India has decided to build a port in the Bay of Bengal in order to increase its influence in the Indo-Pacific Region and to compete with China in maritime trade. Foreign Policy experts believe that the proposed port could be a game changer for the South Asian nation because of its strategic location.

India plans to build its 13th port in Galathea Bay near Indira Point, the southernmost point of Great Nicobar Island. It may be noted that the Kamarajar Port, located on the Coromandel Coast about 18km north of Chennai Port, is the 12th major port of the country that became operational way back in 2001. Nearly two and a half decades later, India has announced that the new port would be an International Container Transshipment Port (ICTP).

Currently, India has only one ICTP… the Vizhinjam International Seaport. This port, located in Thiruvananthapuram, is designed to handle container transhipment, multi-purpose cargo and break bulk cargo. In fact, a maritime trade route consists of a number of ports from where goods are loaded or unloaded on ships for multiple destinations. These ports are called ICTP. India has been using foreign ICTPs for trade purposes in the Indo-Pacific Region for a long time. According to experts, New Delhi has chosen an excellent strategic location for the construction of this ICTP as the Galathea Bay is situated on the east-west international maritime trade route. Therefore, major transshipment terminals in Singapore, Colombo and Klang (Malaysia) would be easily accessible from Great Nicobar Island. As the normal depth of the Galathea Bay Port would be 20mt, large ships could easily anchor there.

Most importantly, the port of Galathea is going to be a part of the strategically important Indo-Pacific geopolitical zone. The port can be considered as the gateway to this region, as it would handle transshipment for all the major ports on the eastern coast of India, such as Kolkata, Haldia, Dhamra, Paradip, Visakhapatnam and Chennai. The Galathea Port would also connect Mangala and Chittagong ports of Bangladesh and Myanmar’s Yangon port. The distance between Great Nicobar Island and the Strait of Malacca is just 40 nautical miles! More than 94,000 vessels pass through the Strait of Malacca each year (since 2008), making it the busiest strait in the world. It carries about 25% of the world’s traded goods, including oil, Chinese manufactured products, coal, palm oil and Indonesian coffee. Nearly a quarter of all oil carried by sea passes through this strait, mainly from Persian Gulf suppliers to Asian markets.

According to sources, the Government of India would spend INR 41,000 crore to construct the ICTP in four phases. While the First Phase is expected to be commissioned in 2028 with a handling capacity of around four million TEUs, the capacity would go up to 16 million TEUs in the final stage of development. The First Phase would cover dredging, reclamation, construction of breakwaters, berths, storage areas, buildings and utilities, procurement and installation of equipment, and the development of a port colony with core infrastructure.

Meanwhile, India has admitted that it is a challenging project as the area where the port would be built is ecologically quite sensitive. A senior Indian official who wished to remain anonymous stressed: “The consultants will have to work out a plan without affecting the region’s eco-sensitivity. That is the mandate. They will accordingly seek proposals from contractors and implement these in a phased manner.”

Jagannarayan Padmanabhan, the Senior Director and Global Head (Transport, Mobility and Logistics Consulting) of CRISIL Market Intelligence and Analytics, has claimed that although the Galathea Bay port project has a lot of potential, the absence of immediate hinterland cargo might make it difficult to attract regular shipping lines and transshipment business. Hence, it could have a negative impact on its competitiveness. Padmanabhan has advised the Government of India to prepare various strategies, such as offering competitive tariffs, ensuring efficient logistics services and developing industrial zones nearby (to generate cargo), in order to attract cargo before implementing the project. According to Padmanabhan, it is also necessary to improve maritime, as well as air, links with the Indian mainland in an attempt to help generate a more sustainable cargo base.

Another major challenge is the transportation of construction materials, like the stones required for the breakwater, from mainland India. Varun Gogia, the Assistant Vice-President of Investment Information and Credit Rating Agency (ICRA), has pointed out that the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPA) refused to fund the Galathea port project, prompting the Government to invite the Vadhavan Port Construction for implementing the project. According to Gogia, the Government of India would have to look for a strong partner to execute the project.

Experts have expressed hope that the mega port project would easily attract private investors.

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das