Dhaka , Feb 17 (Agency) Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterway and AYUSH Sarbananda Sonowal flagged off the maiden voyage of barges with a consignment of 1798 metric ton of finished steel products from Haldia in West Bengal to Pandu in Assam through the Indo-Bangladesh Protocol route (IBP route) Thursday. The maiden voyage showcases multimodal movement of cargo along with the harnessing of the power of river-sea combination. The steel consignment from Tata Steel Limited arrived at Haldia dock complex through the rail route. It was loaded on the barges by Ocean Whale Services for which customs have given special permission to move the cargo on this route on priority. This paves the way for seamless and robust integrated logistics solutions towards utilising inland waterways and IBP routes in a more cost efficient and environment friendly manner thereby benefiting the region and the country as a whole, said the official statement.
The barges will move along National Waterways NW1 (Ganga) through Indo-Bangladesh Protocol route to National Waterways NW2 (Brahmaputra). After unloading, the barges will return with industrial coal cargo for the Kolkata Dock System. Calling the movement of the cargo on the multiple inland waterways through India and Bangladesh as historic, Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said it will be a win-win situation for both India and Bangladesh. It will strengthen the relationship between the two countries, said the minister. Earlier, a consignment of foodgrain had left from Patna to Pandu via Bangladesh on the IBP route on February 5 moving through Bihar to Haldia, Hemnagar in West Bengal and then through Khulna, Narayanganj, Sirajganj, Chilmari in Bangladesh back to Dhubri and Jogighopa in India to reach Pandu near Guwahati in Assam.