zoomGautam Adani, Chairman of Adani Ports, with Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak. Image Courtesy: Adani Ports/Twitter

India’s private port operator Adani Ports has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Malaysia’s MMC Port Holdings to carry out a feasibility study on building a multi-purpose port mainly for handling containers on Carey Island, about 50 kilometers southwest of Kuala Lumpur.

The container port on Carey Island would be an extension of the existing Port Klang.

“Malaysia is very strategic to APSEZ global strategy and with straits of Malacca being a global shipping route it helps us to drive our global transhipment strategy further. With Vizhinjam port on one side Carey Island port on the other we will be able to give transhipment solutions to global shipping lines,” said Karan Adani, CEO of Adani Ports.

Simultaneously, MMC Port Holdings, Sime Darby Property Berhad and Adani have signed a separate MoU to study the feasibility of developing an integrated maritime city on Carey Island to support the planned new port.

Apart from developing and running Mundra Port in the north-western state of Gujarat, Adani is also India’s biggest container handler outside state control. The firm operates container handling facilities at Mundra Port as well as in Hazira Port, both in Gujarat on India’s western coast, and at Kattupalli near Chennai in Tamil Nadu on the eastern coast.

Adani will soon start operating a new container handling facility it has built at Kamarajar Port at Ennore near Chennai. The company is also building a mega container transhipment port at Vizhinjam on India’s southern tip located in Kerala’s capital Thiruvananthapuram.

MMC Port Holdings currently runs 5 terminals - Pelabuhan Tg Pelepas Sdn. Bhd., Johor Port Berhad, Northport (Malaysia) Bhd, Penang Port Sdn. Bhd., as well as a 20% stake in Red Sea Gateway terminal in Jeddah.