Jawaharlal Nehru Port is now a favourite for maritime giants to hold key events

Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority, India’s biggest state-owned container port and the nation’s second largest by volumes handled, has become the go-to harbour for global liner giants such as Maersk and CMA CGM to hold big eve                                                                                                             nts like naming a ship run on green fuel or re-flagging a ship to India, underscoring the port’s growing stature among the international maritime community. 

Close on the heels of the naming ceremony of the dual-fuel methanol container vessel owned by integrated logistics giant A.P. Moller Maersk (Maersk) on February 28, French container shipping group will convert its Malta-flagged ship ‘CMA CGM Vitoria’ to the Indian flag in a ceremony slated for Monday at the port located near Mumbai and named after independent India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
Both are considered significant events in their own ways as the world’s fastest growing major economy takes big strides under Prime Minister Narendra Modi to emerge as a global maritime powerhouse, evident from the announcements made in the recent Union Budget to promote shipbuilding and shipping.

For Jawaharlal Nehru Port, which started operations in 1989, to decongest Mumbai port before quickly transitioning into a big container gateway, feted even by the World Bank for turning around container ships in 22 hours, faster than many of its global peers, these events add to its lustre.

'Shipping lines and terminal operators assume that whenever they do something which will make India proud, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority will support them,' says Chairman Unmesh Wagh.