India's Maritime Opportunities

Building global competitiveness through strategic partnerships

Keith Svendsen Chief Executive Officer APM Terminals Originally published in The Economic Times.

India’s maritime story is one of extraordinary transformation and uniqueness. It’s a journey I have witnessed myself from being a young cadet sailing to the country with Maersk many years ago, to now developing and operating ports around the world.

As India Maritime Week 2025 unfolds, the global logistics industry is paying close attention to what may be one of the most significant maritime growth stories for the coming decades. India's evolution from a predominantly import-focused economy to a diversified trading nation with rising manufacturing ambitions, demographic dividend and policy consistency has created both opportunities and imperatives for its maritime sector.

The question facing the industry leaders today is not how much India can grow — that trajectory is clear — but rather how quickly the country can build the infrastructure, capabilities, policies and partnerships needed to support that growth while competing on the global stage.

The maritime infrastructure opportunity

India has recently become the world’s fourth-largest economy, and its share in global trade is constantly increasing. Ports are the most critical infrastructure asset class for enabling trade growth with the world. It is an area where capacity constraints and connectivity gaps need attention and advanced planning. As manufacturing diversifies globally and companies seek alternatives to concentrated supply chains, ports that can offer scale, efficiency, and reliability will capture disproportionate value.

This is where long-term capital meets long-term opportunity. Infrastructure projects in the maritime and logistics sector require patient investment, typically with 25–30-year horizons. They also need an ecosystem approach—ports don't succeed in isolation but as part of integrated networks connecting manufacturing clusters, rail corridors, and international shipping routes.

India has the scale, intent and resources to grow. But more importantly, India offers stability in an otherwise VUCA  world, a prerequisite for thriving global trade and economic growth. The stability and strong outlook stimulate investors to prioritise India.

APM Terminals and Maersk: a shared commitment to India future

APM Terminals' and Maersk's investment strategies in India are straightforward: the country offers incredible maritime potential owing to its economic size and growth prospects. There are still visible gaps between capital deployment and capability building across multiple dimensions, and we are fully committed to playing a role in closing them.

At APM Terminals, we have proposed a USD 2 billion expansion plan at our terminal in Pipavav following an MoU with Gujarat Maritime Board, with initial work already underway through a USD 100 million investment. The project envisions state-of-the-art container and liquid cargo infrastructure with enhanced connectivity to the Dedicated Freight Corridor. In Andhra Pradesh, our proposed port project represents a USD 1 billion investment intent with the potential to create 8,000-10,000 jobs. At Maharashtra's upcoming Vadhawan Mega Port, we are partnering as a strategic investor with JNPA under an MoU for USD 2.5 billion in container terminal development. Additionally, we're exploring deepening our container rail operations to strengthen multimodal connectivity.

Maersk, in turn, handles one out of every six containers that move in and out of India. With this privileged position comes the great responsibility to work with the wider stakeholder set in the country (including customers, partners, vendors and the Government) to co-create lasting solutions for India’s maritime challenges and drive the change.

In addition, both APM Terminals and Maersk firmly believe that container rail has a significant role to play in the value chain. The same has also been vindicated in the recent study, “Assessment of Logistics Cost in India ,” by Niti Aayog, NCAER, and DPIIT. We look forward to expanding our operations in this segment in line with customers' evolving requirements and the development of supporting infrastructure in key hubs across India.

Beyond infrastructure, Maersk is actively engaging India's maritime value chain. The company has registered a legal entity – Maersk Bharat IFSC at GIFT City, Gujarat – and has flagged two vessels – Maersk Vigo and Maersk Vilnius – under the Indian flag, reflecting a pivotal change and great sense of tribute to our Indian seafarers. Maersk is also strengthening partnerships with Indian shipyards for vessel repair and maintenance, helping establish capabilities that meet international operational standards.

Building domestic capabilities

India's maritime ambitions cannot rely solely on imported solutions. Developing domestic capabilities in container manufacturing, ship repair, and maritime services is both economically sensible and strategically crucial for supply chain resilience.

We have undertaken due diligence on Indian container manufacturers and are progressing on the collaboration that could eventually lead us to procure containers from India. This is how we want to play our role in building a diversified global supply chain that doesn't depend on a single geographic concentration.

Similarly, our partnerships with Indian yards for ship repair and maintenance initiatives aim to develop technical expertise that can eventually serve not just our fleet but the broader international maritime community. These collaborations include knowledge transfer on international quality standards and operational protocols.

On the talent front, we're partnering with maritime educational institutions to offer cadetships and training programmes. From our Maritime Centre of Excellence to collaborations under national skill development frameworks, the focus is on building a workforce capable of operating world-class maritime infrastructure. This future-ready workforce enhances India's resilience and resolve to address complex challenges and continue to offer world-class services.

The decarbonisation imperative

Maritime decarbonisation is not a future consideration — it's an immediate operational and commercial reality. Through renewable energy power purchase agreements at our Indian terminals, we've already reduced CO₂ emissions by over 12,000 tons annually. We're now exploring partnerships around low-emission fuels, shore power, transition to electrically operated port equipment and electric truck fleets.

India has natural advantages in this transition—abundant renewable energy potential, a growing green technology ecosystem, and the scale to make alternative fuel infrastructure economically viable. The question is whether investments in bunkering facilities, alternative fuel quality standards, production scale, and port-side power infrastructure can move at the pace required by international shipping timelines.

What's needed to accelerate growth

India's maritime sector has made considerable progress in the past decade through infrastructure investment and policy reforms. Over the past decade, a clear vision articulated by the Hon’ble Prime Minister Modi and executed with purpose by the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways has reshaped the country’s role in global trade. Policy stability, infrastructure modernisation, and a focus on sustainable growth have together built an ecosystem that instils confidence in long-term investors like us.

The Indian Government’s policy focus on this sector has been unprecedented and commendable. In the last concluded session of the Indian Parliament, five key bills  were passed, marking a watershed moment in this sector. It encouraged us to flag our vessels under the Indian Register of Shipping. Furthermore, the financial incentives, including Shipbuilding Financial Assistance, the Maritime Development Fund, the Shipbuilding Development Scheme, and Shipbreaking Credit Notes, have turbocharged the dynamics of shipbuilding in India.

With around 20,000 employees across our functions in India (including 5,000 seafarers), partnering with this country is about more than logistics. With our Global Service Centres, we see India as a partner in innovation, technology and talent development.

The next phase of growth will depend on four factors:

First, speed of execution.
Large infrastructure projects face inevitable complexity, but reducing approval timelines and streamlining multi-agency coordination can significantly accelerate the addition of capacity.

Second, ecosystem development.
Ports are ultimately nodes in larger networks. Their competitiveness depends on rail connectivity, proximity to warehousing, customs efficiency, and digital trade facilitation. Progress in any single area is limited without corresponding advancement in others.

Third, global integration.
India's maritime sector doesn't compete only regionally but against Singapore, Dubai, and other global hubs. Matching their service levels, turnaround times, and total landed costs requires continuous benchmarking and improvement.

Fourth, resolution of issues.
In a fast-growing, large economy, regulatory issues are not uncommon in the infrastructure sector. What would matter the most is the swift and decisive resolution. Appropriate mechanisms for handling and resolving industry issues and disputes would significantly strengthen India’s standing and reliability in the global arena and improve foreign investments across sectors.

A partnership approach

Global supply chains are being rebalanced. Geopolitical shifts, energy transitions, and the need for resilient manufacturing have led to a re-evaluation of trade routes and investment destinations. In this reconfiguration, India has emerged not only as a fast-growing market but as a strategic anchor for global maritime logistics.

For global logistics companies like Maersk and APM Terminals, India represents both a growth market and a strategic partner in building more resilient international supply chains. Our investments here are not short-term bets but long-term commitments based on fundamental economic trends—India's demographic dividend, manufacturing potential, and growing integration with global trade.
What makes these investments viable is the alignment of interests. Businesses need efficient, reliable infrastructure. India needs capacity expansion and capability development. And global supply chains need diversification and resilience.

The maritime sector operates on long time horizons and large capital outlays. Success requires sustained commitment from all stakeholders — patient capital from investors, stable regulatory frameworks from policymakers, and skilled workforces from the education system.

India's maritime opportunity is clear. The infrastructure gap is an opportunity of a lifetime, the growth potential is substantial, and the sector's strategic importance is very high. What happens next depends on how effectively capital, capability, policy and partnerships can be mobilised at the scale and speed this opportunity demands.

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An abridged version of this article was originally published as Maritime Week 2025: India's next ports of call in The Economic Times, and is published here with permission.