World’s Largest Eco-Friendly Container Ship Docks At India’s 1st Deep-Water Transshipment Port

In a groundbreaking development, the world’s largest eco-friendly container ship, MSC Turkiye, arrived at the newly developed Vizhinjam International Seaport in Kerela on April 9, 2025.

This is the first time the massive vessel has made a port call in South Asia.

MSC Turkiye is considered one of the largest and most fuel-efficient container ships ever built. It is operated by the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC).

The vessel is an engineering marvel, measuring 399.9 meters in length, 61.3 meters in width, and with a depth of 33.5 meters.

It has the capacity to carry 24,346 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), placing it among the largest cargo vessels globally in terms of container capacity.

The ship docked at Vizhinjam Port at 5:10 pm on Wednesday and is scheduled to depart for Ghana on April 10, 2025 (Thursday) evening after unloading about 2,000 containers.

This visit also marks the 257th vessel to arrive at the port since commercial and trial operations began on July 12, 2024.

Despite not being officially inaugurated yet, the port has been actively handling large volumes of cargo. Since the trial phase and through the past four months of commercial activity, it has processed more than 5.2 lakh TEUs, showing rapid progress in operations.

The Vizhinjam International Seaport is India’s only transshipment container hub and is managed by Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd.

The port is located just 10 nm (about 19 km) from the east-west international shipping channel and is strategically positioned to directly receive the world’s largest vessels without relying on smaller feeder ships.

Adani Ports, in a recent business update, mentioned that the port achieved a milestone in March by handling over 100,000 TEUs in a single month, Across all its terminals, the company recorded an all-time high of 41.5 million metric tonnes of cargo during the same month.

Green container ships are usually equipped with hybrid or energy-efficient engines, electric shore power systems, and technologies like solar panels or wind-assisted propulsion to reduce fuel usage and emissions.

Advanced filtration systems onboard help lower harmful pollutants, making such vessels more eco friendly than conventional ones.

Earlier, another massive MSC ship, the MSC Claude Girardet, had docked at Vizhinjam in September last year. While it was slightly longer than MSC Turkiye, it carried fewer containers.

Adani Ports, the country’s largest private port operator, oversees 14 major ports and terminals across India, including in Gujarat, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

The company handles a variety of cargo types such as containers, coal, oil and gas and is known for modern and efficient port operations. It’s Mundra Port in Gujarat remains India’s biggest commercial port.

Even though shares of Adani Ports ended 0.32% higher at ₹1,135 in the last trading session, the stock has shown mixed performance. It dropped 4.59% in the past 5 days and is down 0.69% in the past month.

Over the last 6 months, the stock has declined 19.91% and it is 16.07% lower compared to last year. However, in the longer term, it has seen strong growth, gaining 350.58% over a five year period.

References: The Hindu, Business Standard

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