NEW DELHI: The government push for movement of goods through
waterways has resulted in shift of
cargo from road and rail to coastal waterways. The e annual growth of cargo moved through coastal waterways has increased by 10 times since the government came to power,
shipping ministry officials said.
“The growth rate was only 1.4% between 2009-10 and 2013-14. This increased to 14.2% during 2014-15 and 2017-18 period. We expect this to go up further as the size of parcels get bigger. More players will shift to coastal movement of such cargo rather than depending on road and rail,” said a ministry official.
According to the shipping ministry data, during the last financial year coastal cargo traffic handled by all ports stood at 234 million tonnes, which was 16% more. Thermal coal is the main commodity which is transported through coastal waterways.