Kolkata-Patna become India’s 2nd container cargo sector on Inland Waterways

Kolkata-Patna has become the India’s second container cargo sector on Inland Waterways. The Inland Waterways Authority of India’s (IWAI) vessel ‘MV RN Tagore’ will be the first cargo vessel to reach Patna’s Gaighat IWT terminal on river Ganga (National Waterway-1). On December 6, the vessel sailed from Kolkata’s Garden Reach Jetty with the PepsiCo and Emami Agrotech products. It will reach the IWT terminal at Patna in 6-7 days after an 815 kms long voyage on river Ganga (National Waterway-1). The cargo will be unloaded at IWAI’s inter-modal terminal at Gaighat in Patna from where onward cargo will be loaded. Earlier, on 12th November 2018, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi had received the India’s first IWT containerised cargo that reached Varanasi from Kolkata. The Ministry of Shipping is developing NW-1 (River Ganga) under Jal Marg Vikas Project (JMVP) from Haldia to Varanasi (1390 Km) with the technical and financial assistance of the World Bank at an estimated cost of Rs 5369 crore. The project would enable commercial navigation of vessels with capacity of 1500-2,000 DWT.