SCI to partner with IWAI to commence coastal shipping services

State-run Shipping Corporation ofIndia (SCI) will collaborate with Inland Waterways Authoritysoon to commence coastal shipping services, a company officialsaid on Saturday.

The coastal shipping activities will be undertaken byits wholly-owned subsidiary - Inland & Coastal Shipping Ltd.

''We will announce a collaboration with InlandWaterways Authority of India (IWAI) very soon. We arecommencing coastal shipping operations,'' SCI chairman andmanaging director H K Joshi said at a virtual event organisedby Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Inland & Coastal Shipping Ltd, a Kolkata-headquarteredcompany, is likely to start its operation on nationalwaterway-1, the stretch from Varanasi to Haldia on Gangariver, she said.

The proposed development assumes significance afteranother state-run entity, Container Corporation of India, haddiscontinued its coastal shipping operation, the industrysources said.

Coastal shipping accounts for only two per cent of thecountry's freight movement.

SCI has interests in various segments of the shippingtrade, and its fleet includes bulk carriers, crude oiltankers, container vessels and passenger-cum-cargo ships.

At a time when exporters are facing a shortage ofcontainers, Joshi emphasised the importance of making thecountry self-reliant in terms of its availability.