Maruti Suzuki signs agreement with Kamarajar port; to export 20,000 cars annually

Maruti Suzuki announced on Thursday that it has signed an agreement with Kamarajar port to export passenger vehicles to global markets. The port will be used to export cars to Africa, Middle East, Latin America, ASEAN, Oceania and SAARC regions. The auto giant said that it will use the port to export 20,000 vehicles from this port annually. 

Kamarajar port in Tamil Nadu is the fourth port after Mumbai, Mundra and Pipavav ports to be used by the auto giant to export its vehicles from the country. 

The agreement between the parties that starts in December is for a period of five years. A car-cum-general cargo berth has been developed and commissioned by the Kamarajar port to handle automobile units. 

Maruti Suzuki MD and CEO Hisashi Takeuchi said that the company is dedicated to the Make in India initiative. “Our expanding export operations reflect our commitment to offer reliable, high quality, technologically advanced cars to our global customers. The start of exports from the Kamarajar port will help us reach to a wider base of customers,” he said, further adding that this will help in decongest the Mundra, Mumbai and Pipavav ports used by the company. The company will continue to export from these three ports. 

Sunil Paliwal, CMD of Kamarajar port said that associating with the company will augment their operations as well. 

Maruti Suzuki’s Grand Vitara units manufactured at the Toyota Kirloskar Motor’s Bidadi plant in Karnataka as part of the agreement between the two companies will be sent to the Kamarajar port for pre-delivery inspection and subsequent exports. 

Kamarajar port has a parking capacity of 14,000 cars. The vehicles are checked and cleaned thoroughly before shipping. 

Maruti Suzuki that has been exporting since 1986 recorded the highest ever exports in FY22, dispatching over 2.38 lakh units across 100 countries.

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