Chennai: Following the hold up of traffic in the Indo-Bangla border and the time taken — consuming 25 to 30 days, in ensuring the consignment reached the neighbouring country, commercial vehicle major Ashok Leyland moved the first automobile consignment from Chennai port to Bangladesh on Saturday.
Transport through the sea route, it is said, will save about 15-20 days of travel time. Union shipping minister Nitin Gadkari digitally flagged off the ro-cum-general cargo ship M.V. IDM Doodle carrying 185 trucks from the Chennai port to Mongla port in Bangladesh, in the presence of Union Minister of State for Shipping and Finance Pon Radhakrishnan. Hitherto, these trucks were being exported by Ashok Leyland Ltd to Bangladesh through the land route, traversing a distance of about 1,500 km.
For today's trip involving transport of 185 trucks, a total of about 3 lakh vehicle-km of road travel will be saved as the land route is longer and much time is lost at the congested Petrapole-Benapole checkpoint at the Indo-Bangladesh border. Besides saving time, coastal transport will also be more cost-effective and environmentally friendly. Mr Nitin called upon all automobile manufacturers to use coastal shipping mode for transporting their vehicles.
Ashok Leyland Ltd is currently exporting around 12,000 truck chassis to Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and countries in Africa. The volume to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka is likely to increase by 80 % in the coming years. At present, over 500 trucks per month are expected to be exported via the sea route which will take away a lot of traffic from our roads.
The Chennai port started coastal ro-ro voyage on Aug. 5, 2016, when 800 Hyundai cars were shipped on ro-ro vessels from Chennai to Pipavav for local distribution. Initiatives like this are aimed at providing innovative logistic chain solutions under Sagarmala, aiming to save logistic costs and time of transportation besides boosting trade by making Indian goods competitive in international markets. Further, the fuel consumption at per tonne cargo is much lower via the sea route, so transportation by sea will also reduce carbon footprints on the environment. Coastal shipping will save wear and tear on the new vehicles and reduce traffic on congested roads.
Under the Sagarmala, a dedicated coastal berth is being developed at the port here at a cost of Rs. 80 crore with an excellent backup area for storage of cargo including automobiles. This facility would be commissioned by this year-end.
