Water transport is the most cost-effective mode of transporting freight in India. India has over 14,500 km of navigable waterways including rivers, canals, and backwaters, however only 455 km have been declared national waterways. Developing water transport could reduce fuel costs by 250 million INR and transportation costs by 450 million INR annually for every 1 billion tonne-km of freight shifted from road and rail. However, water transport currently accounts for just 0.1% of inland freight movement in India compared to 21% in the US due to underdevelopment of the industry. The government aims to increase the share of coastal and inland water transport to 15% and 3% respectively through developing waterway infrastructure and facilities

1. Water Transport – The Way Forward
India has a total coastline of 7,551 km with 13 major ports trusts, approximately 200 minor ports
controlled by the government and the private sector. The country has an extensive network of inland
waterways in the form of rivers, canals, backwaters and creeks. The total navigable length is 14,500 km,
of which about 5,200 km of river and 4,000 km of canals can be used by mechanised crafts. Only 455 km
has been declared National Waterways by the government, hence the remaining has to be developed
and maintained by respective state governments.
Historically, industrial hubs have developed around riverine transport possibilities, since road and rail
networks were not developed. In India, inland water transport (IWT) on the Ganges provided among the
earliest organised transport movements over significant distances.
Six Major Waterways of India
National
Waterway 1
Established in October 1986, this waterway extends from
Allahabad–Haldia stretch of the Ganges–Bhagirathi–Hooghly river
system; its fixed terminals include Haldia, BISN (Kolkata), Pakur,
Farrakka and Patna
National
Waterway 2
Established in 1988, this waterway extends from Sadiya — Dhubri
stretch of Brahmaputra river. Its fixed terminal is Pandu
National
Waterway 3
Established in February 1993, this waterway extends from
Kottapuram-Kollam stretch of the West Coast Canal, Champakara
Canal and Udyogmandal Canal. Its fixed terminals include Aluva,
Vaikom, Kayamkulam, Kottappuram, Maradu, Cherthala,
Thrikkunnapuzha, Kollam and Alappuzha
National
Waterway 4
Established in November 2008, this waterway extends from
Kakinada–Pondicherry stretch of canals and the Kaluvelly Tank,
Bhadrachalam – Rajahmundry stretch of River Godavari and
Wazirabad – Vijayawada stretch of River Krishna
National
Waterway 5
Established in November 2008, Talcher–Dhamra stretch of the
Brahmani River, the Geonkhali - Charbatia stretch of the East Coast
Canal, the Charbatia–Dhamra stretch of Matai river and the
Mangalgadi - Paradip stretch of the Mahanadi River Delta
National
Waterway 6
Established in 2013, this waterway extends from Lakhipur to Bhanga
of river Barak

2. Water transport is the most cost-effective and fuel-efficient mode of transport. According to estimates,
one litre of fuel can move 24 tonne km of freight by road, 85 by rail and 105 by IWT. Also, government
figures establish the fact that a shift of one billion tonne km of freight to IWT will bring down the fuel
cost by about INR 250 million and the cost of transportation by about INR 450 million.
Like any other mode of transport, the economics and operation of water transport is dependent on the
availability of channels, facilities at the end of the travel (like jetties and ports) and the carriers or
vessels (barges), together with all the managerial and supporting infrastructural systems required to
manage the flows.
Despite being eco-friendly and less
expensive, freight transportation by
waterways is highly under-utilised in
India compared to other large countries
and geographic areas like the United
States, China and the European Union.
The total cargo moved (in tonne km) by
the inland waterway was just 0.1 percent
of the total inland traffic in India,
compared to the 21 percent for United
States. Cargo transportation in an
organised manner is confined to a few
waterways in Goa, West Bengal, Assam and Kerala.
With the opening up of the Indian economy, there’s dire need for efficient transport system to support
large scale for movement of bulk goods for providing the infrastructure to the power sector, distribution
of food grain, fertilisers, construction material and such like.
IWT is a capital-intensive industry, even for operators, as significant investment is required in vessels, to
provide and maintain the waterways and terminals. Hence, it is only Inland Waterways Authority of
India or IWAI which can maintain the waterways and a few large customers such as shippers and bulk
manufacturers like refineries and steel plants.
54.434.4
7 4
0.36
Share of Different Transport Modes
in India
Road Rail Coastal Pipeline IWT
Source: IWAI

3. Technological and Physical Viability
1. Water flow: The basic prerequisite for water-based transport is the availability of water flow. In the
main waterways, this may have decreased over the years because of increased usage arising from
habitation, industrial and agricultural needs.
2. River training, dredging and navigation: The river needs to be ‘trained’ to consistently provide
sufficient depth vis-à-vis the draft of the vessels that are expected to ply on it. This is possible for some
types of river beds and may require maintenance of banks and dredging of the river bed periodically, to
maintain the required depth. In India, IWAI maintains a year-round draft of 2m along the National
Waterways.
3. Locks: The physical drop of the river channel cannot be too much, or else locks have to be provided to
manage the height differential.
4. Availability of vessels and associated infrastructure: India has a long history of river-based water
transport. Among operators, the government owned CIWTC (Central Inland Water Transport
Corporation) is the largest owner of vessels and barges.
The Economics of Inland Water Transport
From a supply chain perspective, inland waterways are used to decrease total cost, especially when used
as part of the end-to-end logistical requirement of cargo movement. When the movement is across the
river, this is the best mode of transport, especially when the origin or destination, or both, is a river
location.
There can be two types of waterway traffic – cargo and passenger. The waterways should seamlessly
connect to buses and trains. A few studies have shown quite convincingly that inland waterways can
have a major role to play in the integrated passenger transport in cities. For example, a study in the
Cochin metro area suggests that IWT will be an option that is impossible to ignore in the future growth
of the city and calls for integrated investments to increase complementarity with other modes, faster
vessels, unified pricing and ticketing and targeted subsidies in the area. Mumbai too has experimented
with faster modes of water transport such as hovercrafts, but a sustainable service mix has not been
found yet.
The cargo usually transported through coastal shipping comprises coal, ore, steel, fertilisers, food grains
and cement. General goods form potential cargo for coastal-cum-inland vessel. Due to the location of a

4. number of thermal power plants on the river front of the Ganges and the Brahmaputra river systems,
coal is considered to be most potential cargo.
The sulphur content in Indian coal is higher and hence, there has been heavy demand for imported coal
with lower percentage of sulphur from Australia and Indonesia. This is transported from the ports like
Paradip, Haldia and Vizag either by road or rail. Since both rail and road transport in this sector is already
congested, the need for inland waterways has been seriously felt.
The shipping ministry has taken an active role to promote waterways as the best passage for coal.
Recently it flagged off bulk movement of coal through national waterways by Jindal ITF to move 3
million tonne coal from the Sandheads to NTPC's Farakka thermal plant. The ministry also created inland
waterways infrastructure on National Waterway 1 to help the industrial corridor on the banks of the
river, as 10 thermal power stations are operational in the proximity of NW-1 and another 11 were
expected to come up in the next 5-8 years with total installed capacity of 15,000 MW. Inland waterways
would help save 15 percent of transport cost and is environmentally friendly too.
Various schemes are being introduced by the government to increase the share of coastal shipping to 15
percent of the total cargo transportation of the country by 2015. IWT sector’s share could also go upto 3
percent of the total transport of the country in near future with systematic and sustained development
of the waterway systems. The increase could translate into reality through an optimum inter-modal mix
of various transport mediums.