Centre ropes in top European firm Rhenus to run barges on India's inland waterways

New Delhi, May 6 (IANS) The Centre signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with global logistics major Rhenus Group on Tuesday to start scheduled barge operations across India’s key National Waterways (NWs) in a big boost to environment-friendly river transport in the country.

As part of the MoU signed by the Inland Waterways Authority of India, Rhenus will introduce 100 barges in a phased manner in the national waterways, while 20 barges and six pushers to be deployed in the first phase, targeting the movement of more than one million tonnes of cargo annually by the end of 2025.

At the onset, Rhenus will operate on National Waterways 1 (Ganga), 2 (Brahmaputra), and 16 (Barak), as well as the Indo-Bangladesh Protocol route. These operations will facilitate the movement of bulk and break-bulk cargo across North, East, and Northeast India, with gradual expansion to other NWs.

The MoU will introduce Inland Waterways Transport solutions, including barge scheduled services. This will be scaled up to 100 barges within a few years to cover more NWs under its ambit.

Leveraging Rhenus' expertise in European inland navigation and a global fleet of over 1,100 barges, the partnership aims to integrate global best practices into the Indian IWT ecosystem. A combination of pushers and barges to suit the low draft navigation will be used to transport both bulk and break-bulk cargo.

Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal said, “Today, with this MoU, we are enabling our rich and dynamic waterways system to be empowered with global expertise and revamp its efficacy as the preferred mode of bulk cargo movement in the country. Our ministry, with such initiatives, is focused on unlocking the full potential of inland water transport as a national growth engine powering the hinterland towards sustainable development and vigorous growth.”

“Inland waterways offer a remarkable opportunity to create a greener, cost-effective, and efficient logistics network,” he added.

The partnership is a testament to the success of the ‘Jal Marg Vikas’ Project for the capacity augmentation of the National Waterway. Under this project, IWAI is undertaking end-to-end maintenance dredging, building IWT terminals and navigational locks, setting up community jetties and providing navigational aids all along the waterway for smooth and efficient passenger and cargo movement, the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways said in a statement.

The event was also attended by TK Ramachandran, Secretary, MoPSW, Vijay Kumar, Chairman, Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) and other officials of the ministry. The Rhenus team was led by Vivek Arya, CEO of Rhenus Logistics India.

The number of operational National Waterways has grown from three in 2014-15 to 29 in 2024-25. Cargo movement has surged from 30 MMTPA in 2014-15 to 145.84 MMTPA in 2024-25, contributing to a cumulative movement of over 779 MMT in the past decade. The sector, which currently spans 14,500 km of navigable waterways across 111 declared National Waterways, is poised to play a transformative role in the country’s multimodal logistics framework, the statement added.

--IANS

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