India to Push Coastal Shipping
Coastal shipping provides benefit in the form of less environmental pollution due to lower per km consumption of fuel.
However, unavailability of consolidated cargo, return cargo and general lack of awareness among shipper community make coastal shipping unviable.
On the contrary, the high penetration level of road followed by rail coupled with the ability to effect door-to-door movement of cargo makes the field tougher for coastal shipping.
In order to increase the share of coastal shipping and inland water transportation to 10% by 2019-20 and to promote cruise tourism leading to development of coastal regions, the Ministry of Shipping has prepared a vision for “Coastal Shipping, Tourism and Regional Development” in consultation with stakeholders along with an action plan to achieve the objective.
The key elements of the vision are to increase share of coastal/IWT mode from 7% to 10% by 2019-20, Development of coastal shipping as end to end supply chain, integration of IWT and coastal routes, development of regional centres to generate cargo for coastal traffic, development of domestic cruise industry and, promotion of lighthouse tourism.
