Lok Sabha Question No. 4341 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-12-20
Subject: Cargo Movement through National Waterways
Ministry: PORTS, SHIPPING AND WATERWAYS
Asked by: Shri Dushyant Singh

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF PORTS, SHIPPING AND WATERWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4341

ANSWERED ON 20.12.2024

## CARGO MOVEMENT THROUGH NATIONAL WATERWAYS

4341.  SHRI DUSHYANT SINGH:

## Will the Minister of PORTS, SHIPPING AND WATERWAYS be pleased to state: पȅन , पोत पįरवहन और जलमागŊ मंũी

(a) the steps taken by the Government to increase cargo movement through the National  Waterways,  and  the  infrastructure  and  policy  measures  that  have  been implemented to facilitate this growth; (b) the year-wise details of cargo movement through the National Waterways and other  waterways  in  India  from  2013-14  till  date,  including  the  volume  of  cargo transported and the key regions involved; (c) the manner in which increase in shipping costs is affecting the export sector with the rising cost of containers and logistics, particularly in terms of competitiveness in global markets; and (d) whether there has been any impact on export volumes due to the rising cost of container transport and if so, the steps taken by the Government to mitigate these

- challenges and ensure the sustainability of exports through waterways?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF PORTS, SHIPPING AND WATERWAYS (SHRI SARBANANDA SONOWAL)

- (a) The steps taken/proposed to be taken by the Government to increase cargo movement through the National Waterways (NWs) indicating the infrastructure and policy measures that have been implemented to facilitate this growth are
- (b) The  details  of  cargo  movement  through  the  National  Waterways  and  other waterways  in  India  including  the  volume  of  cargo  transported  and  the  key regions  involved  from  2013-14  till  October-2024,  year-wise  is  attached  as

(c) & (d)  The detailed reply is placed at at Annexure-1. Annexure-2. Annexure-3 .

## Steps  taken  by  the  Government  to  increase  cargo  movement  through  the National Waterways indicating the infrastructure and policy measures:

## (a) Infrastructure measures:

(i) Fairway maintenance works (river training, maintenance dredging, channel marking and regular hydrographic surveys) are taken up in various NWs for providing a navigation channel of 35/45 m width and 2.0 / 2.2 / 2.5 / 3.0 m Least Available Depth (LAD) for operation of vessels.

(ii)  49  community  jetties,  20  floating  terminals,  3  Multi-Modal  Terminals (MMTs)  and  1  Inter-Modal  Terminal  (IMT)  have  been  constructed  on  NW-1 (River Ganga).

(iii)  12  floating  terminals  provided  on  NW-2  (River  Brahmaputra)  along  with one  MMT  at  Pandu  and  permanent  terminals  at  Jogighopa,  Bogibeel  and Dhubri.  Four  dedicated  tourist  jetties  have  been  provided  at  Jogighopa, Pandu, Biswanath Ghat and Neamati. In addition to this, jetties for cruise and passengers have also been constructed for Sadiya, Lyka and Orium Ghat in Assam.

(iv)  9  Permanent Inland Water Transport terminals with godowns and 2 RoRo/Ro-Pax terminals have been constructed on NW-3 (West Coast Canal in Kerala).

(v)  3  floating  concrete  jetties  were  provided  to  Government  of  Goa  in  2020 and 1 in  September-2022 and installed in  Mandovi River (NW-68). 4 tourist jetties on NW-4 (River Krishna) in Andhra Pradesh have been commissioned. 12 floating jetties on NW-110 (River Yamuna) and 2 jetties on NW-73 (River Narmada) have been provided. A tender has been awarded for construction of 2 Jetties on NW-37 (River Gandak) in Bihar.

## (b) Policy Measures:

· A  scheme  for  providing  35%  incentive  to  promote  the  utilization  of inland  waterways  transport  sector  by  cargo  owners  and  for  establishing scheduled service for  cargo  movement on  NW-1 and NW-2 and NW-16 via Indo Bangladesh Protocol (IBP) has been launched by the Government. This scheme  is  expected  to  divert  800  million  tonne  Km  cargo  on  Inland  Water Transport  (IWT)  mode,  which  is  nearly  17%  of  the  current  cargo  of  4700 million  tonne  Km  on  NWs.  The  scheme  also  aims  to  start  a  scheduled waterway  cargo  service  between  Kolkata  and  Varanasi/Pandu  using  Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) vessels through Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) for demonstration effect and to increase trust of cargo movers/owners in the waterway movement.

· Shift of cargo by Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs): For modal shift of cargo to waterways, more than 140 PSUs have been approached to plan their movement  using  IWT  mode.  They  have  been  requested  to  outline  their current  status  of  cargo  movement  through  the  waterways  and  their plan  for modal shift of cargo.  The  Ministry  of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG), Co-operation/  Fertiliser,  Food  &  Public  distribution,  Heavy  industries,  Steel and Coal have been requested to advise the PSUs under their jurisdiction to utilize IWT mode as far as possible and earmark certain percentage of their cargo for IWT mode keeping in line the Maritime India Vision (MIV) targets.

- Integration  with  Ports:  World  over,  waterways  are  most  optimally utilised  if  they  are  linked  to  ports.  Kolkata  port  offers  an  opportunity  of seamless integration with NW-1 and can also help in resolving the problem of multi-modality. Therefore, Syama Prasad Mookherjee Port, Kolkata has been requested  for  operation  and  management  of  MMTs  at  Varanasi,  Sahibganj, Haldia and IMT at Kalughat along with other terminals on NW-1.
- Cargo Aggregation: The cargo movement on the waterways suffer from problems of multimodality because of lack of industries along the waterways. Therefore,  projects  for  development  of  cargo  aggregation  hub  -  Freight Village at Varanasi  and  Integrated  Cluster-  cum-Logistics Park  (ICLP), Sahibganj  have  been  taken  up.  National  Highways  Logistics  Management Limited (NHLML), a PSU under the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has  been  engaged  for  development  of  these  Multi-Modal  Logistics  Parks (MMLPs). The work of Rail connectivity for 3 MMTs has been assigned to M/s Indian Port and Rail Company Ltd. (IPRCL), a PSU under Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Waterways (MoPSW).
- River  Cruise  Tourism:  To  promote  river  cruise  tourism,  numbers  of meetings with cruise operators have been organised. Based  on  their feedback, steps like provision of shore power at IWAI terminals, extra berthing arrangements, etc. have been made. New cruise circuits have been identified for operationalization. A total of 34 Waterways have been identified for cruise movement and 10 have already been operationalised.
- IBP  Route:  Indo  Bangladesh  Protocol route  no.  5  &  6  between  Maia and  Sultanganj  has  been operationalized recently with successful trial movements.

## Annexure-2

| National Watyerway (NW)                                                                          | State / UT                                     | 2013- 14   | 2014- 15   | 2015- 16   | 2016- 17   | 2017 -18   | 2018- 19   | 2019 -20   | 2020- 21   | 2021- 22   |   2022- 23 |   2023- 24 |   2024- 25 till Octo ber- 2024 |
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------|------------|------------|------------|------------|------------|------------|------------|------------|------------|------------|------------|--------------------------------|
| NW-1 {Ganga- Bhagirathi- Hooghly River System (Haldia- Allahabad)}                               | Uttar Pradesh , Bihar, Jharkha nd, West Bengal | 3.35       | 5.05       | 6.48       | 4.89       | 5.48       | 6.79       | 9.11       | 9.21       | 10.93      |      13.17 |      12.82 |                           8.59 |
| NW-2 {Brahmaputra River (Dhubri- Sadiya)}                                                        | Assam                                          | 2.48       | 0.51       | 0.60       | 0.61       | 0.56       | 0.49       | 0.39       | 0.31       | 0.43       |       0.63 |       0.59 |                           0.51 |
| NW-3 (West Coast Canal)                                                                          | Kerala                                         | 1.07       | 0.96       | 1.06       | 1.03       | 0.42       | 0.42       | 0.55       | 0.73       | 1.70       |       3.23 |       3.29 |                           1.9  |
| NW-4 (Krishna Godavari River Systems)                                                            | Andhra Pradesh                                 |            |            |            |            |            | 0.45       | 0.08       | 6.83       | 11.23      |       8.42 |       4.3  |                           4.7  |
| NW-5 (East Coast Canal And Matai River/ Brahmani- Kharsua- Dhamra Rivers/ Mahanadi Delta Rivers) | Odisha                                         |            |            |            |            |            |            | -          |            | 0.02       |       0.4  |       0.64 |                           0.15 |
| NW-8 (Alappuzha- Changanasser y Canal)                                                           | Kerala                                         |            |            |            |            |            |            |            |            |            |       0.03 |       0.04 |                           0.02 |

<!-- image -->

| NW-9 (Alappuzha- Kottayam Athirampuzha Canal)                       | Kerala       |           |      |      |      | 0.02   | 0.02   | 0.01   |
|---------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------|-----------|------|------|------|--------|--------|--------|
| NW-14 (Baitarni River)                                              | Odisha       |           |      |      | -    |        | 0.00   | -      |
| NW-16 (Barak River)                                                 | Assam        | 0.00      | 0.00 | 0.01 | 0.01 | 0.00   |        | 0.10   |
| NW-23 (Budha Balanga)                                               | Odisha       |           |      |      | 0.03 | 0.02   |        | 0.01   |
| NW-31 (Dhansiri/ Chathe)                                            | Assam        |           |      |      |      |        | 0.01   | 0.00   |
| NW-44 (Ichamati River)                                              | West Bengal  | 0.90      | 0.28 | 0.82 | 0.46 |        | 0.48   | 0.26   |
| NW-48 (Jawai- Luni- Rann of Kutch River)                            | Gujarat      |           |      |      |      |        |        | 1.32   |
| NW-53 (Kalyan- Thane- Mumbai Waterway, Vasai Creek and Ulhas River) | Maharas htra |           |      |      |      |        |        | 1.58   |
| NW-64 (Mahanadi River)                                              | Odisha       | -         |      | -    | 0.02 | 0.45   | 0.67   | 0.16   |
| NW-86 (Rupnarayan River)                                            | West Bengal  | -         |      | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.09   | 0.10   | 0.08   |
| NW-94 (Sone River)                                                  | Bihar        | 0.80      |      | -    | -    | -      | 1.16   | 0.71   |
| NW-97 (Sunderbans                                                   | West         | 3.22 3.46 | 3.86 | 6.10 |      | 5.47   | 5.19   | 3.45   |

| Waterway)                                       | Bengal                |                       |                       |                       |                       |                       |                       |                       |                       |                       |                       |                       |                       |
|-------------------------------------------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| Maharashtra Waterways                           | Maharashtra Waterways | Maharashtra Waterways | Maharashtra Waterways | Maharashtra Waterways | Maharashtra Waterways | Maharashtra Waterways | Maharashtra Waterways | Maharashtra Waterways | Maharashtra Waterways | Maharashtra Waterways | Maharashtra Waterways | Maharashtra Waterways | Maharashtra Waterways |
| NW-10 (Amba River)                              | Maharas htra          |                       | -                     |                       |                       |                       | 22.24                 | 22.0117.69            |                       | 20.23                 | 28.54                 | 30.17                 | 16.98                 |
| NW-83 (Rajpuri Creek)                           | Maharas htra          |                       | -                     |                       |                       |                       | 0.85                  | 0.67                  | 0.21                  | 0.23                  | 0.24                  | 0.45                  | 0.18                  |
| NW-85 (Revadanda Creek- Kundalika River System) | Maharas htra          |                       | -                     |                       |                       |                       | 1.72                  | 1.59                  | 1.08                  | 0.70                  | 0.50                  | 0.99                  | 0.33                  |
| NW-91 (Shastri River - Jaigad Creek System)     | Maharas htra          |                       | -                     |                       |                       |                       | 3.53                  | 0.12                  | 9.24                  | 22.45                 | 33.87                 | 37.05                 | 19.39                 |
| Goa Waterways                                   | Goa Waterways         | Goa Waterways         | Goa Waterways         | Goa Waterways         | Goa Waterways         | Goa Waterways         | Goa Waterways         | Goa Waterways         | Goa Waterways         | Goa Waterways         | Goa Waterways         | Goa Waterways         | Goa Waterways         |
| NW-68 (Mandovi River)                           | Goa                   |                       | -                     |                       |                       |                       | 1.65                  | 1.58                  | 4.00                  | 2.62                  | 2.54                  | 2.42                  | 1.23                  |
| NW-111 (Zuari River)                            | Goa                   |                       | -                     |                       |                       |                       | 2.10                  | 1.36                  | 4.47                  | 1.96                  | 0.39                  | 1.10                  | 0.68                  |
| Gujarat Waterways                               | Gujarat Waterways     | Gujarat Waterways     | Gujarat Waterways     | Gujarat Waterways     | Gujarat Waterways     | Gujarat Waterways     | Gujarat Waterways     | Gujarat Waterways     | Gujarat Waterways     | Gujarat Waterways     | Gujarat Waterways     | Gujarat Waterways     | Gujarat Waterways     |
| NW-73 (Narmada River)                           | Gujarat               |                       | -                     |                       |                       |                       | 0.04                  | 0.10                  | 0.08                  | 0.05                  | 0.04                  | 0.06                  | 0.04                  |
| NW-100 (Tapi River)                             | Gujarat               |                       | -                     |                       |                       |                       | 28.78                 | 30.9225.63            |                       | 29.32                 | 27.62                 | 31.46                 | 19.17                 |
| Grand Total Million Tonnes                      |                       | 18.07                 | 29.16                 | 41.53                 | 55.47                 |                       | 55.0372.30            |                       | 73.6483.61            | 108.79                | 126.15                | 133.03                | 81.56                 |
| IBP                                             |                       | 1.89                  | 2.00                  | 2.28                  | 2.58                  | 3.09                  | 3.22                  | 3.46                  | 3.60                  | 5.43                  | 5.20                  | 4.68                  | 2.60                  |

## Annexure referred to in reply to Part (c) and (d) of the Answer to the question

- (c) Shipping  costs,  including  freight  and  container  charges,  are  highly  marketdriven  and  are  very  volatile.  These  costs  are  influenced  by  factors  such  as market driven volatility and emergent situations as follows:
-  Supply  and  Demand:  Shipping  costs  fluctuate  based  on  the  balance between the supply of shipping capacity and the demand for shipping services.
-  Vessel  Availability:  The  availability  of  vessels  can  be  affected  by various factors, including, port congestion and geopolitical events.
-  Fuel  Prices:  Changes  in  fuel  prices  directly  impact  shipping  costs. Higher  fuel  prices  lead  to  increased  operational  costs  for  shipping companies, which are often passed on to exporters.
-  Significant Impact: During Russia-Ukraine war or  the  COVID-19 pandemic,  shipping  costs  has  seen  significant  spikes  due  to  sudden disruptions in global trade routes, port operations and supply chains.

The increase in shipping costs, particularly the rising cost of containers and logistics,  directly  affects  the  competitiveness  of  exporters  in  global  markets. Higher  logistics  costs  mean  higher  prices  for  goods,  which  can  make  them less attractive to international buyers.

- (d) To mitigate the challenges posed by the increased freight costs and container shortages  and  to  ensure  the  sustainability  of  exports,  the  Government  has implemented the following measures:
1.  Enhancing  Port  Infrastructure:  The  expansion  of  port  capacities  has been  significant  across  all  12  Major  Ports  in  India  from  2014-15  to 2023-24. The overall cargo handling capacity of these major ports has increased from 800.52 Million Tonnes Per Annum (MTPA) in FY 201314 to 1630 MTPA in FY 2023-24, showcasing Government's commitment for enhancing maritime infrastructure.
2.  Enhancing  Local  Shipping  Companies:  Efforts  are  being  made  by Shipping  Corporation  of  India  (SCI)  aiming  to  increase  container shipping  capability  of  the  country  by  leasing  in  container  ships  with plans of acquiring some vessels as well.
3.  Promoting  Ownership  of  Containers  by  Indian  Entities:  Encouraging Indian entities to own and operate containers, which is seen as a longterm solution to container shortages.
4.  Tracking and  Tracing  Mechanisms:  The  development  of  tracking systems  like the Unified Logistics Interface  Platform  (ULIP)  and Logistics  Data  Bank  (LDB)  aims  to  improve  the  turnaround  time  of export containers.
5.  Cargo  Promotion  Scheme:  The  government  launched  the  'Jalvahak' scheme to boost cargo movement via inland waterways on 15.12.2024. This scheme aims to offer reimbursement on operating costs for cargo owners and aims to play a key role in unlocking the trade potential of inland waterways.
6.  Facilitating exports to neighbouring countries via Waterways: The IBP Route has been a significant facilitator for exports to Bangladesh. The recent  inauguration  of  the  Maia-Sultanganj  River  route  in  February2024  is  expected  to  further  boost  trade  by  providing  a  direct  and efficient waterway connection between the countries.

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