Exploring Full Potential Of Coastal And Inland Shipping

With India's road and rail infrastructure in most high-traffic areas running at full capacity, transportation through coastal and inland waterways could be a viable solution to ease the load. the challenging part is to persuade the industry to accept the massive modal shift.

- Shreya Bhattacharya

With an extensive coastline and a chain of major and minor ports, India’s policy makers have at all times been aware of the importance of the maritime industry and the alterations it can bring into the economy. However, in the past couple of years, a lot of activities, announcements, planning and discussions surrounding the Indian maritime have propelled its momentum and has brought it into the limelight. Sagarmala, Direct Port Delivery (DPD), cabotage rule are to name a few that have received top billings.

Distance covered till now

With a total of 605 projects identified till today, the mammoth Sagarmala initiative was one of the top agendas of the NDA government to leverage the maritime industry. Almost two years from then, today it seems to be driving in a slow lane with completion of 88 projects worth Rs 14.658 crore and 164 additional projects costing Rs 238,031 crore awarded.

Giving an update on the current status, Kailash Kumar Aggarwal, Joint Secretary (Sagarmala), Ministry of Shipping says, “Master Plans have been finalised for the 12 major ports. Based on the same, 142 port capacity expansion projects (total cost: Rs 91,434 crore) have been identified for implementation over the next 20 years. More than 50 of these projects are already under implementation while rest will be taken up in a phased manner,” says Aggarwal.