Allcargo Logistics today said it has initiated multi-modal delivery of rice for state-run Food Corporation from Vishakapatnam to Agartala, which will traverse through the seas and rivers, and finally, take roadways in Bangaldesh to reach the Northeastern markets.
The city-based cargo company's vessel Laxmi set out from the Vishakapatnam harbour with 5,000 tonnes rice and reached the Diamond Harbour in Kolkata after two days of sailing earlier during the day, it said in a statement.
From Kolkata, the consignment will be put on smaller barges and taken through the river up to Bangladesh, the statement said, adding, it will start a road journey to Agartala from there.
"The movement is regulated by the Protocol on Inland Water Trade and Treaty (PIWTT) signed between India and Bangladesh," it said, adding an alternative way of transporting goods will be opened with this.
The treaty was signed in 1972 and last renewed in 2012.
As part of the protocol, movement of goods happens through five designated ports each in Bangladesh and India. Till now, food stock from the grain bowl of Punjab and Haryana used to go deep into the Northeast using the road transport alone, it said.
The delivery comes while there is a greater clamour for leveraging the cost benefits which lie in the water ways and using them for movement of goods domestically as well.
The statement however, did not offer the exact benefit from the time and cost perspective.
It said Allcargo has three vessels operating in the coastal movement of bulk, break bulk and project cargo across all major ports in India and its subcontinents.
