Guwahati, 17 June: Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal recieves the first over-dimensional cargo (ODC) transported by water at the Numaligarh Refinery jetty,.
This is the first shipment that the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI), the ministry’s official agency for the nation’s inland waterways has hauled in support of Numaligarh Refinery Limited’s (NRL) capacity expansion from 3 MMT to 9 MMT.
In Sonowal’s presence, the MoU between IWAI and NRL to transport a total of 24 ODC and Over Weight Cargo (OWC) for NRL was signed last year.
He said, “Today, Assam has witnessed a memorable event when an ODC was transported from Kolkata to Numaligarh using inland waterways. This is the true realisation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of transformation via transportation. While Modi’s commitment to enabling Numaligarh to become an energy hub in the region, its capacity expansion in a relatively short duration of time would not have been possible without the smooth transportation of as many as 24 ODC and OWC meant for NRL expansion.”
“Given the thrust to empower the waterways of India, under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, our ministry took it upon to make this transport happen in a swift and smooth manner. With the successful arrival of the first ODC at the NRL, traversing a huge distance via waterways, the role of Inland Waterways to empower the growth of Assam as well as that of Northeast India is imminent and I believe it is going to play a pivotal role in the rapid transformation of our region via an economical, ecological and sustainable mode of transportation,” the Minister added.
The first ODC was shipped by an IWAI ship, the MV-Marine 66 along the Indo Bangladesh Protocol Route (IBPR) from Kolkata to the Numaligarh Refinery Jetty. Diesel Hydrotreating (DHT) reactor’s gross weight was 521 MT but its net weight is 485 MT. This reactor has a diameter of 8.00 metres, a height of 8.250 metres and a length of 31.5 metres.
The ODC departed Kolkata on March 18 and travelled across Bangladesh for almost three months before arriving at Numaligarh. In order to make this transfer successful, IWAI, with help from the Dredging Corporation of India (DCI), also deployed three dredgers at five places in Dhansiri since March. They are CSD Mandovi, CSD Brahmini, and HSD Jia Bhoroli.