The second ‘over dimensional cargo’ (ODC) ferrying 700 MT of cargo for Numaligarh Refinery’s capacity expansion project, arrived at the Pandu port here on Wednesday from Kolkata via the Indo Bangladesh Protocol Route, officials said.

     The ODC, a cargo that protrudes outside the loading deck of the vehicle transporting it, is being ferried according to a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between Numaligarh Refinery Limited and Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI).

     This is the second ODC to be moved using inland waterways from Kolkata to Guwahati, traversing the Indo Bangladesh Protocol Route and the Brahmaputra river (National Waterways 2), officials said.

     A total of 24 such ODCs will be transported via this medium, heralding a new age of cargo movement in the inland waterways of Northeast India.

     Ports, Shipping and Waterways Minister Sarbananda Sonowal in a statement said that the role of inland waterways in the empowerment of Assam’s growth story must be hailed.

     “I believe it is going to play a pivotal role in the rapid transformation of our region via an economical, ecological and sustainable mode of transportation,” Sonowal said.

     Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the ministry is working to make the movement via waterways a smooth and swift mode of transport, he said.

     ”Our goal of transformation via transportation will be realised with the revamped and rejuvenated waterways as an alternative and efficient mode of transportation”.