The reported move to create a consortium of India Ports Global Ltd, a special purpose vehicle originally formed to build the Chabahar Port in Iran, Sagarmala Development Company Ltd, set up to develop a string of ports around India, and Indian Port Rail and Ropeway Corporation Ltd, a project developer created to forge rail connectivity, is welcome.
This alliance is aimed at building infrastructure along three freight routes: the India Middle-East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), the Eastern Maritime Corridor (EMC) linking Chennai with Vladivostok, and the North-South Transport Corridor (NSTC), which would link Indian ports with Russia’s Balkan coast through Iran and central Asia.
In conjunction with plans to build more ships of different kinds in India, even as the country turns more assertive in its foreign relations, investing in port and associated infrastructure assets along those freight routes in various countries would boost India’s maritime capability and enhance its geopolitical heft.
The Houthi show of support for victims of Israel’s slaughter in Gaza and Lebanon in the form of attacks on ships vending their way to the Suez Canal has shown there is little reason to take the security of the world’s shipping lanes for granted.
The 2021 blocking of that thin passage by a container ship that ran aground had signalled the vulnerability of sea lanes even in the absence of armed hostilities in the region at the time.
The message has been reiterated by a sharp reduction in the Panama Canal’s capacity, due to a prolonged drought starting in 2022, which has limited the availability of water needed to fill its locks.
This water is essential to lift ships into the man-made channel and lower them post-transit, allowing them to cross from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean or vice-versa.
To grow into an economic powerhouse, India must attain a much larger share of world trade. This makes sea-route access to export markets crucial. Owning chunks of the port infrastructure along major routes is but one measure to that end.
Enlarging the fleet of vessels owned by Indian entities to carry goods is another. That remains on the agenda, along with the domestic manufacture of far more containers, in which the bulk of modern cargo is shipped, and self-sufficiency in the insurance (and re-insurance) coverage of shipments.
The West may see geopolitical chutzpah in any venture that involves Russia and Iran. While both are NSTC partners, Russia will be involved in the EMC as well. Both countries are also under sanctions imposed by the US and its allies.
However, the port development proposed in these projects would meet a strategic goal that India shares with the West: countervailing China’s dominance of trade infrastructure, for which Beijing has been working through its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
Efficient and reliable maritime links would not only ease Indian integration with global supply chains, but also serve the Quad aim of keeping the Indo-Pacific ‘free and open.’
China not only has a formidable navy today, but port investments in Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand, Tanzania and Djibouti. The West’s own rival of the BRI, its Blue Dot Network, has not seen much movement on the ground, despite its offer of clean deals with no strings attached.
Also read: Maritime council approves plans for huge shipbuilding park spanning many states at Goa meet
The Indian consortium could identify a suitable set of projects, start turning the tide on China’s rise in the Indo-Pacific and ease India’s pursuit of its global ambitions.