Union Minister of Ports, Shipping & Waterways and Ayush Sarbananda Sonowal received the first over dimensional cargo (ODC) transported via waterways at Numaligarh Refinery jetty today.
This is the first consignment transported by Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI), nodal agency of the Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Waterways in charge of inland waterways in the country, for the expansion of Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) capacity from 3 MMT to 9 MMT. The MoU to transport a total of 24 ODC as well as Over Weight Cargo (OWC) for NRL was signed between IWAI and NRL last year in presence of Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal last year.
The first ODC was transported by an IWAI ship – MV Marine 66 – from Kolkata to Numaligarh Refinery Jetty via Indo Bangladesh Protocol Route (IBPR). The Disel Hydrotreating (DHT) reactor weighs 485 MT in net while the gross weight was 521 MT. The length of this reactor is 31.5 meters while height is 8.250 meters.
The ODC left Kolkata on 18 March and reached Numaligarh after travelling for nearly three months via Bangladesh. IWAI, in assistance from Dredging Corporation of India (DCI), also employed three dredgers at five locations in Dhansiri since March to make this transportation a success. These three dredgers are CSD Mandovi, CSD Brahmini & HSD Jia Bhoroli.
