NRL and Inland Waterways ink MoU for transportation of cargo

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was inked between Assam-based Numaligarh Refinery Limited(NRL) and Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) for transportation of over-dimensional cargo and project cargo of Numaligarh Refinery.
According to government, the MoU will pave the way for making rivers navigable throughout the year by IWAI and assist in bringing large cargoes and capital equipment including single piece prefabricated process plants for refinery expansion projects. Also it will open up trade and commerce as outward freight movement in large consignment which will be possible from river Dhansiri, adjoining the refinery in the future.

As part of the Hydrocarbon Vision 2030 of Government of India, Numaligarh Refinery Limited has embarked on a major refinery expansion project to treble its existing refining capacity from 3 MMTPA to 9 MMTPA. As part of the project, over 1,000 equipment shall be transported from across the country and abroad. Several of the equipment shall fall under the category of Over Dimensional Consignment (ODC) and Overweight Consignment (OWC). NRL intends to implement multimodal transportation through road and waterways to secure delivery of the equipment.

NRL added, “Due to various limitations in road transportation, the sea and riverine routes shall be leveraged to connect the major ports in western region of the nation to the Northeast region up to NRL.As part of the transportation process, NRL shall be using Self Derrick Vessels for transportation at Sea up to Haldia port. Barges shall be used for transportation along the riverine route along Indo Bangladesh Protocol Route and Assam.13 ODCs have been identified for transportation exclusively through the sea and waterways. The maximum dimension of the ODC equipment shall be 97 M in length, 10.3 M in diameter and 960 MT in weight. As the maximum length of the barge is restricted to 60 m, equipment with length larger than 60 m shall be transported in two pieces.Dredging operations shall be carried out extensively along the riverine route to facilitate the transportation process. RORO facilities shall be augmented at the NRL Jetty as per requirement.The infrastructural development being envisaged along the waterways can be used in future for shipping of dry cargo from the refinery and and agricultural produce from the region, thereby enhancing connectivity of the Northeast with the rest of the country and also extending our footprint to global export destinations”.

The MoU signing was held in the presence of Sarbananda Sonowal, Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways and Rameshwar Teli, Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas who attended the ceremony held at Kunjakanan-NRL Township virtually.