Mediterranean Shipping Company is planning to acquire a 49% stake in India's Vizhinjam Port for $1.4 billion. If completed, this would represent the largest foreign private investment in the country's port infrastructure sector. However, the deal has run into resistance, as the government of Kerala has expressed "strong displeasure" that the transaction was not discussed with the state government in advance and claims it will strictly scrutinise the legality of the deal under the terms of the concession agreement.

MSC, through its terminal investment arm Terminal Investment Limited, signed a definitive agreement with Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone. Adani Ports, which was awarded a 40-year concession for Vizhinjam Port in 2015, will retain a 51% majority stake upon completion of the transaction. Adani had announced the partnership with considerable fanfare on June 29, stating it would cement Vizhinjam's strategic position as a key transshipment hub in the Indian Ocean region.

The Kerala state government has responded that any change in the ownership of the concession requires prior government approval. In an official statement, the state government stressed that the transaction will be examined "strictly in accordance with the provisions of the concession agreement and the expected regulatory stipulations"—a stance widely interpreted as a potential challenge to the legality of the deal.

Vizhinjam Port has been operational for less than two years since its inauguration in December 2024, but its strategic value has already become increasingly evident. As India's first deep-water mega transshipment port, it has a design annual throughput capacity of 1.6 million TEU. In its first full year of operations, it handled 1.3 million TEU across 615 vessel calls, becoming the fastest port in India to surpass the one million TEU milestone. Last week, the containership MSC Luciana became the 1,000th commercial vessel to call at the port, marking another significant milestone in its development.