Adani Ports sets sights on One Billion Ton cargo milestone

AHMEDABAD : Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Limited (APSEZ), a part of the globally diversified Adani Group, plans to handle one billion ton of cargo over the next 5-6 years.

“On long-term volume guidance, the next milestone for us is a billion ton. The company is working on that,” Mr. D Muthukumaran, Chief Financial Officer, APSEZ, told analysts during the fourth quarter earnings call on 2 May.

India’s largest port developer and operator, manages a total of fifteen port and terminals across the country’s vast coastline with a capacity to handle some 627 million tonnes (mt) of cargo a year.

During FY24, APSEZ handled nearly 27 per cent of the country’s total cargo and around 44 per cent of container cargo. Additionally, its total cargo handled surged by 24 per cent, reaching record volume of 419.9 mt compared to 339.2 mt in FY23. The port operator has set a cargo handling target of 460-480 mt for the current fiscal (FY 25).

Achieving the ambitious goal of one billion tons of cargo signifies that Adani must vigorously pursue its global expansion efforts.

For the uninitiated, the company’s scope extends beyond India; it’s engaged in developing a transhipment port in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and holds ownership of the Haifa Port in Israel.

The company is also eyeing to to develop a 25-metre-deep port that can accommodate Panamax vessels in Bataan province of the Philippines. Panamax vessels denote ships sized to traverse the Panama Canal, typically ranging from 200 to 250 metres in length and having capacities of 50,000 to 80,000 deadweight tonnes (dwt).

APSEZ, according to the CEO, is “always open for any kind of opportunity, especially internationally, to bring further growth in our portfolio.”

“Our next or our continued efforts are to go international, but to go international is not the objective, but to go international profitably which can sustain the cargo traffic is the objective. And that’s why the strategic positioning of Haifa port in Israel, the strategic positioning of West Container Terminal in Sri Lanka are examples that we are choosing our bet for the international expansion purely driven by the business opportunity,” Mr. Gupta stated.

“Next, what we are studying is the same cargo traffic whether it is the Middle East, whether it is Southeast Asia, whether it is Africa or it could be Mediterranean. And that’s where we will move forward so that we go for strategic acquisitions/partnerships for these four regions. That’s our 3 to 5 years strategic roadmap to grow sustainably every year,” Mr. Gupta added.