Maruti to transport cars through waterways

Maruti will start transporting cars on a pilot basis through inland waterways between Varanasi and Kolkata starting August 12, Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari said today.  

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) and Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. for transportation of cars on a pilot basis through inland waterways, Gadkari said during Question Hour in Rajya Sabha. 

The minister also said he would inaugurate two ships from Varanasi - one ferrying the Maruti cars and other carrying construction materials on August 12 and the requirement of logistic support for rolling in and out of cars from the vessels to shore and vice-versa has been done in a trial run at Kolkata.

Concerned over miniscule share of 3.6 percent of waterways in transportation in India, Gadkari said that efforts are on to take it over 7 percent by 2018. He gave a comparison of waterways in transportation in China was 47 percent, in Korea and Japan it was above 40 percent and it played a key role in European countries.

According to government, Inland Water Transport (IWT) mode, is recognized as a cost effective, fuel efficient, environment friendly and safe mode of transport especially for hazardous goods and over dimensional cargo.

The house also expressed concerns about the impact it would have on the fishing communities, Gadkari said he wanted to make it clear that it would have positive impact as it would ensure that fishermen are able to increase their fishing output.

Gadkari also gave details of the projects on river Ganga saying it was aimed that by 2020, 200 lakh tonnes of cargo for export would be shipped through waterways. Various luxury cruises from seven-star to three and four stars which were operating on the river waters.

 As per a RITES report of 2014 on “Integrated National Waterways Transportation Grid (INWTG)” the important benefits of IWT mode compared to rail and road transportation are as one litre of fuel moves, 24 tonne-km on road, 95 tonne-km on rail and 215 tonne-km on  IWT.   Also, the cost of developing waterways is much lower than rail and road.

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