The patronage for Kollam-Kottapuram National Waterways III has been at best confined to the inland waterways of Kochi, which are mainly being used by barges to transport raw materials from the port to industrial units like Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore Ltd (FACT). The barges use the Champakkara and Udyogamandal canals of the NW III, which have 24-hour navigational facilities, and half-a-dozen terminals that come with storage facilities and mechanised equipment for loading/unloading of cargo.
The patronage of the waterways in and around Kochi would increase if industrial units and oil majors optimally utilised NW III and Champakkara, Udyogamandal canals, since tanker lorries continued to ferry chemicals, acid, ammonia, LPG, etc., through congested roads.
A.M. James, general secretary of Kerala Maritime Organisation, whose firm owns an Italy-registered barge that transports liquefied ammonia to FACT, said transporting rate could be brought down by one-fifth if the cargo was transported in bulk through inland waterways that abound in Kerala. “Still, oil majors which have plants on the banks of the Champakkara canal which is part of NW III are yet to make use of the waterway. Inland Water Transport has more potential, since coastal shipping has not taken off in Kerala as envisaged a decade ago. That the inland waterway passes parallel to the NH, helping inter-modal transport, is an added attraction,” he said.
Perils of underutilisation
He said underutilised inland waterways may become shallow if barges and other vessels failed to use them. The State government must enact a law shifting transport of hazardous cargo through waterways. “We must learn from Bangladesh which uses up to 2,000-tonne barges to ferry LPG and other such cargo, while Germany and others in Europe have up to 3,000-tonne barges. Roads in and around Kochi, especially the Seaport-Airport Road, have become treacherous due to frequent movement of tanker lorries that carry fuel and chemicals,” Mr. James said.
Depth is crucial
Another stakeholder called upon the IWAI and State agencies to ensure adequate depth for waterways, even if they are not being used, to prevent huge investment yet again on intensive dredging. “It is good to see the Fisheries Department removing fishing nets that often protruded onto the waterways,” he said.
