The Hindu Business Line : ‘Time to promote inland water transport, coastal shipping’

Supply chain issues: (From right) Mr V.N. Mathur, Member, Traffic, Railway Board; Mr S. Hajara, CMD, Shipping Corporation of India; Mr A.K. Chanda, Chairman, Kolkata Port Trust, and Mr S.K. Mohapatra, CEO, Dhamra Port, at the Logistics Colloquium on "Strengthening supply chain by forging links", organised by the CII (Eastern Region) in Kolkata, on Tuesday.

Our Bureau

Kolkata, July 24 The need for an integrated transport policy with accent on greater utilisation of inland water transport system and coastal shipping was emphasised by several speakers at the Logistics Colloquium, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Eastern Region, here on Tuesday.

At least on two other issues also, namely, the irrelevance of high logistics costs and need for extending the proposed dedicated freight corridor for the eastern sector to some deep-draught ports for obtaining the full benefits of such connectivity, the speakers at the inaugural session seemed unanimous.

Mr S.K. Mohapatra, Chief Executive Officer of Dhamra Port Company, set the ball rolling when he indicated that it should be possible to transport about 10 million tonnes of coal through the Brahmani River in Orissa from the coal mines of Talcher to Dhamra port.

Similarly, the Mahandi River could also be used to facilitate imports and exports through the Paradip port.

The canal linking Orissa with West Bengal was earlier used for freight movement and this could be revived, he said.

Logistics costs

On logistics costs, Mr Mohapatra said the transportation cost, the main component, would vary depending on the types of commodities transported. In case of high valued commodities, the transport cost would be a small component of the total value of the commodity but not so in case of bulk items such as coal, or iron ore and the eastern region mostly handled bulk items.

Mr S. Hajara, Chairman and Managing Director of Shipping Corporation of India, in his keynote address, suggested innovative strategies for seamless integration of different modes of transportation. The comparison of the per tonne kilometre costs of various modes of transport, Mr Hajara felt, made little sense.

Compared to road and rail networks whose development attracted huge investments, virtually nothing had been done for the development of infrastructure for the promotion of either coastal shipping or inland water transport system He hoped the situation would change in the Eleventh Plan period.

Bulk traffic

Dr A.K. Chanda, Chairman of the Kolkata Port Trust, observed that while the growth of container traffic was welcome, the dry bulk traffic would continue to be important for the ports, particularly the east coast ports, and the country’s first three major cargo-handling ports, all located on the east coast, largely depended on the bulk items for their growth.

Strongly supporting Mr Mohapatra’s demand for extending the proposed eastern freight corridor to deep draught ports, Dr Chanda said there was a need for undertaking a proper study on the importance of bulk items.

Mr V.N. Mathur, Member (Traffic), Railway Board, said the Railways had proposed to the Planning Commission a Rs 2,51,000-crore scheme for the expansion of capacity.