india

Updated: Jan 11, 2019 00:02 IST

The government is working towards bringing in an integrated mode of cargo transport to reduce logistics cost, Union minister of road transport, highways and shipping Nitin Gadkari said Thursday.

Launching Container Corporation of India’s (CONCOR) first-ever container transport through coastal shipping from Kandla in Gujarat to Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu through video-conferencing here, Gadkari recalled how people used to laugh at his dream of developing waterways and running cargo ships on the river Ganga. CONCOR is a public sector undertaking under the railway ministry. “ When I used to advocate for water transport people used to laugh at me and one big politician had even once said that running a ship on Ganga is like building castles in the air...in international markets due to logistics cost being higher we are unable to compete. Roads are the most expensive mode of transport and I genuinely want road traffic to get reduced but it is increasing each year...,” he said.

“If we are able to reduce logistics cost by 4 % then we can increase our export by 25 to 30 %,” Gadkari added. Railways minister Piyush Goyal, who was also present on the occasion, said that with the launch of container movement through coastal shipping, new records were being set.

“A multimodal movement of goods will help in reducing time and cost...We aim to bring India’s logistics cost on a par with the global level. Indian logistics cost is around 12-13% and in other countries is around 8%, our aim is to bring it to that,” Goyal said.