For travelers and goods transportation, water transport is an important mode. It is the cheapest mode of transportation and the most convenient for transporting heavy and voluminous goods. Water transport is favorable to ecology and is fuel efficient.
Water transport can be classified into two parts:
1. Inland waterways
2. Oceanic waterways
1. Inland Waterways: At present, there are 14,500 km long waterways available for navigation which contribute to 1% of total transport of India. Inland waterways include rivers, canals, backwater and creeks. At present, there is 3700 km long river waterway however, only 2000 km of river waterways is used by cargo ships. On the other hand, there is 4300 1 cm long waterway available for sailing, out of which only 900 km long waterway is used by mechanized crafts.
In the year 1986, Inland Waterways Authority of India was created for development and regulation of Inland waterways for shipping and navigation. The authority declared three inland waterways as national waterways which are described below:
(a) National Waterway 1: Declared in 1986, this waterway is the most important waterway. It stretches from Varanasi – Haldia and it is 1620 km long. For mechanized crafts, it is possible to sail upto Patna, and for normal ships, one can sail upto Haldia.
In terms of development, this waterway can be divided into three parts:
- From Haldia to Farraka – 560 km long.
- From Farraka to Patna – 460 km long.
- From Patna to Allahabad – 600 km long.
(b) National Waterway 2: Declared in 1988, this waterway stretches from Sadiya – Dhubri of Brahmaputra river and is 891 km long. Through steamer, one can sail 1338 km upto Dibrugarh. This waterway is used by India and Bangladesh jointly.
(c) National Waterway 3: Declared in 1991, this waterway stretches from Kottapuram to Kollam in a length of 168 km Three canals are included in this waterway:
- 168 Ion long western coastal canal.
- 23 km longh stretch in Champakara canal.
- 14 km long Udyog Mandal canal.
A part from the above mentioned national waterways, Inland Waterways Authority has declared ten more national waterways. In Kerala, Backwaters have a unique importance in Inland waterways, this is not only a cheap mode of transportation, but also attracts tourists in large number. The famous Nehru Trophy Boat Race is also organised in Kerala.
2. Oceanic Waterways: The total coastline of India (including islands) is 7517 km long, out of which 12 main and 185 minor ports are present, which provide structural support to various oceanic waterways. Oceanic waterways play a vital role in the transport sector of Indian economy.
Approximately 95% of foreign trade according to weight and approximately 70% according to value is conducted through oceanic transport. Besides foreign trade, oceanic waterway also is used for transport between various islands to the mainland. The Inland waterways and oceanic waterways in India are depicted by the map given on the previous page.
