Long-haul movements on inland waterways are still unexplored
A regulatory framework for seaplane operations has been put in place though the use of these aircraft on water is still in a nascent stage in India, Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of Civil Aviation, has told an international conference.
The Minister added seaplane business into India’s around US$137 billion of blue economy which have contributed about 4% to the GDP. The potential for seaplanes in India is huge given the coastline of more than 7,500-km, a large number of dams and river ports, 200 small ports and 13 major ports.
Though the seaplane operations in India are still in a nascent stage and business models need to be developed to make these operations viable – economically and sustainably, a regulatory framework for seaplane operations has been put in place, he informed delegates of the India Maritime Summit 2021 on 3 Mar 2021.
“India is going through a civil aviation paradigmatic shift while business models are needed to develop viable operations for seaplanes, he said at the plenary session on ‘Water Transport – Promoting Cargo and Passenger Movement, Sea Planes tourism’ at the summit.
Capacities for creation of infrastructure of seaplane operations like hangers, floating docks, flight tanks, buoys, etc., and capacity building of operation, vis-a-vis the availability of trained pilots, must develop holistically, said Puri.
“That the potential for seaplane operations is enormous, is obvious and evident not only to those of us in policy formulation, but also economic stakeholders who wish to exploit these potentials for increase in tourism and related activities,” Puri added.
The authority has currently operationalised 311 of the 760 identified routes and are planning to take the number of operationalised routes to 1,000.
“We also have 100 airports currently under construction and several greenfield airports,” he said.
With the seaplane services launched from the Statue of Unity along the Narmada riverfront last year, the ministry has received a number of proposals from various states for launch of similar services and operations.
“The potential that exists is enormous and we have set up an institutional mechanism with the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, the Ministry of Tourism and other state governments,” Puri informed.
Further, the Minister spoke about India’s growth in the maritime sector and emerging as the leading blue economy globally. It is estimated that around 95% of India’s trade by volume, and 70% of trade by value, is carried through sea routes.
Dr Amita Prasad, Chairperson, Inland Waterways Authority of India, pointed out that India ranked 44th in the World Bank logistic performance index 2018 across six metrics — customs; infrastructure; international shipment; logistics; competence tracking and tracing and timeliness.
“Each segment of logistics encounters significant challenges leading to high cost and low efficiency. Therefore, there is a need to optimise model mix (road, rail and IWT) for improving last mile connectivity and enhancing the logistic value chain through digitisation, etc. She stressed on the importance of PPP concessions for the same.
The long-haul movements on inland waterways are still unexplored and have no major players, added Capt Anil Kishore Singh, Chairman, FICCI Sub-committee on Inland Waterways and Coastal Shipping and CEO (Inland Waterways and Dredging), Adani Ports & SEZ.
Most of the movement is on the National Waterway-1 (NW1) and the Indo Bangladesh Protocol Route (IBPR). “Connecting NW1 with the newly declared Dhulian-Rajshahi route on IBPR has the potential to significantly reduce distance,” he said, but pointed out that it would require major dredging intervention and create maintenance opportunity. #seaplanes #aviation #investment #projects #development #water /fiinews.com
