First-ever container cargo to sail on Brahmaputra River

November 6, 2019: On Monday, the cargo container ship M Y Maheshwari sailed away from Haldia Dock Complex in Kolkata for a 12-day 1425km journey with 53 containers of petrochemicals, edible oil and beverage to the container port of Inland Waterways Authority of India at Pandu in Assam.

The Inland Water Transport (IWT) has rivers Ganga (National Waterway-1), Barak (NW-16) and Brahmaputra (NW-2) in its path before reaching Guwahati. In line with the central government plan to improve connectivity to the North Eastern Region (NER) the water transport also involves two routes of Bangladeshi waterways under the Indo-Bangladesh Protocol (IBP) route. Gopal Krishna, secretary, ministry of shipping, flagged off the vessel from Deep Bhawan at Taratolla through video conference.

New Feat!
First ever Containerised Cargo on #Brahmaputra thru integrated movement (NW1,Sunderbans,IBP N NW2), a total 1425 KMs of seamless connectivity.
53 TEUs moved from #Haldia Dock Complex to Pandu, #Guwahati via #IBP.
@shipmin_india @kopt_port @ihcdhaka pic.twitter.com/zGgb79sipr

— IWAI (@IWAI_ShipMin) November 4, 2019

Krishna said “this is the first-ever containerised cargo movement on this route. The 1425km long journey is anticipated to set up the technological and financial viability of IWT mode using multiple waterways. The IWT movement is intended to provide boost to the industrial development of NER by introducing an alternate way for raw and finished goods transportation.”

The Protocol on Inland Water Transit and Trade (PIWTT) between India and Bangladesh enables equally advantageous use of waterways for movement of cargo among the two nations.

The IBP routes are being developed at an expense of Rs305.84 crore on 80:20 cost-sharing by India and Bangladesh.

The first cargo on Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hooghly (N W-1) was received by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he launched Varanasi’s Multi-Modal Terminal on November 12, 2018.