Cargo movement on key inland waterways has grown by 5% Y-o-Y notching at 133.03 million tonnes. Maharashtra waterways are leading from the front in terms of volumes moved at 68.66 MT, accounting for 52% of the traffic. The Maharashtra Waterways include NW10 (using the Amba River), NW83 (Rajpuri Creek), NW85 (Revadanda Creek – Jaigad Creek Syste) and NW91 (Shastri River – Jaigad Creek System).
The central government has brought forward a funding of Rs.360 Cr towards development of new waterways. In FY23, India’s National Waterways had carried around 126.15 mt of cargo. A review of volumes over the past five years reveals that cargo movement over waterways has grown by 80%. In FY20, cargo movement across Indian waterways was about 73.64MT.
Major commodities moving along the waterways include coal (30%), iron ore (35%) and fly ash (7%). Most of the coal and iron ore movement is through the Shastri River (under NW-91) and Amba River (NW-10) in Maharashtra and via the Tapi River (NW-100) in Gujarat. Fly-ash movement is mostly via the Ganges (NW-1) and the India – Bangladesh Protocol (IBP) route.
