The Minister of Shipping, Road Transport & Highways and Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Shri Nitin Gadkari today digitally flagged off a RoRo cum general cargo vessel M.V. IDM DOODLE carrying a consignment of 185 trucks from Chennai Port to Mongla port in Bangladesh.

Shri Gadkari informed that these trucks, which are being exported by M/s.Ashok Leyland Ltd, were being sent to Bangladesh through the land route till now, travelling a distance of about 1500 km. Transport through the  sea route will save about 15-20 days of travel time. For this trip alone that involves transport of 185 trucks, a total of about 3 lakh vehicle km of road travel will be saved as the land route is  longer  and much time is lost at the congested Petrapole-Benapole check point at the Indo- Bangladesh border. Besides saving time, coastal transport will also be more cost effective and environment friendly. The Minister called upon all automobile manufactures to use coastal shipping mode for transporting their vehicles.

M/s.Ashok Leyland Ltd is currently exporting around 12000 truck chassis to Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and countries in Africa . The volume to Bangladesh and Sri lanka is likely to increase by 80% in the coming years. Now, more than 500 trucks per month are expected to be exported via the sea route which will take away a lot of traffic from our roads.

The Coastal Shipping Agreement between India and Bangladesh was signed during Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s visit to Bangladesh in June 2015. Based on the agreement sea transportation from Indian ports to Bangladesh ports is being treated as coastal movement, making it eligible for  40% concession on vessel related and  cargo related charges. For coastal movement through RoRo vessels, 80% concession on vessel related and cargo related charges are applicable in Indian Ports.

Chennai Port started coastal RoRo voyage on 5.8.2016 when 800 Hyundai cars were shipped on RoRo vessels from Chennai to Pipavav for local distribution.

Initiatives like this are aimed at providing innovative logistic chain solutions under Sagarmala. The ultimate objective is to save logistic costs and time of transportation and boosting trade by making Indian goods competitive in International markets.

The fuel consumption at per tonne cargo is much lower via sea route, Sima transportation by sea will also reduce carbon footprints on the environment. Further, the modal shift to coastal shipping will save wear and tear of the new vehicles and also reduce traffic on congested roads.

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NP/MS