India-Middle East-Europe Shipping and Railway Connectivity Corridor: The Route to Riches


The Indian Express headlines it: “Data to oil, gas to goods: seamless sea-rail corridor from India to Europe.”
It goes on to say, " The use of the land route in the Arabian peninsula could mean bypassing the congested Suez Canal that cargo ships currently take. The project eventually aims at laying out a seamless corridor running all the way from South East Asia to Europe."
It is supposed to be a connectivity corridor spanning India to Europe via West Asia and " entails an ambitious project than could leverage railway tracks and shipping corridors to help physically link up a vast stretch of the Eurasian subcontinent, and in the process improving digital connectivity and catalysing trade among countries, including energy products such as green hydrogen."
In fact what is remarkable is that the project is not in the dreams of some bureaucrats, but " “India, USA, UAE, Saudi Arabia, France, Germany, Italy and the European Union Commission have signed the Memorandum of Understanding to establish the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEE EC)."
So, this brings us to which companies should benefit from the project.

(i) It goes without saying that the Rail Infra companies like RVNL, IRCON and RITES would be involved in the Railway infra work. It could also involve other infra companies like J Kumar.
(ii) For electrification, expertise of companies like Siemens, ABB, Powergrid etc may be useful. Companies like C G Infra and HBL Power may also have a role. Electrification also brings in cable companies like Polycab. And perhaps companies in aluminium and copper.
(iii) The airconditioning companies would definitely be required.
(iv) May be the financing aspect will bring in IRFC, and the communication part may benefit Railtel.
(v) For wagons, Titagarh, Jupiter, and Texmaco may be candidates.
(vi) For reaching the railway tracks, and roads and perhaps some tunneling too, infra-structure companies like L&T, Patel Engineering etc may have to be involved.
(vii) The shipping companies must be licking their chops, Shipping Corporation of India is one of them. The ship making and repairing companies may include the known names of Mazgaon Dock, Cochin Shipyard etc and some lesser known companies like Knowledge Marine.
(viii) The exporters would be happier.
(ix) It should help the logistics companies like Tiger Logistics too.

I look forward to members with deeper domain knowledge to correct me and add new dimensions.

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GCC rail is already under work to connect countries there Gulf Railway - Wikipedia.

It is interesting how they are connecting multiple existing infra to make new route.

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Is this project approved and signed?

it is an MOU signed. please watch this video !

The exact wordings of the signed MOU as follows:

“It will include a railway that, upon completion, will provide a reliable and cost-effective cross-border ship-to-rail transit network to supplement existing maritime and road transport routes – enabling goods and services to transit to, from, and between India, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Israel, and Europe.”

You may please go through this article :

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Thank you so much for sharing it.

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Well, the name Adani does not enthuse me. The latest reason being the resignation of their auditors.

May be the ports run JSW Infra may be alternative? Dharamtar is 23 nautical miles from Bombay, so it should be involved in the shipping for this corridor in future.JSW - JSW Ports
Th time horizon for the corridor must be at least a decade. So, is it already time to look at the logistics, shipping and the port running companies? Or the uncertainties in a project which would involve a large number of countries, the political scenario which may change from time to time in any of these countries, the financial outlook in this time, etc should influence our decision?

I am wondering why there is no talk of this important event in the circles. May be because most investors don’t want to see so far?
Disclaimer: None of the above is a recommendation.
Disclosure: I have purchased some SCI, JSW Infra, and Alcargo today.

The course of true love, so said Lysander in William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, never did run smooth. The same it seems is true of the Corridors too. India-Middle East-Europe Shipping and Railway Connectivity Corridor seems to run into trouble on account of the war in the middle-east.

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-economics/israel-hamas-india-europe-imec-corridor-8993474/

My view is that if we are invested in it for long term, the war is likely to prove only a blip. May be it will mean some redrawing of the lines, but if you are buying stocks so that you may reap the rewards a decade hence, it sill appears to offer pretty good prospects for the infrastructure.

Interested in knowing what is your opinion?

@meekinvestor Meek !
The corridors and the news around it are always fast paced-short lived.It did seem like it ran into trouble with ME trouble.

Now, if we add Red sea trouble on to ME trouble, This corridor might offer an opportunity.Thats what these guys think.Impact of Red Sea crisis on trade will be seen in FY25, says think tank | Mint

The red sea trouble increased shipping/insurance costs, increased transit time.Countries in Asia, Africa and Europe will face the most disruption.

IMEC certainly is beneficial to India but needs to be evaluated, how red sea trouble has been affecting UAE and Soudi arabia.if it had an adverse effect on UAE&Soudi arabia’s commerce-Industry.We may see heightened urgency in execution.

If you are still tracking, How did the names do after you bought them ? what would be your outlook on those name after recent news and recent correction ?

I have just got out of all the Railway/shipping stocks. I am sure the crisis will blow over. Corridor’s day has come, only it may be a bit delayed.
I will reenter the stocks which I think should benefit from it.
If you think there may be some gem why not share it. I will be so grateful.

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You might like to check GPPL(pipavav port), i am tracking recently…lets see how it pans out.

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Thanks.I will keep an eye on this stock. However, we should watch the market for some time.

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This is an excellent theme to consider. Mostly the government at the centre will come back with majority and these things will start moving.

The railway stocks at present needs some correction before we add it to our PF.

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What other names you may think are associated to this theme ? What kind of timeline you think we may consider before things move nortward ?

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We should look at stocks which may get positive ques on industry/sectors getting included in 100-day agenda (Post election results). And look for announcements from GOI and the budgets in Jul 2024.

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Nice analysis regarding the involvement of Indian companies. Towards construction involved in various activities, ACE, Hercules Hoist and Escort Kubota etc may be considered. Tiger logistics is the preferred logistic company for co- coordinating passage through sea, especially Defense load as seen in the recent past. The owner hails from Defense background and has availed the connections for access into the market. Armenia as of now is relying on Indian defence systems and in the future Greece

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Some official meeting by May 15, to kickstart the project. Mostly about corridor protocols. India, UAE to work on IME Economic Corridor protocols in May: Report – Firstpost

Some basics of corridor, may be a repeat !

  • Joint Secretary level meeting scheduled between representatives from trade, shipping, and commerce ministries.
  • Project announced during G20 summit as part of the Partnership for Global Infrastructure Investment initiative.
  • Aim to establish virtual trade corridors to streamline container movement from Mundra port in India to Fujairah port in UAE, onwards to Europe or America.
  • IMEEC links India, UAE, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Israel to Europe and the US through trade and exports.
  • Full support from the Biden administration to integrate markets of involved countries.
  • Framework agreement signed between PM Modi and UAE President to boost bilateral trade currently valued at USD 85 billion.
  • Despite Middle-East politics, India and UAE are progressing on IMEEC, bypassing Saudi Arabia’s involvement.
  • Containers to be transported via rail from Jordan and Saudi Arabia to Haifa port in Israel, then to European ports like Naples and Marseilles.
  • IMEEC to be discussed during US National Security Advisor’s visit to India for iCET meeting.
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