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Inland waterways continue to remain an underutilized mode of transportation in India. Companies largely rely on roadways or railways to haul shipments across the country. Now, Maruti Suzuki is planning to transport cars produced at its plants in Gurgaon and Manesar to Kolkata through rivers. Currently, the country’s largest automaker sends its cars to Kolkata by road.
The project will be carried out on a pilot basis this month, in order to gauge the plan's long term commercial feasibility, according to the report by Business Line. Trial runs will begin soon with the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) expected to deploy two barges with a capacity of around 30 small cars for the test sessions. Sources say the company will have the cars brought down by road for a distance of around 800 kms to Varanasi, before they make the trip to Kolkata by river. However, even if the tests go through successfully, full-fledged commercial operations can only begin once the IWAI constructs multi-modal terminals with permanent roll-in / roll-out facilities, as the pilot project will use a temporary arrangement. Additionally, IWAI barges are not designed to carry automobiles and customised vessels with a higher carrying capacity will be required for commercial viability.
Maruti’s pilot project is indicative of corporate India’s interest in the development of India’s inland waterways, which has gained impetus since the country’s biggest power producer i.e. the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) successfully implemented the coal transportation project. Through inland waterways, the organisation transports coal across a distance of around 545 kms from the Sagar Islands in West Bengal to the Farakka thermal power plant. The benefits of the experiment have made the NTPC consider a similar plan for two other plants.
Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping, Nitin Gadkari, highlighted the need to develop India’s inland waterways and the central government has marked 101 important rivers to develop into a transport network along the lines of national highways, in order to expand the number of options for goods and people transport. India has around 14,500 kms of navigable inland waterways that can be used to ease transport congestion on land.
Source:
Hindu Business Line
Great initiative ! Really hope it becomes viable! It is so much more energy efficient, not to mention fewer loooong trailers on highways. I know for a fact that my state, Kerala is one of the most suited for this. But it is mostly being used only for passenger transport and only occasionally for cargo.
Although it sounds interesting, i hope care has been taken not to further pollute our already polluted rivers in the process.
A very good initiative. Building full fledged terminals to facilitate loading and unloading (like the ones Maruti has at Mundra port) will need a lot of capex (terminal, parking space, lorry bay, drivers, barges) which Maruti will invest only if this mode of transport is significantly cheaper compared to transporting over land.
Waterways are used extensively in most of Europe as we already know but there are strict rules governing their commercial exploitation. I hope this does not become another source of pollution to our already polluted rivers.
I believe this can be successful when Ahmedabad plant of Maruti is operational , there are many Cement plants in western Gujarat with their own vessels and jetty for transportation to southern & eastern states .
I hope they restore the
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckingham_Canal
from the Wiki Page:
Quote:
Originally known as Cochrane's canal, the first segment of the canal was constructed as a saltwater navigation canal in 1806,[1] from Madras North to Ennore for a distance of 11 miles. It was financed by Basil Cochrane. Subsequently, it was extended north to Pulicat Lake, 40 kilometres (24.9 mi) north of Madras. The canal was taken over by the government of Madras Presidency in 1837 and further extended, ultimately reaching 315 kilometres (195.7 mi) north of Madras to Vijayawada on the bank of Krishna River in Andhra Pradesh, and 103 kilometres (64.0 mi) south of Chennai to Marakkanam in Tamil Nadu. When the canal was opened, it was named Lord Clive's Canal and later as Buckingham Canal. However, the section in Madras had been known as Cochrane's canal for much of the 19th century.
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This could also open up an awesome way to travel between the new capital of Andhra Pradesh and the capital of Tamil Nadu.
Luxury boats and all.
This is a welcome move by the leading Indian automobile company. It is worth the try even if it does not turn out to be a success. An entire mode of transportation remains unexplored and underutilised despite the fact that our rail and road ways are choking rapidly.
As a few others have mentioned, hope this doesn't pollute and endanger our already very fragile ecosystem.
I'm curious, how feasible are these proposed waterways to be operated throughout the year. Given the largely inconsistent rainfall, can the transport function with the kind of water level the rivers/canals would have say given this years below average rainfall.
Quote:
Originally Posted by libranof1987
(Post 3818811)
As a few others have mentioned, hope this doesn't pollute and endanger our already very fragile ecosystem.
I'm curious, how feasible are these proposed waterways to be operated throughout the year. Given the largely inconsistent rainfall, can the transport function with the kind of water level the rivers/canals would have say given this years below average rainfall.
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Waterways are chosen where Least Available Depth (LAD) is available throughout 365 days. Till date IWAI has notified 5 such waterways (6th is under process). Moreover, barrages / small dams are used to maintain LAD wherever rivers have a tendency to shrivel during summers.
Ecological impact may be profound once the river linking system is announced, the exact contours of that policy are still not known.
EXCEPTS from MOU that was signed in March 2015
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A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) and the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India (DFCCIL) here today for creation of logistic hubs with rail connectivity at Varanasi and other places on National Waterways. The MoU was signed in the presence of Minister of Shipping and Road Transport & Highways Shri Nitin Gadkari and Minister of Railways Shri Suresh Prabhu. The joint development of state-of-the-art logistics hubs at Varanasi and other places would lead to convergence of inland waterways with rail and road connectivity. This would provide a seamless, efficient and cost effective cargo transportation solution.
As per the MoU, IWAI and DFCCIL will collaborate for the project and also facilitate business development in the hinterland and its feeder routes. To begin with, IWAI and DFCCIL will work jointly to provide rail connectivity to the proposed inland waterway terminal at Varanasi to make it a logistics hub, with the vision of developing similar facilities at other strategic locations on the other National Waterways and dedicated Freight Corridors. Speaking on the occasion Shri Nitin Gadkari said that the MoU is yet another step towards turning the ‘Make-in-India’ vision into a reality. As the Dedicated Freight Corridor is a game changer, the synergy between the Ministries of Railways and Shipping would provide a boost to the development of multi-modal logistics terminals along National Waterways, he added. The Minister also underlined his Ministry’s initiative to convert 101 rivers into inland waterways.
Describing the signing of MoU as a ‘landmark event’, Minister of Railways, Shri Suresh Prabhu said this initiative would connect each part of the country as one country. It is the result of realising the huge potential for water connectivity in the country, he added. He further said that this environment friendly and cost effective measure would be a boon for landlocked states. DFCCIL and IWAI will set up a Coordination Group (COG), with two members from each organisation, for effective implementation of the MoU. Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) project has been undertaken by the Government
for development of high speed dedicated freight line to facilitate rail transportation of goods. In Phase-I, DFCCIL will construct two Corridors, namely Eastern DFC traversing from Ludhiana in Punjab to Dankuni in West Bengal and Western DFC extending from Dadari in National Capital Region to Jawaharlal Port (Mumbai) in Maharashtra.
The National Waterway -1 runs parallel to the Allahabad and Varanasi stretch of the Eastern dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC) of DFCCIL. The joint development of a state-of-the-art and first of its kind logistics hubs at Varanasi and other places promises to bring together inland waterways, rail and road connectivity, providing seamless, efficient and cost effective cargo movement.
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Regards-Sonu
Came across this article, which says Maruti Suzuki could save an amount of Rs. 4,000/- per car transported through waterways. This is a very good number and hope Maruti Suzuki passes a portion on to the customers please:
Quote:
The journey of 34 cars of Maruti Suzuki being transported in barges along river Ganga from Varanasi to Haldia, covering a distance of 1,620 kilometres in six days, would transform the way cars are transported across the country, and its real impact could be seen in the cost of logistics.
"Maruti Suzuki stands to save Rs 4,000 in logistics cost in each car transported through waterways along this route in future," said Amitabh Verma, chairman, Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI).
No doubt, after Maruti Suzuki, other automobile companies like Honda Motors have shown interest in transporting their vehicles through river transport infrastructure being built from Varanasi to Haldia as part of the Jal Marg Vikas project being funded by the World Bank and implemented by IWAI.
Shipping minister Nitin Gadkari on August 12 flagged off two vessels sailing from Varanasi carrying 34 cars that will arrive at Garden Reach in Kolkata on August 18.
While the initiative is just at the pilot stage now, the real potential is significant considering that cars can be moved in much larger volumes through waterways as compared to roads.
"A typical road trailer carries six cars. In comparison, a river vessel can carry 150, at best 300 if it's a double decker. So, a large vessel can easily replace 50 trailers on the road. Consider the benefits in terms of cost savings as well as in terms of the environment," Amitabh said on the sidelines of a stakeholders' conference for the project.
IWAI is currently learning from this pilot initiative and will improve its services once commercial-level movement starts.
"The trailers carrying the cars to Varanasi from its plant could not cross a bridge near Varanasi and individual cars had to be driven 10 kilometres to reach the barges. Again, we had to maneuver a Ganga festival being celebrated downstream," IWAI chairman disclosed.
India has woken up lately to the potential of cheaper inland water transport with minuscule investments compared to funds that had gone into roadways or railways, he said.
The share of waterways in the country was just 3.6% and efforts are now on to take it over 7% by 2018.
This compares poorly with countries likely China where the share of waterways in transportation is 47% while in Korea and Japan, it is above 40%.
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Link to article:
http://www.dnaindia.com/money/report...-ganga-2245832
The leader paves the way, again - this time in logistics, successfully ships 24 cars on Kolkata - Varanasi river route, on atrial run.
Creating a landmark in the history of inland waterways of India, a vessel carrying 24 Maruti Suzuki cars reached Garden Reach jetty II of Inland Water Transport Authority (IWTA) in Kolkata from Varanasi.
Quote:
The successful experiment ushered in a new era for cargo movement in the country as it would not only reduce the cost of transportation but take pressure off the roadways
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Quote:
It is purely an experimental shipment of a Maruti consignment. But at the end of the 1210-km-long trip, the collective impact was very positive. Maruti does not even need to take the cars to its own warehouse but straight to dealers. We are allowing transporters to use IWTA warehouses and keep their consignment for seven days at free of cost
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For trial run, we brought only 24 cars. But this same vessel can easily carry 200 cars. More we carry, cheaper will be transportation cost.
Now, Hyundai have also approached the IWTA for shipment in this mode.
Link
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