Sunil Vaswani is executive director at the Container Shipping Lines Association – India (CSLA). He is an industry veteran. He has over three decades of experience in shipping and logistics. His previous leadership roles include positions at American President Lines, the Forbes Group, Jardine Shipping Services and UTi Worldwide.
CSLA has 25 leading foreign container shipping lines as its members, offering shipping services between Indian and global destinations.
These foreign shipping lines include – MSC, Maersk, CMA-CGM, Hapag Lloyd, COSCO, ONE, EVERGREEN, HYUNDAI, ZIM, YML, among others.
Over the past several years, despite challenges such as the Red Sea crisis and Covid-19, these lines have consistently increased capacities and introduced new services to support Indian trade. CSLA, for its part, has been at the forefront in coordinating with trade bodies, ports, customs, government agencies, etc.
Vaswani notes, “India has come a long way, particularly in port infrastructure. Indian ports today compare favourably with leading global ports. For instance, 18,000 TEU vessels can now call at ports such as Mundra and Nhava Sheva. In fact, the upcoming Vadhavan port, with its draft of 20 metres, will be able to handle the latest generation container ships with 24,000 TEU capacity.”
Additionally, as per Vaswani, “The Vizhinjam port is targeting to become a transshipment hub for the region. With encouragement from CSLA, Indian ports are also going in for green initiatives to help the environment. The latest generation vessels operate on green energy and will need the ports to offer appropriate fuelling facilities and shore power.”
According to Vaswani, the world has no choice but to go green and time is of essence in this matter.
Vaswani is a commerce graduate from H.R. College of Commerce and Economics, with postgraduate qualifications in business management from the Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, and in shipping from the Narottam Morarjee Institute of Shipping, Mumbai.
Additionally, over the years, Vaswani has spoken for key sessions at numerous industry events.
He is a Rotarian, committed to giving back to society.