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West Bengal News

24 May 2021

India: East Coast Ports Restrict Activities Ahead of Cyclone

Illustration only - Credit: 1xpert/AdobeStock

Ports on India's eastern coast on Sunday restricted shipping activities and asked vessels to vacate anchorages ahead of a cyclonic storm expected to make landfall on Wednesday, port authorities and trade sources said.The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has warned that a "very severe cyclonic storm" would impact Indian states including Odisha and West Bengal, where key ports are located.Some regions are likely to receive heavy rainfall and wind speeds could reach 110 miles per hour…

13 Aug 2020

Indian Solar Ferry Flies Flag for Cleaner, Cheaper Water Transport

(Photo: State Water Transport Department, Government of Kerala)

Over the past three years, P. Ravindran’s commute from his southern Indian village has been about more than getting to work - the SIM card seller sees his daily trip on India’s first solar-powered ferry as doing his bit for the green revolution.“I am proud to be a frequent traveler on the Aditya... I am being part of cleaning the Earth,” said Ravindran, who uses the boat most days to travel to the town of Vaikom on Lake Vembanad.The Aditya’s green credentials have attracted international…

03 Nov 2019

In a First, Container Cargo Vessel on Brahmaputra

The first ever containerized cargo movement via Indo-Bangladesh protocol route and Brahmaputra (National Waterway -2) river will start from West Bengal's Haldia Today."In line with Government’s focus on improving connectivity to the North Eastern Region (NER), a landmark container cargo consignment will sail on inland waterways from Haldia Dock Complex (HDC) to the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) terminal at Pandu in Guwahati on 4 November, 2019," said a government release.Gopal Krishna, Secretary (Shipping) will flag off the inland vessel MV Maheshwari carrying 53 TEUs (containers) of petrochemicals, edible oil and beverage etc.

03 May 2019

Cyclone Slams Indian Coast, Millions Evacuated

A cyclone barrelled into eastern India on Friday, bringing down trees and power lines and "extensively" damaging the tourist town of Puri, but there were no early reports of casualties with a million people evacuated before it made landfall.Tropical Cyclone Fani, the strongest to hit India in five years, spent days building up power in the northern reaches of the Bay of Bengal before it struck the coast of the state of Odisha at around 8 a.m., the state-run India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.Howling winds gusting up to 200 kph (124 mph) whipsawed trees, uprooting scores, and driving rain impacted visibility, while streets were deserted in the state capital Bhubaneswar and Puri."Damage in Puri is extensive…

02 May 2019

Evacuations Underway as Cyclone Menaces India's Coast

India has evacuated more than 300,000 people along its northeast coastline by boat, bus and train ahead of a severe cyclone due to make landfall on Friday, with many villagers piling household possessions on to trucks before fleeing their homes.Severe cyclonic storm Fani was churning up the Bay of Bengal about 320 km (198 miles) south-southwest of the Hindu temple town of Puri where special trains were put on to evacuate tourists and the beaches were empty.In total, about 1.2 million people are expected to be evacuated from low-lying areas of 15 districts in the eastern state of Odisha to cyclone shelters, schools and other buildings…

24 Oct 2018

India, Bangladesh to Improve Inland Water Transportation

India and Bangladesh discussed various issues pertaining to the protocol arrangements and improvement of inland water transportation between the two countries in the 19th Standing Committee meeting under ‘Protocol on Inland Water Transit and Trade’ (PIWTT)held at  New Delhi.The meeting was attended by high level delegations that included representatives of Ministries of  Shipping, External Affairs, Home, Finance, DONER and Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) and officials from Bangladesh belonging toMinistry of Shipping, Board of Revenue, DG (Shipping)  and Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA).The two sides agreed to consider inclusion of Rupnarayan river (National Waterway-86) from Geonkhali to Kolaghatin West Bengal in the protocol route.

05 Aug 2018

India's Jal Marg Vikas Project on River Ganga on Full Steam

Even as the work on the development of Jal Marg Vikas Project (JMVP) on River Ganga is going on in full steam, a team of Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) held a two day long intensive advocacy and communications outreach at Sahibganj and Rajmahal in Jharkhand. JMVP is India's prestigious development of waterways.The public meetings are being held as part of a month-long dialogue initiative on the entire stretch of JMVP (Varanasi to Haldia) that began in July.The IWAI is constructing a INR 280. 90 crore (USD 41 mln) multi modal terminal at Sahibganj in Jharkhand besides a proposed ship repair facility and a freight village.

16 Jul 2018

MV SSL Kolkata: Salvage Operations Continue

The salvage operations of the container vessel MV SSL Kolkata that had caught fire last month, is continuing in rough weather conditions with 2- 4 metre swells. The vessel is grounded at about 8 nautical miles off the ecologically sensitive Sundarbans since the 13th of last month when its cargo area had caught fire following an explosion. All 22 crew members were   rescued by the Indian Coast Guard. The Directorate General of Shipping and its allied office, Mercantile Marine Department, Kolkata, Govt. of West Bengal, the Indian Coast Guard and various authorities have been constantly monitoring the developments as the salvage efforts continue.

12 Jul 2018

Fire Stricken Box Ship SSL Kolkata Sits Aground

Indian flagged containership SSL Kolkata caught fire and went adrift in the Bay of Bengal on June 13 (Photo courtesy of the Indian Coast Guard)

Responders are facing challenging monsoon season conditions as they work to salvage a containership that caught fire and grounded in the in the Bay of Bengal last month.The stricken containership SSL Kolkata remains aground in soft mud some 7.5 nautical miles off the Indian Sunderbans, Kolkata, West Bengal, after an explosion in one of the containers lit a fire on board the vessel on June 13.An oil spill response team from OSRL has arrived on scene and is the process of managing the counter pollution operations as responders battle challenging weather conditions…

09 Feb 2018

India Develops 14 Economic Zones for Port-led Industrialization

For promoting port-led industrialization, 14 Coastal Economic Zones (CEZs) covering all the Maritime States and Union Territories have been identified as part of the National Perspective Plan under the Sagarmala Programme. The Perspective Plans for all 14 CEZs have been prepared in consultation with relevant State Governments and Central Ministries. The idea behind developing the zones is to promote 'development of port-proximate industrial clusters'. Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and West Bengal are the other states where potential for coastal economic zones has been identified. Minister of State for Shipping Pon Radhakrishnan said that port-led industrialization would provide impetus to the "Make in India" initiative and aid job creation.

12 Jan 2018

Mansukh Mandavia Inspects Kolkata Port, IWAI Jetty

Indian Minister of State for Shipping, Mansukh Mandaviya inspected the facilities and ongoing projects at Kolkata Port Trust and GR Jetty of Inland Waterways Authority of India. Mandavia visited Netaji Subhas Dock at Kolkata Port Trust where he stressed upon the need for strengthening the Dry Dock facilities. He also inaugurated the renovated Birsa Munda Sarani and Sonapur Road of the Port, and  participated in the tree plantation activities organised by the Port Authorities. He later flagged off the state-of-the–art Seagoing Survey Launch (River Pearl-1) of KoPT. The launch is fitted with hull mounted inboard transducers and equipped with modern survey software for online data acquisition and processing along with AIS and radar. At the G.R.

03 Nov 2017

Financial Support for Coastal Berths in India

The Ministry of Shipping in India has taken up projects worth Rs 2,302 crore (USD 356million) for financial assistance under the Coastal Berth Scheme of the flagship Sagarmala Programme. The Ministry, after due appraisal in consultation with NITI Aayog and Department of Expenditure, has extended the period of the scheme for three years, upto 31st March, 2020 and expanded its scope to cover capital dredging at Major Ports and preparation of DPR for coastal berth project, in Oct 2017. The projects under Coastal Berth Scheme of the flagship Sagarmala Programme are distributed over eight states with the highest number of projects in Maharashtra (12 projects)…

12 Jul 2017

India Organizes Workshop on Coastal Shipping and Inland Navigation

The Ministry of Shipping in India is organizing a workshop titled ‘Promoting Coastal Shipping and Inland Navigation in India’ in Bhubaneswar, Odisha state today. This is the second in a series of workshops the Ministry plans to hold over the next 6-8 months to create awareness about the Sagarmala programme amongst the stake holders and to engage with them. India’s 7500 kms of coastline and almost 14,000 kms of navigable rivers provide the perfect platform for the development of integrated water based transport system for domestic and EXIM freight as well as passenger transport. The promotion of coastal shipping and inland navigation will help to reduce the congestion on the road and rail network.

08 May 2017

Inland Shipping Expands in India

Integrated cargo transport along multiple waterways begins in India from the banks of Rupnarayan to the shores of Ganga. V. V. Giri, a vessel of the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) began a landmark pilot movement on April 23, 2017 from Kolaghat in East Midnapore district of West Bengal to Bhagalpur in Bihar with a cement consignment of 240 metric tons. The vessel's journey commenced from Kolaghat on Rupnarayan river (National Waterway- 86) to reach Bhagalpur via river Ganga (NW-1). This marks the beginning of an integrated cargo movement involving two different NWs - NW-86 and NW-1. Rupnarayan river (NW-86) connects with river Ganga (NW-1) at Geokhali near Haldia. On its return trip, the vessel will bring fly ash/pet coke.

21 Apr 2017

World Bank USD375 mln Loan for India's Waterway Project

In a major boost towards realising India's ambitious inland waterways project, the World Bank has approved a $375 million loan for capacity augmentation of National Waterway-1(River Ganga) under Jal Marg Vikas Project (JMVP). The government is developing NW-1 (River Ganga) under JMVP from Haldia to Varanasi (1390 Km) with the technical and financial assistance of the World Bank at an estimated cost of Rs 5369 crore (USD 829 mln). The project would enable commercial navigation of vessels with capacity of 1500-2,000 DWT. Under the project, there are going to be three multi-modal terminals--one each at Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh), Sahibganj (Jharkhand)…

13 Apr 2017

Essar to Develop LNG Terminal at Haldia

India's Essar Ports has won a contract to build the first liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in West Bengal  under the Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) at an investment of Rs 450 crore (USD 70 million). A Press Trust of India report said that the LNG project is expected to be commissioned in two years. The facility will come up at the Haldia port with a capacity to store one million tonne of the clean fuel. Haldia Dock Complex under Kolkata Port Trust had earlier this year invited bids for setting up an LNG terminal with storage and distribution facilities. Essar Ports, in consortium with Ultra LNG and Essar Shipping, had participated in the tender and emerged as the highest bidder for the project, beating state-owned Petronet and private operator V Energy.

06 Apr 2017

India to Establish Multimodal Terminal in Jharkhand

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has laid the foundation stone of the multi-modal terminal at Sahibganj, Jharkhand. The terminal at Sahibganj is an important component of the Jal Marg Vikas Project (JMVP) for the augmentation of the navigation capacity of National Waterway-1 (Ganga) from Varanasi to Haldia (1390 km). Union Minister of Road Transport & Highways and Shipping Shri Nitin Gadkari was also present on this occasion. Speaking on the occasion the Prime Minister said that the Sahibganj Multi Modal Terminal will link the city and the landlocked state of Jharkhand to foreign shores through the Bay of Bengal. Speaking on this occasion…

29 Mar 2017

Indian Waterways Development in Big Way

The ongoing project on national waterways ‘Jal Marg Vikas’ is a Rs 5,400-crore World Bank funded project on the Ganga, being developed between Allahabad and Haldia to cover a distance of 1620 km. The Jal Marg Vikas Project (JMVP) for capacity augmentation of National Waterway-1 (NW-1) between Haldia and Varanasi is being implemented with the technical and financial assistance of the World Bank. The shipping ministry has released details about the present status of Multimodal terminal at Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, multimodal terminal at Sahibganj, Jharkhand and multimodal terminal at Haldia, West Bengal under planned JMVP multi modal terminals.

21 Mar 2017

Ro-Ro Terminal in Assam to Boost Traffic

The government of India said berthing operation of a vessel was carried out at the newly-constructed Roll-on Roll-off (Ro-Ro) terminal on the Brahmaputra in Assam. The  Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) vessel will be deployed for Ro-Ro (roll-on, roll-off) service between Dhubri and Hatsingimari with a total waterway length of 29 km. Ro-Ro ships are vessels used for carrying wheeled cargo. IWAI's initiative opens a new gate of opportunities in the region by paving the way for drastically bridging the distance and cost for cargo and passenger movement between Dhubri and Hatsingimari which shares its border with Meghalaya. The Ro-Ro vessel…

12 Dec 2016

14 CEZs to Come Up in India Under Sagarmala

The Government has identified fourteen Coastal Economic Zones (CEZ) along the coastline of the country under National Perspective Plan (NPP) of Sagarmala Programme. The CEZ are  spatial economic regions spread over multiple coastal districts with strong port linkage. Within each CEZ, there could be multiple industrial clusters that could contain industrial units with requisite support infrastructure. In the state of Gujarat there will be three CEZs - (1) Kandla-Mundra, (2) Pipavav-Sikka and (3)Dahej-Hazira. JNPT, Mumbai (Maharashtra), Dighi- Jaigarh-Mormugao (Goa), New Mangalore (Karnataka) and Cochin (Kerala) will be other CEZs. Tamil…

11 Dec 2016

Master Plan to Develop Indian Ports

Based on the present traffic and cargo scenario of Major Ports, a Master Plan has been prepared for expansion of port capacity, which includes a number of new ports. Sagar Island (West Bengal):  Public Investment Board (PIB) has appraised the project subject to the condition that state Government shall ensure possession of the land is available to National Highways Authority of India (NHAI)  or any other Agency providing road connectivity and to railways/agency providing rail connectivity. Projected Traffic is to be around 3.5 MTPA in 2020 increasing to around 27 MTPA in 2035. Enayam near Colachel, (Tamilnadu): Detailed Project Report (DPR) is under preparation. The Port is proposed to be developed under the Landlord model. Projected traffic is around 127.05 MTPA by 2030.

29 Nov 2016

India Earmarks $7.1 bln to Expand, Modernise Major Ports

Expansion, modernization and up-gradation of Major Ports in India is an ongoing process to keep the ports abreast with new technologies and also to promote trade and cargo. 62 Public–private partnership (PPP) Projects with an investment of Rs.49,049 crore ($7.1 bn) are under implementation and operation. For the year 2016-17, 33 projects with an investment of Rs.9,845 crore have been taken up. Port Master Plans for 12 major ports have been prepared keeping in view the requirements for cargo handling till 2035. A total of 142 Port Modernization projects have been identified in the Master Plans. These identified projects will be taken up for implementation in phases.

28 Oct 2016

Cargo Commitments for Multimodal Terminal at Haldia

The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) has received a commitment for transport of 5.92 million tons (MTs) of cargo volume per annum through the Multimodal Terminal at Haldia by the year 2018. This follows a series of consultations IWAI held at Haldia with various industries, firms, shipping lines, cargo operators, shippers and manufacturers. The main items for which commitments have been received are fly-ash, edible oil, vegetable oil, gypsum, etc. Fly-ash is expected to be the major cargo with a commitment of 3.8 MT followed by vegetable oil (0.63 MT), cement (0.36 MT), among others. IWAI is to construct a Multimodal Terminal at Haldia under Jal Marg Vikas Project (JMVP) which is being implemented with the technical and financial support of the World Bank at a cost of Rs.