India as a country stands committed to developing its inland waterways to augment the seamless and rapid movement of cargo along the same from the highly congested and polluting freight transport by trucks, and thus reduce GHG emissions.
Despite the strong growth in freight movement witnessed in the past few years, the potential of Inland Waterways Transport (IWT) remains unexploited.
The modal share of inland waterways in India’s freight movement is about 2 per cent, whereas the corresponding figure is 14 per cent for China, 48 per cent for Vietnam, and 49 per cent for the Netherlands.
India aims to increase its modal share to 5 per cent by 2030. Cargo movement on the Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hooghly river system between Haldia and Allahabad (1620 km), also known as NW-1, grew significantly, from 5.05 million tonnes in 2014-15 to 16.4 million tonnes in 2024-25.
The development of navigable channels through the Least Available Draft (LAD), the construction of multi-modal terminals, navigational locks, and night navigation aids—along with the development and maintenance of fairways and jetties—are some of the initiatives taken up by the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) to accelerate the development of NW-1 through the Jal Vikas Marg Project (JVMP).
The aim is to develop the NW-1 as a commercially sustainable and safe mode of navigation. For commercial viability of cargo movement, Fig. 1 shows the assured LAD and other river features along NW-1.
A major issue for the seamless along-the-length movement of inland vessels on NW-1 is the movement of foot passengers, cars, autos and two-wheelers across the river, facilitated by floating pontoon bridges in the states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
Though there are road bridges connecting main towns across the river, there are as many 12 locations in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh (up to Varanasi) that have floating pontoon bridges, connecting various villages/towns across the river (Fig. 2).
For a typical floating pontoon bridge at Gai Ghat, Patna with Mahatma Gandhi Setu in the background, see Fig. 3.
In normal conditions, the passage of an inland vessel along the river requires a portion of the pontoon bridge (3 modules of the pontoon bridge, with each module comprising 2 pontoons) to be cut and dismantled to create a passage for the vessel to move upstream or downstream.
The entire operation entails a long wait for the vessel, which could range from 6 hours to 48 hours at every floating pontoon bridge. The delay in seamless movement of vessels adversely affects the economics of cargo movement that needs to be competitive visa-a-vis road and rail.
In addition, a prolonged dismantling of the pontoon bridge to allow for the passage of vessels can result in considerable disruption of human and cargo traffic movement on the bridge itself, which has socio-economic implications.
Another complication is that the deep navigable channel on the NW-1, through which vessels move, keeps changing course over a period of time (in years).
For the seamless movement of inland vessels along the river, as well as minimum disruption for passengers and light vehicle movement across the river, a proposed solution should have the following features:
1) The solution should not have a fixed structure embedded in the riverbed, as it adversely affects the river flow.
2) It should be easy to operate, maintain, and repair.
3) There should be minimum disruption of passenger and light traffic movement across the pontoon bridge.
4) The mechanism can be positioned exactly over the navigable channel as the channel shifts with time.
5) The mechanism can continue operating during the monsoon season, when one has to dismantle the pontoons.
The proposed system consists of a set of three floating units/barges.
Two of them are identical barges moored at specified locations and connected to the existing pontoon bridge. The third unit (the main barge) connects the moored barges at either end with hinges.
There are foldable ramps at either end of the moored barge for the movement of human and light vehicular traffic.
When an inland vessel travelling along the river approaches a floating pontoon bridge, one end of the central main barge swings out—about the hinge point to which it is connected to the moored barge—to clear an open passage of about 30m wide for the inland vessel to pass through.
After the vessel clears the pontoon bridge, the main barge again swings back into its original position. The rotational movement of the main barge is with the help of two azimuth propulsors.
These propulsors allow the main barge to operate as an independent self-propelled roll-on roll-off (Ro-Ro) ferry during the monsoons when the river is in spate, thereby facilitating the movement of passengers and light vehicles across the riverbanks.
The moored barges are relocated near the shore ends and act as embarkation and disembarkation platforms for the Ro-Ro ferry.
The vessel can also act as a bunkering and provisioning vessel for the passing inland vessels.
Fig. 4(a) shows the mechanism, wherein the main barge and moored barges are for the movement of passengers and light vehicular traffic across the river.
In Fig. 4(b), the main barge swings open against the fixed moored barge with the help of one of the azimuth propulsors located furthest from the moored barge about which it rotates. A clear opening of 30m allows the vessel to pass through.
After that, the main barge rotates back to its original position with the help of the azimuth propulsor, as shown in Fig. 4(c).
This entire operation for the seamless movement of inland vessels will result in a disruption of around 10-15 minutes for passengers and light vehicular traffic.
The main barge and moored barges are standardised, which allows the same to be used at different locations along the river, as shown in Fig. 2. This allows for interchangeability, as well as ease of maintenance and repair.
The IWAI has implemented and operationalised these Quick Pontoon Opening Mechanisms (QPOMs) for the seamless movement of vessels, eliminating delays and improving trade efficiency on the river Ganga (NW-1) at two places—one in Majhaua, Bihar, and the other in Nauranga, UP.
It has also planned the installation of eight more QPOMs (four in UP, and four in Bihar) by March 2027 amid bigger plans to extend the same to all of India's national waterways.
The author is a consultant for Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers, Kolkata and the Chairman of the Naval Research Board, DRDO, Govt. of India.
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