India has highlighted its expanding global ambitions by announcing a multifaceted maritime plan aimed at boosting trade and expanding the country's influence in maritime commerce.

Under the plan, India will set up a new liner operator, Bharat Container Line, in a move New Delhi hopes will reduce the country's dependence on foreign ship operators.

The project originally envisioned a fleet of 100 vessels sailing the key trade routes described in the published report.

By comparison, Mediterranean Shipping, the world's largest container shipping company, operates nearly 900 vessels.

According to data compiled by Alphaliner, the National Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) operates only four container ships, of which two are owned and two are leased.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, along with French President Emmanuel Macron, visited the headquarters of ocean shipping company CMA CGM in Marseille this week to discuss logistics cooperation.

"The India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) is a visionary initiative led by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Marseille will play a strategic role as an important hub for Indo-Mediterranean trade," he said. Rodolphe Saade, chairman and CEO of CMA CGM Marine, said in a post on LinkedIn. "We are fully committed to making this happen. More than just infrastructure, IMEC aims to connect economies, promote sustainable growth and shape the future of global trade."

India also announced the establishment of a $3 billion maritime development fund aimed at expanding the domestic shipbuilding industry and overseas port infrastructure. India's ambitions are on a par with China's aggressive push for its Belt and Road initiative in other countries.

India's plans have also taken on greater prominence as tensions grow between China and the United States, its largest trading partner.

SCI agreed on Wednesday to form a strategic partnership with state-owned Bharat Petroleum Corporation, one of India's largest downstream oil importers, another element of the government's Marine strategy.

After the EU banned imports of Russian crude oil following the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, India became a major transshipment hub for diesel, jet fuel and other products made from cheap Russian oil and sold to European buyers. According to India's Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Russia has replaced Iraq as India's largest supplier of crude oil.

The United States recently imposed sanctions on 160 Russian oil tankers, a "dark fleet" of aging vessels of unknown ownership, in an effort to further cut Russia off from crude markets, with some success. While some ships and their cargo have been intercepted, others have sailed to docks in China and India and turned off satellite identification equipment to hide their location, according to published reports.

Mr. Modi met Mr. Trump in Washington on Thursday.