A new chapter in India's green maritime ambitions opened at Kandla, Gujarat, on Saturday, 26 September 2026, as Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal attended the 'Shilanyas' — the foundation-laying — of a 150 TPD e-Methanol Plant at Deendayal Port. The plant is a joint venture between Assam Petro-Chemicals Limited (APL) and the port authority, and its groundbreaking marks one of the most concrete steps yet toward domestically produced green fuel for Indian shipping.

An unlikely partnership that makes strategic sense

Assam Petro-Chemicals Limited, a state-owned enterprise with decades of methanol production experience in the northeast, is teaming up with Deendayal Port Authority — India's largest port by cargo volume, located in the Kutch district of Gujarat. The pairing looks unusual on a map, but it is deliberate policy architecture: APL brings the chemistry expertise, Deendayal brings the maritime gateway. Together, they are building local green-fuel capability that could one day refuel ships without relying on imported hydrocarbons.

Sonowal underlined all four of the project's ambitions in his post: 'cleaner shipping, boosting jobs and strengthening our nation's energy security.' Three objectives, one plant, one foundation stone. That is the pitch.

Why e-Methanol, and why now

Electro-methanol — produced by combining green hydrogen with captured carbon dioxide — is emerging globally as a credible zero-emission marine fuel. Major international shipping lines have already ordered methanol-capable vessels, and the International Maritime Organization has tightened its emission-reduction targets for the sector. India's Maritime India Vision 2030, unveiled in 2021, had already flagged green ports and sustainable maritime fuels as a national priority. The Kandla plant, if commissioned on schedule, would give India an indigenous supply anchor rather than leaving its ports dependent on imports of marine fuel alternatives.

The project also slots neatly into the Atmanirbhar Bharat framework — self-reliance not just in defence or electronics, but in the energy that moves goods through India's seas. That framing matters politically and economically.

What the commissioning clock means for Indian ports

The real test, as with every Shilanyas, is what comes after the foundation stone. Industry watchers will track the commissioning timeline closely — and, perhaps more importantly, whether a proven Kandla model gets replicated at other major ports. India operates 13 major ports, and a network-level green-fuel supply chain would substantially change the economics of decarbonised shipping on Indian trade routes.

For Sonowal, who has steered port modernisation and waterway expansion since taking charge of the ministry, the Kandla groundbreaking is a visible deliverable that connects his home state's industrial capacity — through APL, an Assam enterprise — to a Gujarat port of national consequence. The symbolism of that geographic bridge is hard to miss.

Green fuel on Indian seas is no longer just a policy aspiration. The foundation has literally been laid.