By Priti Naik
Tata Steel becomes the first steel company in Odisha to use inland waterways bringing in heavy machinery for its Kalinganagar plant expansion project. This reiterates its commitment to create a carbon-neutral future. The consignment sailed in a chartered vessel from Shanghai to Paradip port in Odisha.
The consignment was then loaded on a barge that travelled up Luna River and was finally unloaded at Marsaghai, in Kendrapara district on March 15, 2022. Thereafter, the consignment was transported via roadways and reached the project site on April 2, 2022.
Tata Steel’s Engineering & Project (E&P) Division used multimodal logistics including inland waterways for shipping nearly 1000 Cubic meters (CBM) of four Super Over Dimensional Assembled Cargo (SODCs), each weighing up to 100 metric tonnes having a diameter of 8 meters. These project cargos are part of the Slag Granulation Plant that is being set-up in the Kalinganagar plant of Tata Steel.
For this ambitious project, Tata Steel had roped in Deugro projects India Pvt. Ltd., a leading logistic solution provider in freight forwarding and project logistics solutions.
Earlier this year, Tata Steel had undertaken its maiden multi-modal shipment of TMT bars from West Bengal to Assam via Indo-Bangladesh Protocol Route, becoming the first steel company in India to do so. It was a landmark effort to decarbonise the steel sector and the country.
The waterway route will also open a new mode of transportation for Super ODC project cargo to overcome future challenges and uncertainties involved in road restrictions. This will also enable the import of bigger sized assembled equipment directly to the site, reducing fabrication, assembly, supervision job, etc. at the site.
