While Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India became the first automobile company in India to use the said inland waterway for transporting vehicles, it partnered Indigo Seaways Pvt Ltd to use their Ro-Pax ferry service connecting Hazira (Surat) and Ghogha (Bhavnagar) in the Gulf of Khambhat
Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Pvt Ltd (HMSI), India’s second largest two-wheeler manufacturer, uses Hazira-Ghoga inland waterway in the Gulf of Khambhat, off the coast of Gujarat, to cut time and cost of transporting vehicles, the company said on Tuesday.
While HMSI became the first automobile company in India to use the said inland waterway for transporting vehicles, it partnered Indigo Seaways Pvt Ltd to use their Ro-Pax ferry service connecting Hazira (Surat) and Ghogha (Bhavnagar) in the Gulf of Khambhat.
Last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had inaugurated the Ro-Pax ferry service that can transport upto 550 passengers, 30 trucks, seven small commercial vehicles and about 100 two-wheelers in one trip.
Honda said the new waterway would significantly reduce the delivery time and distance for its consignment, which involved two-wheelers dispatched from its Narsapura plant in Karnataka for Veraval (near Somnath) in the Saurashtra region in Gujarat.
According to the company, the Hazira-Ghoga inland waterway would reduce its transit time by 2 days and lessen the total distance covered by 465 kms.
“The Hazira-Ghogha Ro-Pax ferry service is not only faster and more cost efficient but also environmentally friendly. With this new route, Honda is reducing its carbon emissions by approximately 311 kg per trip,” the company said in a note released earlier today.
Yadvinder Singh Guleria, Director, sales and marketing, HMSI said that the shorter route will help the company serve its customers more efficiently by enabling faster delivery of vehicles across 11 cities in the Saurashtra region in Gujarat.
“Honda aims to continuously deliver its shipments from the Bangalore plant to Saurashtra region utilizing Ro-Pax ferry service,” he added.
HMSI first used inland waterways in 2018 for transporting motorcycles and scooters via Ro-Pax ferry service between Dahej and Ghogha in Gujarat. The transport route delivered speed, cost and ecological benefits for all shipments moving from its Karnataka unit to the Saurashtra region.
“While waterways are popular in developed countries, these ferries either cut short the distance through the sea route or divert the traffic from over congested highways to the underutilized sea ways,” said Captain D K Manral, CEO Indigo Seaways.
He said the newly launched ferry route would eliminate the road distance between Ghogha and Hazira to one-fourth and the present transit time of 10 to 12 hours to 4 hours. As a result, usage of this route would reduce CO2 emissions by 24 tons per day and 8653 tons annually, he added.
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari has been advocating the usage of inland waterways for a few years stressing that it could improve efficiencies in the logistics industry and serve as a capable alternative to road transportation.
Source: mint
