Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal unveiled India's first export-import (EXIM) shipping container manufactured in India for global shipping major A.P. Moller–Maersk at the Maersk-CONCOR Inland Container Depot in Dadri, Uttar Pradesh on July 3, 2026. This milestone represents a significant achievement under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat, Make in India, and Maritime Amrit Kaal Vision 2047.
During the event, Maersk placed an order for 1,000 additional India-manufactured shipping containers with DCM Shriram Group, marking the beginning of a long-term commercial partnership expected to strengthen India's position in the global maritime value chain. This development follows Prime Minister Modi's interaction with Robert Maersk Uggla, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of A.P. Moller–Maersk, in February 2025, where the Prime Minister encouraged the company to support container manufacturing development in India.
The first India-manufactured container has been produced in accordance with internationally accepted quality and safety standards, including ISO specifications and the International Convention for Safe Containers (CSC), making it suitable for global deployment. The achievement demonstrates the government's ability to translate strategic intent into timely execution within sixteen months of the initial discussion.
This initiative is supported by the ₹10,000 crore Container Manufacturing Promotion Scheme (CMPS) framework announced in the Union Budget 2026. The scheme aims to achieve a tenfold jump in annual container manufacturing capacity up to 7.9 lakh TEUs through Capex support for establishing Greenfield container manufacturing and expansion of existing brownfield facilities, Opex support to bridge the cost gap per container, and Research & Development support for promotion of research, testing, skilling, and capacity building.
The government views this as the beginning of a larger transformation of India's maritime manufacturing landscape, with objectives to reduce India's dependence on imported containers, strengthen supply chain resilience, create a globally competitive manufacturing ecosystem, generate employment, encourage technology transfer, and establish India as a global export hub for high-quality containers.
The development is part of broader maritime sector reforms including landmark legislations such as the Merchant Shipping Act 2025, Coastal Shipping Act 2025, and Indian Ports Act 2025, along with digital initiatives like One Nation One Port Process (ONOP), Maritime Single Window, and e-Samudra. These are backed by a ₹70,000 crore Shipbuilding Financial Assistance Package and the proposed Bharat Container Shipping Line.