Maruti Suzuki has announced a partnership with Kamarajar port to export passenger vehicles to global markets. The port will be used to export automobiles to Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, ASEAN, Oceania, and SAARC. The automaker stated that it will use the port to export 20,000 vehicles per year.

The Kamarajar port in Tamil Nadu is the automaker’s fourth port of call in the country, following Mumbai, Mundra, and Pipavav. The parties’ agreement, begins in December and is for five years. The Kamarajar port has developed and commissioned a car-cum-general cargo berth to handle automobile units.

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

Sunil Paliwal, CMD of Kamarajar Port, stated that collaborating with the company will also benefit their operations.

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

The parking capacity at Kamarajar port is 14,000 cars. Before shipping, the vehicles are thoroughly inspected and cleaned.

Maruti Suzuki, which has been exporting since 1986, had its best-ever export year in FY22, shipping over 2.38 lakh units to over 100 countries.