Govt eyes Rs 25k crore annual savings through coastal shipping

Government is eyeing annual savings of Rs 25,000 crore on logistics costs by 2025 by promoting coastal shipping under its ambitious Sagarmala project. Sagarmala aims at promoting port-led development by harnessing the country's 7,500-km long coastline, 14,500-km of potentially navigable waterways and strategic location on key international maritime trade routes. 

"Across all commodities, coastal shipping volumes could grow to 5-6 times of current levels to about 400-480 mt by 2025. This would save logistics costs of about Rs 25,000 crore per annum," a blueprint on Sagarmala unveiled by the government said. Coastal shipping volume at present is about 80 mt. Logistic costs account for a large part of the country's non-services GDP compared to benchmarks of 8-10 per cent for developed nations, it said.