The Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways is working on a maritime crane manufacturing scheme another area where China has a monopoly to cater to local and global demand and cut dependency on one supplier, a government source briefed on the plan said.

"Similar to container manufacturing, it will be a combination of some capex subsidy and some production-linked incentive for 5-7 years by which time they should be able to get orders. With some support, crane manufacturing will pick up with so much of domestic demand plus international players like DP World, Mediterranean Shipping Company, APM Terminals and others will be keen to buy cranes from India," the source said.

To make the pricing on par with China, the government may have to give a 20-30 per cent capital subsidy and 15 per cent opex subsidy, then the cranes we manufacture here will be close to the Chinese cost," the source said.

Currently, as much as 70 per cent of the global container handling cranes or quay cranes are manufactured in China.

A top Indian port operator is said to have told the government that their cranes are getting delayed because China decides when to give and where to give the cranes.

"China dictates when the cranes should be delivered or delayed. It is not desirable. They use the dependency on them as a leverage," the source said.

The top Indian port operator, which the official alluded to, is believed to have said that they will be interested in making cranes if the government comes up with a scheme. "Their own annual demand for cranes is so much that they are willing to do that even at a higher cost because they can't be dependent on China for their port expansion," the source said.

The CEO of one of the world's top container shipping lines, which also runs container terminals, told the government during the India Maritime Week held last year that their replacement demand alone for quay crane is 50 cranes a year, not to mention cranes required for expansion. The CEO of this container carrier told the government that if India is able to make containers at a reasonably competitive price of good quality, his company is willing to order 40-50 cranes themselves, the government source said.

China, according to the container shipping line CEO, has increased crane prices by 20 per cent in the last two years. "He told us that the actual cost has not increased by 20 per cent but since China has control over the market, they don't have a choice but to buy from them," the source said.

China creates a situation where customers are dependent on them and after that they dictate; they play a very long-term game. They have so much of control, they will decide where and when to give the cranes, the source stated.

India's container handling capacity is some 27-28 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs). By 2047, the estimate is that the container handling capacity will rise to 175 million TEUs, which is the lower range; if everything goes well, it will go up to 240 million TEUs. This is almost seven or ten times what we are doing today. And all of this would need so much more of infrastructure to be built. And with so much of demand, we can create an industry which will supply to our demand and also cater to the global demand. This is economic as well as strategic," the source said explaining why the maritime crane manufacturing scheme is being planned.

"China will dictate whether something will happen or not in a third country. If the Indian economy has to grow from $4-5 trillion to $30 trillion, our maritime infrastructure has to keep pace, otherwise you will be stuck somewhere," the source said.

In December 2025, state-run BEML Ltd signed a strategic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co. Ltd (KSOE) and HD Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries (HSHI) to design, develop, manufacture, integrate, install, commission, and support new generation, conventional and autonomous maritime and port cranes to be produced in India, supported by comprehensive aftersales service, spares, and training capabilities.

BEML and its South Korean partners hired AT Kearny to conduct an industry study which also indicates that standalone, without government support, they will not be able to start, the source added.

Source: ET Infra. Com  

#theshippingtribune #latestnews #shippingnews #dailynews #Maritimenews #shippingindustry #news #media #newsupdate #maritime #shippingnewsworldwide