Maruti Suzuki India, the country’s largest carmaker, is exploring the use of Ro-Ro (roll-on-roll-off) transportation services between Kolkata and Varanasi in a bid to reduce its logistics costs.
It is understood that while inland water transport costs around 60 paise a kilometre, transportation by rail costs Rs 1 per kilometre and Rs 1.50 by road. It will also help unclog arterial roads in the country.
Inland Water Transport (IWT) is recognised as a cost effective, fuel efficient, environment-friendly and safe mode of transport especially for hazardous goods and over-dimensional cargo.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been recently signed between the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) and Maruti Suzuki India for transportation of cars on a pilot basis through inland waterways. Cars are proposed to be transported from Varanasi to Kolkata on National Waterway-1 as a pilot run which is scheduled to commence this month. The requirement of logistic support for rolling in/out of cars from the vessels to shore and vice-versa has been done in a trial run at Kolkata.
As per a RITES report of 2014 on Integrated National Waterways Transportation Grid (INWTG), the use of inland water transport compared to conventional rail and road transportation are that one litre of fuel moves 24 tonne-km on road, 95 tonne-km on rail and 215 tonne-km on IWT. Also, the cost of developing waterways is much lower than rail or road.