Kerala's Vizhinjam port receives first mothership ahead of trial run
The 300-metre-long cargo vessel, which set sail from Xiamen port in China, reached the outer sea off the coast of Vizhinjam near Thiruvananthapuram.
The Vizhinjam international seaport in Kerala received its first mothership on Thursday with a cargo vessel named ‘San Fernando’ from China berthing at the country’s largest trans-shipment port.

The 300-metre-long cargo vessel, which set sail from Xiamen port in China, reached the outer sea off the coast of Vizhinjam near Thiruvananthapuram in the early hours of Thursday before being navigated with the help of tugs into the berth and safely moored to the port. The ship was also given a water salute by the four tugs as it approached the port.
The process of unloading around 1930 containers from the ship, bound for Vizhinjam and other ports in the country, began around 2pm on Thursday.
The ship will be formally welcomed by chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan in the presence of Union ports minister Sarbananda Sonowal, state ministers, central officials, MLAs, MPs and other dignitaries. The vessel will then set sail for Colombo.
“The dream is approaching the shore. The first mothership is reaching Kerala’s Vizhinjam port. San Fernando will be officially welcomed on behalf of Kerala tomorrow,” the chief minister wrote on Facebook.
Work on the country’s first deepwater container trans-shipment terminal at Vizhinjam began in December 2015 and was expected to be completed by 2019.
However, repeated floods and the pandemic led to the major infrastructure project missing several deadlines. The ₹8867 crore port, being built in a public private partnership mode with investments from the Kerala government, Centre and the Adani Group, is expected to be commissioned later this year.
The chief minister said about the works on the port, “A special action calendar was prepared, and monthly reviews were conducted. Even a special mobile app was prepared for daily reviews. The construction work was carried out ensuring the availability of construction materials from within and outside the state. The timely completion of each component of the project was ensured. Adani Group has worked to complete this project in a time-bound manner.”
He also claimed that the state government spent around ₹100 crore for the rehabilitation of fishermen and their families who would be affected by the port.
When the port becomes a reality, Kerala will become the hub of container business in India, he added.
Ahead of the formal welcome for the mothership at the port, a political fight for credit between the left democratic front (LDF) and united democratic front (UDF) fronts broke out. The Congress protested against the lack of invitation for its leader of the opposition, VD Satheesan, at the ceremony on Friday and claimed that the port project was the ‘baby’ of the UDF and the vision of its late former chief minister, Oommen Chandy.
“The government may have declined to invite the UDF for the formal ceremony, fearing that it will have to give the credit for the project to us. The people are seeing everything. When the port project was being brought in, LDF put up so many obstacles and even claimed that it was a ‘real estate’ deal. The then CPM state secretary who alleged ₹6000 crore fraud is the chief minister today,” Satheesan said.
