India’s Adani Ports wants to enable straight-to-door delivery by integrating its port operations with its logistics platform, said Karan Adani, CEO of Adani Ports and Special Economic Zones (APSEZ).
“We are a port company with 13 ports and we have covered the whole geography of India and the advantage we have is that when we go to our customers, we have a pan-India solution,” said Adani. “The next step we are moving towards is integrating it with our logistics platform.”
Adani, who was speaking at the India Global Forum on Tuesday, said Adani Ports could deliver products directly to a client’s factory at competitive rates. “That’s the promise that we are going to our customers with and we are telling them to leave the logistics to us.”
Pandemic change
The pandemic, which brought global trade movements to a complete halt last year, has revealed the importance of having a more diverse trade portfolio, according to Adani.
“From a trade and logistics point of view, the pandemic showed us that it is not advisable to have all your eggs in one basket,” said the head of Adani Ports. “Most of the manufacturing was happening in China with the country playing the part of a global distribution hub.”
“It also showed us innovation in the logistics sector when push comes to shove – shipping industry and port industry, we are some of the last adopters of technology (and) as an industry we will only do it if we are pushed into a corner.”
Last year, maritime industry bodies began pressing the shipping industry to move aggressively towards digitalisation goals as ports grappled with the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Shipping disruption
Port congestions due to supply shocks are threatening to hurt the profit margins of operators and drive up prices of consumer products. Industry heads are expecting this situation to last until 2022 or even 2023.
“Globally, we are seeing supply chains being more distributed, rather than being concentrated - I think the role of technology in improving efficiency in the logistics sector is (happening) at an exponential pace,” said Adani.
UAE opportunities
“We have had a set up over here for the last 25 years – our whole shipping division runs from UAE, we look at UAE as a partner not just from a trade perspective, but also from a technology perspective,” said Adani.
“We keep evaluating the new options available to build that relationship – we are looking at multiple opportunities,” he added.
