German shipping company Hapag-Lloyd is looking for potential investment opportunities to build port terminals in India, a senior official told Infralogic.

The Hamburg-based company, which has a presence along most of the Indian coastline, would like to beef up its footprint in southeastern India, said Dheeraj Bhatia, CEO of Hapag-Lloyd’s port terminals business, Hanseatic Global Terminals.

“We’re a little light in that part of the country,” he said.

He was speaking with Infralogic on the sidelines of a Mumbai press briefing today. The company will consider both greenfield and brownfield investments, he said.

The shipping liner gained a presence in Indian port terminals in 2023 when it acquired 40% of Mumbai-based JM Baxi Ports & Logistics from Bain Capital.

Hapag-Lloyd today signed a memorandum of understanding with Indian government representatives, stating its intent to invest about USD 1bn in the upcoming Vadhavan Port project in Maharashtra state.

The project will be built by the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPA) which operates the Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Navi Mumbai.

While the MoU is akin to an expression of interest by Hapag-Lloyd, the Vadhavan port, which will have nine terminals, will be competitively tendered, JNPA Chairperson Gaurav Dayal said. The target is to get some terminals operating by 2030, he said, adding that the process of land acquisition is ongoing and some environmental clearances are likely to come through this month-end.

Hapag-Lloyd CEO Rolf Habben Jansen today said at the press briefing that the company aims to increase its presence to 30 port terminals globally, up from 21 at present.

The company also signed two more MoUs with the Indian government – one to reflag up to four vessels under the Indian flag – and the other to invest in ship recycling facilities in the country.

Hapag-Lloyd has a capacity of 2.5 million TEU’s globally, and operates out of 140 countries with 400 offices, and more than 300 vessels.