Antwerp Port Makes Big Impression in India

 

A few months ago the Essar Group from India decided to buy back the shares from her daughter company Essar Ports Limited (EPL). Port of Antwerp International (PAI), the international consulting and investment subsidiary of Antwerp Port Authority, set up an alliance in 2012 with EPL, which was accompanied by an investment of 25 million euros, five million of which was contributed by the Flemish Regional Investment Company (FRIC). PAI and FRIC have come out of the existing financial arrangement with a capital gain of 6.8 million euros on top of their original investment, which has been recovered in full. In the meantime the collaboration with EPL will continue unabated in other areas.

“Our investment subsidiary has now attained the financial and strategic objectives that we set ourselves at the beginning of this project,” declared Marc Van Peel, port alderman and Port Authority chairman.

Aside from the capital gain, the strategic value of the partnership has if anything become even greater. “When we decided to team up with EPL in 2012, Antwerp was the first European port to establish its presence in the Indian continent in such a way. This made a huge impression in India, both with the private sector and with the government,” explains Van Peel. "In addition the collaboration with EPL brought us a great deal of commercial insight concerning the Indian port world. There have been other successes too. Both PAI and APEC (the port of Antwerp maritime training centre) have signed contracts in the past few months. APEC is building a training centre in Mumbai, following a joint initiative in February 2015 by the Indian minister of Transport and APEC. The training centre which is being built in collaboration with JNPT (the largest container port in India) will cater for trainees from India and neighbouring countries, with participants coming both from government bodies and from private operators.

In the meantime PAI will continue to collaborate with EPL for consultancy activities. PAI is carrying out consultancy work for EPL in India and in the foreign projects in which EPL is involved, in Canada among others.

PAI for its part has been tasked with auditing the “major ports” (ports that come under the direct authority of the Indian government) and drawing up a joint development plan. In addition PAI is currently working on a project for the World Bank in Kolkata.

The heightened role of the port of Antwerp on the Indian subcontinent is the result of many years of determined presence, with among other things a full-time representative in Mumbai. The alliance with EPL was set up in 2012 in the conviction that it would help to strengthen Antwerp’s position in India. The financial and commercial returns generated by the project have only served to confirm the Port Authority in its conviction that such alliances with partners in other countries contribute to the international influence of the Antwerp port community.