Shipping speed is not as irrelevant to import and export companies as you claim and I think you’re underestimating the significance of geoproximity with respect to trade in general.
The thrust of the article is that India has the ability and now a plan to trade more freely with Western Europe than it ever has if the IMEEC-EC is successfully implemented.
Your contention is that because the immec-ec prop is not cheaper than the route China uses through the Suez canal, it is DOA, and therefore India will not become an export challenger to China.
By “not cheaper”, are you implying that the imeec-ec will definitely be prohibitively more expensive then China’s transit through the suez or that the difference in cost will be negligible as the new trade route is constructed and used?
Is there any estimate for updated freight costs from India if this corridor is enacted?