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NW-1 sees first contanerized cargo movement; a leap towards Sagarmala

By IndianMandarins- 02 Nov 2018
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It was the first leap step in the direction of realizing the Sagarmala dream. Setting a historical record last week, the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) dispatched a transport containerised cargo belonging to PepsiCo from Kolkata to Varanasi. Sixteen containers sailed from Kolkata to Varanasi on the Ganga (National Waterway-1) on vessel MV RN Tagore. The vessel MV RN Tagore will reach Varanasi in 9-10 days. The vessel will make its return journey with fertilizers belonging to IFFCO that will be procured from its Phulpur plant near Allahabad. It may be mentioned that NW-01 carries cargo of 5.4 million tons per annum though its for the first time it carried containerised cargo. 


Secretary (Shipping) Gopal Krishna along with IWAI Chairman Pravir Pandey, Member (Traffic) Shashibhushan Shukla and other senior Government officials had the honor of flagging off the vessel carrying the consignment in the presence of PepsiCo representatives.


Inland waterways cargo transport comes with several inherent advantages - reduced handling cost, easier modal shift, reduced pilferages and damage, and low carbon footprints.


The government is developing NW-1 (River Ganga) under JMVP from Haldia to Varanasi (1390 Km) with the technical and financial assistance of the World Bank at an estimated cost of Rs 5,369 crore.

IWAI is pilot several experimental movements on National Waterways on various stretches. More than 15 of them have already been successfully completed, including integrated movements through NW-1 (Ganga), Indo-Bangladesh Protocol Route and NW-2 (Brahmaputra). 


Union Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari had earlier said that his ministry was working on a plan to convert more than 100 rivers into national waterways.

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