In May 2025, The Noida, Uttar Pradesh based Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI), the nodal agency for National Waterways under the Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Waterways (MoPSW), signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the global logistics major Rhenus Group (Germany) to boost the inland waterways sector of India.
- This MoU facilitates Rhenus Logistics India Pvt. Ltd. to launch scheduled barge operations across key National Waterways (NWs) in India.
- This partnership also aims to integrate global best practices into the Indian Inland Water Transport (IWT) ecosystem.
Key Highlights:
i.Under this MoU, Rhenus will introduce 100 barges in a phased manner in the NWs, starting with 20 barges and 6 pushers in the first phase, aiming to handle over one million tonnes of cargo annually by the end of 2025.
ii.The MoU will introduce Inland Waterways Transport solutions and barge scheduled services, with plans to expand to 100 barges in the coming years.
iii.Rhenus will initially operate on National Waterways 1 (Ganga), 2 (Brahmaputra), and 16 (Barak), as well as the Indo-Bangladesh Protocol (IBP) route.
iv.These operations will facilitate the movement of bulk and break-bulk cargo across North, East, and Northeast India, with gradual expansion to other NWs.
v.The partnership is a testament to the success of ‘Jal Marg Vikas’ Project for the capacity augmentation of NW.
National Waterways Growth Data:
i.The number of operational NWs has grown from 3 in 2014-15 to 29 in 2024-25.
ii.Cargo movement has surged from 30 Million Metric Tonnes Per Annum (MMTPA) in 2014-15 to 145.84 MMTPA in 2024-25, contributing to an overall movement of over 779 MMT in the past decade.
iii.The sector covers 14,500 kilometre (km) of navigable waterways across 111 declared NWs.
About Jal Marg Vikas (JMV):
The JMV project being implemented by the IWAI and funded by World Bank aims to improve the navigability of the 1390 km stretch of NW1 from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh (UP) to Haldia in West Bengal.
About Ministry of Ports, Shipping, and Waterways:
Union Minister – Sarbananda Sonowal (Constituency – Dibrugarh, Assam)
Minister of State (MoS) – Shantanu Thakur (Constituency – Bangaon, West Bengal, WB)
