Indian Journal of Fertilisers 16 (9) : 886-897, T. KallingalSeptember and 2020 Hitendra Pratap Singh Indian Journal of Fertilisers 16 (9) Future Outlook for Indian Coastal Shipping and Inland Waterways T. Kallingal and Hitendra Pratap Singh Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited, New Delhi Received : 05/08/2020 Accepted : 13/08/2020 Abstract The Indian logistics sector, relies heavily on road and rail modes for transportation of goods, whereas the more efficient, eco-friendly modes of coastal and inland waterways still remain grossly underutilised. Despite the tremendous potential of transportation through water ( both coastal and river) the initiatives by Government of India and other agencies for promotion / popularisation, are yet to culminate into tangible results, especially in fertilizer movement. The Industry is looking for requisite infrastructure, road connectivity and a conducive policy environment, to wade through the numerous challenges linked to switching from the conventional ‘tried and tested’ modes to this comparatively underutilised mode. Need of the hour, is to incentivize, support and extend a bit of ‘hand-holding’, to the fertilizer fraternity for commencing coastal /inland waterways movement, till this mode gets stabilised. Key words: Coastal shipping, inland waterways, logistics cost, container movement, transportation, fertilizer 1.0 Introduction and Ganga rivers; Ganga with its 17 tributaries and the Indus with its 13 tributaries were navigable and Coastal shipping and Inland waterways in India, has been used extensively for transportation. Glancing a very significant role to play in the country’s through the pages of ancient World history, one economy, with the extremely high potential it wields would observe that for a long time, India stood out from the 7,517 km long coastline and the Inland predominantly as the heart of commercial activities. waterways network stretching to around 14,500 km. India had colonies in Cambodia, Java, Sumatra, Borneo The Water transportation has a definite edge over and in a few Far East countries. The transport and others, in terms of possessing the highest carrying communication with these trade centres were mainly capacity and being the best suited for long distance through waterways. Until about a hundred years ago, carriage of bulky goods. India has the largest the Ganga river, too, was a busy waterway. merchant shipping fleet among developing Through the ages, rivers have served as effective countries and ranks 17th worldwide. Coastal and waterways, carrying people and goods over long inland water transport is among the cheapest modes distances. of transport in India, as it takes advantage of the natural track and does not require huge capital Coastal shipping refers to movement of goods along investment in construction and maintenance except the coast or from one coast to the other within in the case of canals. World over, many countries country or within hinterland connected neighbour depend heavily on coastal and inland water countries. It is also referred to as short-sea shipping, transport, especially for movement of large and marine highway and coasting trade, whereas Inland bulky cargo, it being cheaper, reliable and less waterways is a network in the form of rivers, canals, polluting compared to other modes, such as road or backwaters and creeks that can be used for rail. transportation along with other modes, say road The supremacy of maritime and river navigation has and rail. Forms of water transport are given in characterised the transport of goods in India for Figure 1. centuries. Megasthenes, the ancient Greek historian, India is yet to fully develop these cheaper and in his book ‘Indica’ provides a detailed account of greener modes of transportation. A lion share of sailing in Indian rivers to Pataliputra along Yamuna goods still travel by the congested road and rail Figure 1. Forms of water transport [email protected] 34 September 2020 Future Outlook for Indian Coastal Shipping and Inland Waterways 887 networks, decelerating the movement of cargo, Table 1. Countries’ coastal length and domestic cargo share adding to uncertainties, and increasing the costs of Country Coastal line (km) % share of trade. Logistics cost in India is one of the highest domestic Cargo among major countries. India is ranked 44 out of 160 India 7,517 7 countries in the ‘Logistics Performance Index 2018 USA 19,924 14 (LPI)’. In India, the logistics cost as a percentage of China 14,500 20 GDP stands at 13%, as against 8% in Germany and Brazil 7,491 23 China, 9% in Japan, 9.5% in USA, and 10% in European Japan 29,751 42 Union (EU). Globally, coastal and inland EU 68,000 43 transportation is the most favoured mode followed Saint Lawrence Rivers in the US, the Amazon in by rail and roads. Despite the massive potential of the coastal mode, transportation of goods in India is South America, the Nile in Egypt and the Yangtze heavily in favour of road, accounting for nearly 57% River in China. The Danube, being the second longest river in Europe, with a catchment area covering one- of the cargo moved, followed by rail at 30% and the remaining by the coastal shipping, inland tenth of the continent, is an important part of the waterways and oil & gas pipeline (Figure 2). Trans-European Networks. The European Commission aims to promote and strengthen the 2.0 Coastal Shipping & Inland Waterways - ‘Growth competitive position of inland waterways in the Engine’ Worldwide transport system and to facilitate its integration into It is well-known that the shipping has always been the intermodal logistics chain. As by 2050, the coastal regarded as an important transport sector of national (short sea) shipping has a strong role in reaching the activities in all maritime countries, and it is well EU transport goal of reducing the green-house gases suited for transportation of bulk cargoes at low cost. Coastal shipping and inland waterways, as emission by 60% and to achieve a shift of 30% road supplementary modes of transport are not only an movement over 300 km to other modes, by the year economic necessity but also a valuable asset in times 2030. Under the ‘Paris Agreement on Climate Change’ of exigencies. India has pledged a 33-35% reduction in the ‘emission intensity’ of its GDP by 2030, compared to Water-based transportation of domestic freight, the 2005 levels. India’s climate pledge outlines its comprising of both coastal shipping and inland intention to promote transport through coastal waterways, is approximately nine times higher in shipping and Inland waterways, for its fuel China, six times higher in the EU, five times higher in efficiency and cost effectiveness. A report by Morgan Japan and twice as high in the USA compared to India Stanley in 2016 states that growth in Indian coastal (Table 1). shipping, at the expense of road movement, could In Europe and other parts of the world, cities built on reduce costs by $2.5 billion by 2025. the banks or at the mouth of rivers historically 3.0 Coastal Shipping in India witnessed growth and development. Shipping is an important indicator of both for For instance, in Europe having more than 37,000 km commodity and services trade of any country. of waterways connect hundreds of cities and major In recent years, coastal shipping in the country has industrial hubs; 13 countries have an interconnected been increasingly recognized as a sustainable and waterway network. The Danube-Main-Rhine route efficient mode of transport, capable of effectively is one of the most important waterways in the World, supplementing the already overstressed road and rail besides others, like the Mississippi-Great Lakes- network. For the ‘medium to long distance’ freight Figure 2. Mode-wise per cent share in transportation 35 888 T. Kallingal and Hitendra Pratap Singh Indian Journal of Fertilisers 16 (9) Figure 3. Coastal states of India for coastal shipping is ideal for transportation of economic zone, the country has gained a territory of containers, project cargoes, over dimensional cargoes, around 100,000 sq. km of water surface for productive RORO cargoes, dry bulk cargoes viz. food grains, purposes. Despite being eco-friendly and its abundant fertilizers, steel, coal, salt, limestone & minerals and potential, the Indian coastal shipping has remained liquid bulk cargoes including POL products. Apart largely un-tapped. The fuel consumption in coastal from reducing traffic congestion, it can lower movement per tonne-kilometre is just about 15% of casualties due to accidents, which are routine in road that by road and 54% of that by rail. transport. It has been established that coastal shipping is the most economical, environment friendly The Indian coastal shipping has grown to nearly 120 million metric tonnes (MMT) in 2018-2019 as against mode with least emissions of GHGs, lesser carbon foot 83 MMT in 2014-15 (Figure 4) and an additional print & noise pollution and is a safer method of potential of 130 million MT per annum by 2025 has transportation for domestic cargo. been identified under the ‘Sagarmala Programme’ India’s potential lies in its 7,517 km long coastline promoted by GOI through Ministry of Shipping. bordering 9 (nine) states i.e. Gujarat, Maharashtra, Coastal movement by sea has grown in India at a Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, CAGR of 10% during the period of 2015-18, though Odisha & West Bengal and 4 (four) union territories still the coastal shipping accounts for only 7% of the viz. Daman & Diu, Puducherry, Andaman & Nicobar overall domestic cargo movement, which is not at all Island and Lakshadweep Islands (Figure 3). Indian comparable with those of the developed countries. coastal line is studded with 13 major ports (12 ports Vessels play vital role in transportation of material governed by Government of India (GOI) & Kamarajar through coastal mode.