Guwahati/Dibrugarh: The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) has facilitated the movement of a vessel carrying 27 ISO tanks of methanol from Guwahati to Bogibeel in Dibrugarh, where the consignment will be loaded for onward transportation to Bangladesh through National Waterway-2 (Brahmaputra).
Cochin Bunkers Private Limited is executing the movement under a five-year contract with Assam Petrochemicals Limited (APL) for the project. The current movement is part of the trial phase of a solution developed by Cochin Bunkers for the safe, efficient transportation of methanol and other hazardous cargo through the Brahmaputra inland waterway system.
According to Cochin Bunkers, the company has spent the last year developing and putting in place the operational structure required for the project, including a logistics solution designed specifically for effective transportation of the cargo over the Brahmaputra.
APL is set to move the methanol consignment onward to Bangladesh, marking an important step in expanding the inland waterway cargo basket in the Northeast and strengthening waterway-based trade connectivity with the neighbouring country.
Cochin Bunkers said its experience in handling hazardous cargo on inland waterways forms a key part of the project. The company currently transports more than half a million tonnes of hazardous cargo annually through inland waterways and has, over the past several years, handled millions of tonnes of hazardous materials through waterway-based logistics.
The movement demonstrates the growing potential of National Waterway-2 for transporting diverse and specialised cargo, including hazardous materials, while supporting cost-efficient and multimodal logistics across the Northeast and facilitating greater regional trade connectivity.
The five-year engagement between Cochin Bunkers and APL is expected to provide a structured framework for expanding such cargo movements and developing a more robust inland waterway logistics chain on the Brahmaputra.