In a major boost to Northeast India’s maritime and inland water transport ecosystem, the Assam Cabinet has approved customised incentives for the establishment of an Integrated Shipyard and Inland Container Shipping Line at Dharapur, Guwahati.
The project, to be developed by Bharat A to Z Private Limited, entails a total planned investment of ₹475 crore and has been approved under the Industrial and Investment Policy of Assam (IIPA) 2019, following recommendations of the Empowered Committee.
The integrated development includes:
• A greenfield shipyard capable of constructing shallow-draft vessels up to 5,000 DWT
• Manufacturing of 40 hybrid inland container vessels.
• A liner container service connecting Kolkata–Haldia–Bangladesh–Dhubri–Pandu on National Waterway-2 (Brahmaputra).
• A targeted cargo movement of 1 million tonnes annually within four years.
The project is expected to generate approximately 900 direct jobs (around 400 seafarers and 500 shipyard workforce), along with over 1,800 indirect employment opportunities across logistics and allied services.
Strategically positioned along National Waterway-2, the development aims to localise shipbuilding capacity in Assam, reduce dependency on West Indian shipyards, and strengthen multimodal connectivity under India’s Act East and inland waterways development vision.
The initiative marks one of the first large-scale private investments in commercial shipbuilding and containerised inland liner operations in the Northeast region.