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India's maritime growth is accelerating with a focused transition toward sustainable fuels, aligning with national priorities to establish leadership in the global blue and green economy.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Kandla Green Hydrogen Conclave 2026, Sushil Kumar Singh, Chairman of the Deendayal Port Authority (Kandla), stated that the port has been designated as a Green Hydrogen Hub by the Government of India, following the national focus on the 'Sapth Dharah' framework outlined on August 15. "Kandla has taken a very aggressive approach towards implementing small pilot projects which can be a kind of a technology demonstrator and also create a confidence among industry to come in and invest in a big way for commercial scale for scaling up the solutions in green energy and energy transition solutions," Singh stated. "We have opened this port as a test bed and we are offering it to anybody who wants to come up with this technology, test it here and prove it here and take it to the stage where the TRL levels go up and then it can be scaled to commercial levels," he added. To drive this shift, the port is executing pilot projects alongside major industrial partners such as L&T, desalination technology players like Thermax, and mobility startups to lower carbon intensity. Addressing ecosystem constraints such as renewable power evacuation and desalinated water requirements, Singh noted that the port is resolving these bottlenecks while offering land, waterfront, and infrastructure to green fuel producers. Singh emphasized that the port's internal revenues are fully funding these projects without eroding financial returns. "[Our bottomlines] not taking a hit because we are a big port and we are earning a lot. We are funding these projects, these energy transition projects from the revenues that we are generating on ourselves. We have gone up the volume trajectory. So, we are handling more volumes, we are earning more revenue and everybody is convinced that ultimately this transition has to take place," Singh said. "Ultimately it has to take place otherwise this will be adding cost to the shippers also, this will be adding cost to the exporters also, the port authorities also," he explained. Singh added that establishing the green hydrogen and ammonia ecosystem will build new supply chains and train local youth and engineers for global employment in the clean energy sector. He highlighted that Kandla's vision in line with Prime Minister Modi's vision of putting this maritime sector of the country on the global map as the leader. "Recently on 15th of August he also spoke about Sapth Dharah. Which is the sixth dhara or sixth stream pertaining to blue economy and green economy. So his focus on green, green energy, this energy transition in the sectors is huge and this port has been nominated as the Green Hydrogen Hub by the Ministry, by Government of India," Singh said. (ANI)
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