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UltraTech Cement’s consignment is being shipped from Haldia port in West Bengal to Gaighat terminal in Patna, Bihar via the Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hooghly river system, also known as National Waterways 1.
Sarbananda Sonowal, the Union minister of shipping, ports, and waterways, flags off the pilot movement of UltraTech Cement’s consignment, at GR Jetty, Kolkata.
UltraTech Cement Limited, India’s largest cement and ready-mix concrete company, on Sunday said it is leveraging inland waterways to transport a large consignment of mineral gypsum via National Waterway 1 (Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hooghly river system) in a pilot project. UltraTech has become the first cement company in India to leverage National Waterway 1 for gypsum transport at scale.
“This pilot movement was flagged off by Minister of Shipping, Ports, and Waterways, Sarbananda Sonowal at GR Jetty, Kolkata, today,” UltraTech said in a statement on Sunday, December 15.
UltraTech Cement’s consignment is being shipped from Haldia port in West Bengal to Gaighat terminal in Patna, Bihar. UltraTech’s participation in the pilot was supported by the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) and Inland & Coastal Shipping Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Shipping Corporation of India (SCI), it added.
The consignment is being shipped from Haldia port in West Bengal to Gaighat terminal in Patna, Bihar, it said.
It is being transported to Pataliputra Cement Works, UltraTech’s cement grinding unit located in Patna district, Bihar.
“The use of inland waterways over roadways and railways will result in significant carbon emissions reduction. It will also help decongest roads and rail routes,” UltraTech Cement said in the statement.
UltraTech’s participation in the pilot provides a boost to the Government of India’s (GoI) efforts to promote use of inland waterways in the country. The project has been enabled by the GoI’s revised Cargo Movement policy, in line with Maritime India Vision 2030 and Maritime Amrit Kaal Vision 2047, it stated.
K C Jhanwar, managing director of UltraTech Cement, said, “Emerging and innovative transport solutions are a key lever in UltraTech’s shift towards sustainable logistics practices. Through this pilot, we are proud to partner the Government of India in promoting the use of inland waterways in line with Maritime India Vision 2030 and Maritime Amrit Kaal Vision 2047. The pilot movement over National Waterway 1 underscores UltraTech’s commitment to green logistics as an enabler to realise its Net Zero goal by 2050.”
In April 2023, UltraTech leveraged inland and coastal waterways to transport 57,000 metric tonnes of phosphogypsum from Paradeep port in Odisha to UltraTech’s integrated manufacturing unit Gujarat Cement Works located in Amreli, Gujarat, in a first-of-its-kind initiative in India. Guided by its Sustainable Supply Chain Framework, UltraTech aims to cultivate a resilient supply chain that supports its business and mitigates risks.
