1st Ro-Ro cargo vessel leaves Chennai

After the ceremony, the Union Minister for Shipping, Road Transport & Highways and Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, said that transport through the sea route would save about 15-20 days of travel time.

For this trip alone that involved transport of 185 trucks, a total of three lakh vehicle km of road travel would be saved as the land route is longer and much time was lost at the congested Petrapole-Benapole check point at the Indo- Bangladesh border, he said. Besides saving time, Gadkari said, coastal transport will also be more cost effective and environment-friendly. 

The Minister called upon all automobile manufacturers to use coastal shipping mode for transporting their vehicles. Notably, Ashok Leyland is currently exporting around 12,000 truck chassis to Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and countries in Africa. 

Gadkarai said opting for coastal shipping mode would save both money and cost. “It is also environmental-friendly,” he said and added that transportation by road was expensive and there was risk of accident as well. 

It would also pollute the environment, he said, adding, “that’s why we have decided to use waterways and coastal transport,” he said and appealed to all automobile makers to use waterways to export their products. 

Gadkari said RoRo service was already happening between Chennai and Kochi and Kochi to Kandla and “this is a great example which is going to inspire and motivate all automobile manufacturers”.