DP World Cochin on Monday announced the launch of the MGR IFR, its newest maritime service connecting Indian ports to three key markets in the Middle East.
The fortnightly service will be operated by a fleet of two Panama-flagged container ships with a capacity of more than 500 TEUs each. These are the Marsa Virgo (IMO: 9324954) and the Marsa Zenith (IMO: 9238698).
The two Indian ports included in the route are the Cochin Port in Kerala and the Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Maharashtra. Other ports in the rotation are the Fujairah Port in the United Arab Emirates, the Sohar Port in Oman, and the Port of Aden in Yemen.
The Marsa Virgo on Monday became the first ship to operate under the new MGR IFR service, calling at the DP World-operated International Container Transshipment Terminal (ICTT) of the Cochin Port. 1,000 TEUs of cargo from this vessel were handled at its inaugural port call.
This is because DP World Cochin, formally called the India Gateway Terminal Pvt. Ltd, is the Kochi arm of the Dubai-based logistics giant, which operates the International Container Transshipment Terminal (ICTT) in Vallarpadam—a key part of the Cochin Port.
The new service is expected to boost cargo handling at the Cochin Port, and comes weeks after it announced container traffic had risen to 3.81 lakh TEUs from April to August in FY 2026-27, registering an 18.53 per cent year-on-year growth.
In August alone, the port had handled a record 97,952 TEUs of cargo as well, reflecting 51 per cent year-on-year growth.
The Cochin Port's strategic location within India's east-west cargo flows also makes it a crucial transit point for the ships on the rotation to connect with other Indian ports on either coast.
More importantly, with all the Gulf ports in the rotation outside the Strait of Hormuz, the new service gives exporters and importers in India better access to markets in not just the UAE, Yemen, and Oman, but also the wider Middle East.
“The new port call under the MGR service expands our network and gives customers greater choice, reliable connections and improved reach to key markets in the Middle East," explained Ravinder Johal, COO Ports & Terminals, Commercial and Operations (SCO, CA, Levant, Egypt).
