CMA CGM excited about inland waterways, needs policy clarity

French shipping major CMA CGM is "excited" about moving goods through inland waterways, but needs clarity on certain aspects before it takes the leap into it, a top official has said.In its first stint, the Narendra Modi government had drawn ambitious plans to exploit the inland waterways potential to move goods on the rivers, and also thrown open what is billed as the National Waterway-1 between Haldia in West Bengal and Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh."We are very excited about the prospects of inland waterways in India...we are in touch with the inland waterways authority," Vincent Ugo, Managing Director, CMA CGM India told PTI."What we now need is further understanding about how the government will create related infrastructure, set timelines and assure continuity of trade across the identified route of National Waterways 1 and National Waterways 2," he added.Ugo said countries in North-West Europe like Germany, France and the Netherlands execute a great amount of trade via inland waterways, and added that his group is confident that this can be replicated in India as well.CMA CGM is "keen to play a key role", he said.Companies like CMA CGM hire local ships or barges to transport their containers inland.It can be noted that its European peer Maersk Line has already begun moving containers from Varanasi to Kolkata.The NW-1 is being built at a cost of Rs 5,369 crore with assistance from the World Bank.Companies such as Pepsico, Emami Agrotech, IFFCO Fertilizers, Dabur India, have moved their containers on river Ganga till now.Meanwhile, Ugo also said the group is looking at digitisation in a big way and has started a portal for its customers for end-to-end services.It is also looking at green bunkering very seriously, Ego said, adding that change in norms may compel all to switch that way.

from Economic Times http://bit.ly/2JUnLc3