Vizhinjam International Seaport, the country’s first deepwater transshipment port, is rapidly scaling up infrastructure to commence direct export-import (EXIM) operations, aiming to achieve a 40:60 mix between EXIM and transshipment cargo volumes over the next three to five years.
The port has been receiving enquiries from diverse sectors including from textile and garment exporters in Tiruppur and Coimbatore, automaker Volvo, and British retailer Marks & Spencer for export shipments to Europe, Singapore, and Far East countries. At present, textile consignments from Tiruppur have no direct route to Europe. They are either moved to Chennai or Tuticorin port and then transhipped via Colombo to their destination. This multi-leg process adds cost and time. What typically takes around 40 days can be reduced to 25–26 days via Vizhinjam.
Located in Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram district, Vizhinjam International Seaport is only 10 nautical miles off international East-West and Far East — Middle East Asia shipping routes. The port currently handles only transshipment cargo with direct EXIM operations expected to begin this September. EXIM operations have been delayed due to the lack of last-mile road or rail connectivity to the port.
To address this, the port is building a connecting road to National Highway 66 (Mumbai-Kanyakumari highway), which will allow EXIM containers to be moved in and out of the port by road.
Additionally, the Kerala government is planning a 10.7-km largely underground railway line from the port to Balaramapuram, a small station located between Tamil Nadu’s Nagercoil and Kanyakumari, to improve rail access. The project is expected to be completed by December 2028. A cloverleaf interchange is also on cards to enable seamless entry of 1,000–2,000 trucks daily into the port through the road.
Trial operations at Vizhinjam port began on July 11, 2024, and full commercial operations started on December 3, 2024. Since then, the port has handled 395 vessels, including 23 ultra-large container ships—most notably MSC Irina, the world’s largest container vessel, which docked at Vizhinjam in its first-ever visit to India—handling a total of 8.4 lakh TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) of cargo.
APSEZ will be investing ₹10,000 crore over the next three years for the the second phase of expansion. This includes extending the breakwater by another 1 km from its current 3 km length and expanding the jetty from 800 metres to 2,000 metres by 2028. Once completed, the port’s annual capacity will rise to 4.5 million TEUs, up from 1.5 million TEUs at present.
India currently transships around 5–6 million TEUs annually, with nearly 75% of this volume routed through foreign ports such as Colombo, Dubai, and Singapore. The official said Vizhinjam will help reduce dependency on foreign ports, thereby saving time and boosting the margins of Indian exporters and importers.
Vizhinjam has been developed under a public-private partnership between the Kerala government and APSEZ, India’s largest port operator. As per the revenue-sharing model, the state government will begin receiving 1% of the port’s revenue from 2035, with a 1% increase every year thereafter, capped at 40%.
