Billionaire Gautam Adani plans to develop a new port in Vietnam as part of the Indian conglomerate’s strategy to expand its international infrastructure projects and capitalize on growing trade opportunities.
Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd. has received “in-principle approval from the Vietnamese government” for a greenfield project in Da Nang, according to Karan Adani, the company’s managing director. The development, which will include container terminals and multipurpose berths for various cargo types, is still in the early planning stages, and the total investment has yet to be determined.
This port will be the Adani group’s fourth international asset, following ports in Haifa, Israel; Colombo, Sri Lanka; and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Recently, Adani’s new mega port in southern India welcomed its first mother ship, and the company aims to accelerate the facility’s expansion to increase its share of the global maritime trade, currently dominated by China.
“Our goal is to establish India as a maritime hub,” stated Karan Adani, CEO, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zones Ltd. “We are focusing on countries with high manufacturing output or large populations, leading to high consumption. Our strategy targets export volumes in these nations.”
Adani Ports, India’s largest port operator, currently derives about 5% of its total volume from international operations, with plans to double this to 10% by 2030, according to Karan Adani. The company is exploring opportunities in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, East Africa, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Vietnam, and Cambodia—regions where trade flows into India.