Why India’s Great Nicobar port faces fierce competition from Asian megaports

Every year, millions of cargo containers carrying Indian foreign trade bypass the country's coast, heading instead to deep-water hubs in Singapore, Colombo, and Port Klang.

To plug this massive revenue drain, India is placing a major strategic bet on the International Container Transhipment Port (ICTP) at Great Nicobar Islands, aiming to draw global shipping lines directly into Indian waters. Yet, turning this remote outpost into a world-class maritime hub remains a herculean task.

For nearly three decades, India has struggled to capture its own transhipment traffic. The bulk of Indian imports and exports continue to feed foreign hubs — Singapore, Port Klang (Malaysia), and Colombo on the east coast, and Salalah (Oman) and Jebel Ali (Dubai) on the west.

“About 5 million TEUs get transshipped (both import and export) through foreign ports, and of this, three million TEUs are transshipped through the east. It makes a lot of sense to build ICTP, Galathea Bay, if you see from this perspective that three million TEUs is a big number,” former Shipping Secretary Gopal Krishna said.

However, dislodging established regional giants will not come easy. Singapore alone boasts an operational capacity of 45 million TEUs built over decades of efficiency and cost optimization.

“To bring in those kinds of cost elements, I mean costings would be very difficult. Singapore is a transhipment hub for entire South Asian countries. Let me just upfront tell you, it will be very difficult (attracting traffic from bigger ports). Malaysia has two biggest ports and they are very competitive,” Krishna added.

Adding to the challenge, Galathea Bay lacks a natural hinterland to generate gateway cargo on its own.

“Containers will come from Kolkata, Paradeep or even Chennai to this place and then another mother ship will carry them to the final destinations. Now, Vizhinjam Port has become operational and it is big enough to take care of the transhipment load of the country. This port could end up competing for traffic with Vizhinjam,” he explained.

To curb foreign reliance, India is also developing deep-water terminals across existing facilities in Chennai, Odisha, and Gujarat, while greenfield projects at Vizhinjam, Visakhapatnam, and Vadhavan are being geared for transhipment loads.

What is the Great Nicobar ICTP project 

Located at Galathea Bay in the Great Nicobar Islands, the proposed International Container Transhipment Port (ICTP) is designed as a mega transhipment facility situated just 40 nautical miles from the primary East-West international trade route near the Malacca Strait.

• Strategic Geography: The port features a natural water depth exceeding 20 meters, enabling it to handle ultra-large container vessels without extensive initial dredging. 
• Phased Expansion: Developed under a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) landlord model, the project carries a total estimated investment of over ₹41,000 crore ($5 billion) across four development phases. Phase 1 aims for operational readiness by 2028 with a initial capacity of 4 million TEUs, eventually scaling up to an ultimate capacity of 16 million TEUs per year. 
• Broader Ecosystem: The ICTP is part of the holistic Great Nicobar Island development initiative, which incorporates an international airport, township, power plant, bunkering facilities, and ship repair yards.