Bangladesh firm to operate Kolkata river terminal to promote Nepal trade
It can be a perfect example for regional cooperation. A Bangladeshi company will manage inland river terminals in Kolkata and Patna to promote Nepalese trade with and through India.
Union Shipping secretary Gopal Krishna on Tuesday, will handover Summit Alliance Port East Gateway (India) Ltd (SAPEL), subsidiary of Bangladesh’s Summit Alliance Port Ltd, a 30-year right to operate and maintain two inland water jetties (GR Jetty-1 and GR Jetty-2) in Garden Reach area of the city on revenue-sharing basis.
SAPEL was selected through global tender, in 2017, for operation and management of Kolkata and Patna terminals as part of the ?5,369 crore Jal Marg Vikash Project to promote inland river transport between Varanasi and Kolkata on river Ganga.
The Jal Marg project is a flagship plan of the Narendra Modi government to promote trade and economic activities in India and in the region by shifting cargo from costly road to rail transfers. Logistics costs account nearly 14 per cent of GDP in India against 8-9 percent in industrialised economies.
According to Inland Water Authority of India (IWAI), apart from catering the need of the eastern region of India; Kolkata terminal will particularly help movement of cargo from Kolkata to Nepal.
Due to geographical proximity (700 km), bulk of Nepal’s third country trade is route through Kolkata. However, costly road and rail transport between Kolkata and Nepalese gates inflates the overall trade costs of Nepal substantially.
Inland water can bring a multimodal solution by transferring goods from Kolkata port to Patna at 24 percent less cost than road and four percent less cost than rail. From Patna goods can take road or rail route for the residual 200 km journey to Nepal.
The cost-dynamics will be highly favourable to river transport as more and more return cargo is available from Patna to Kolkata.
According to IWAI, on completion the Jal Marg project will shift of 55 percent road and rail cargo, between Varanasi to Kolkata, to river. The potential of Kolkata-Nepal cargo (via Patna) is estimated at 44,000 container boxes (TEU). The down stream cargo from Patna to Kolkata is estimated at 12,000 boxes.
Clearing cargoes by the river route will also help Kolkata Port authorities decongest operations and improve cargo handling. The river terminal can also act as a feeder port to Dhamra.
In the final analysis the project will bring down logistics costs in the region and put competitive pressure on the viability of the proposed Nepal-China rail link which is crucial for the success of Nepal’s bid to use Chinese ports for third country trade.
Source: https://www.thehindubusinessline.com