Indian ports are seeing a capacity rush from Turkish container carriers willing to offer sailings via the traditional shorter Suez Canal route as mainline heavyweights continue to reroute vessels via the Cape of Good Hope amid the persistent threat of militant attacks in the Red Sea.

The new, emboldened entrants include Turcon Line, with headquarters in Istanbul, and Izmir-based Arkas Line. They join a hot trend already set off by niche Asian-origin feeder lines, notably Singapore’s SeaLead, on India-Red Sea trades through vessel-sharing arrangements.

Turcon will launch a service, known as the Turkey-Red Sea-India (TRI), out of Nhava Sheva and Mundra beginning in February, initially using four vessels that the carrier said will be upsized to five ships in June to provide a weekly rotation. It is expected to add between 10,000 TEUs to 15,000 TEUs of capacity a month for Indian loads.

The TRI features a roundtrip rotation of Ambarli (Istanbul), Evyap (Izmit), Aliaga, Mersin, Aqaba, Jeddah, Nhava Sheva, Mundra, Jeddah, Aqaba, Alexandria and Ambarli.

“The service offers the fastest transit from Turkey to India via the Suez Canal and the Red Sea, creating a vital link for the growing India-Turkey trade,” Turcon said in a statement. “The service will also offer connections via rail to strategic and important ICD [inland container depot] locations in North India.”

Significantly, the newcomer for Indian trades is targeting a much wider market on the back of its Red Sea network reach.

“The service will also connect Mundra and Nhava Sheva ports with America, North Europe and the Mediterranean via Turkon Line’s transshipment hub ports in Turkey,” the carrier said.

Declared transit times from Nhava Sheva are 42 days to Norfolk and 44 days to New York, as well as 37 days to Antwerp and 44 days to Felixstowe.

Turcon’s Indian operations will be handled by Mumbai-based third-party agent Abrao Group.

Similarly, Arkas has announced the launch of a Suez routing connecting West India to the Mediterranean, also beginning next month. Arkas operates a fleet of 50 vessels.

Mainline carriers have avoided the Suez and Red Sea for about 14 months, rerouting around southern Africa amid ongoing attacks on commercial shipping by Houthi militants operating in Yemen.

Mixed reaction from market players

While welcoming more services, local freight forwarders who spoke with the Journal of Commerce believe any extra capacity entering the market from smaller ship operators working around an “opportunistic approach” has the potential to spoil rate recovery efforts by mega carriers, especially on the India-US trade lane that continues to suffer week-over-week rate declines. Sources put early-January average spot pricing at $1,400 per FEU for bookings from Nhava Sheva to New York.

Platts, a sister company of the Journal of Commerce within S&P Global, pegged India-US East Coast rates at $1,500 per FEU as of Jan. 7, down 2% on the week.

Jitendra Srivastava, CEO of Mumbai-based forwarder Triton Logistics & Maritime, had a positive take on the new ocean network. “This offers efficient and cost-effective solutions for businesses engaged in bilateral trade between India and Turkey, and even beyond,” Srivastava said.

Mainline carriers appear resigned to what is building around them. “There will always be some opportunistic players,” a senior executive at a European carrier who didn’t want to be identified told the Journal of Commerce. “There could also be some shippers looking for the cheapest pricing.”

Still, larger shippers voiced skepticism regarding last-mile reliability for alternative Red Sea-centric options. “There are cargo flow risks when dealing with a startup-like solution trying to exploit a disruption for profit,” a source said.

Two-way trade between India and Turkey stood at approximately $10.5 billion by value in fiscal year 2023–24, with engineering and electronics goods leading Indian exports, data shows.

Source: Journal of Commerce

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