vadhavan Port was approved by the cabinet in February 2020 and a Special Purpose Vehicle has been formed to develop it.
The other two ports on the western coast — JNP and Mundra — have capacities to handle 10 million TEUs and 7.5 million TEUs, respectively, the official added.
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IMEEC a counter to China’s BRI
The IMEEC is being viewed as a counter to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which was rolled out in 2013 by Chinese President Xi Jinping.
One of the most ambitious infrastructure initiatives, the project involves India, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, the European Union, France, Italy, Germany and the US.
A maritime sector expert, who did not wish to be named, however, said that developing the corridor would be challenging considering the varying geopolitical interests of the countries involved.
The project will involve transit by ship between India and Saudi Arabia, followed by a rail link to the UAE and likely to Jordan from where the shipment will move by sea to Turkey and further by rail.
The IMEEC is proposed to have two separate corridors — the Eastern Corridor, connecting India to West Asia/Middle East, and the Northern Corridor, connecting West Asia/Middle East to Europe.
According to government sources, it will include a rail line, which, upon completion, will provide a reliable and cost-effective cross-border ship-to-rail transit network to supplement the existing multi-modal transport routes.
It will also enhance the transhipment of goods and services between South East Asia through India to West Asia/Middle East and Europe, they added.
(Edited by Richa Mishra)
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