The biggest ever cargo has arrived at the Numaligarh refinery jetty from Kolkata through the river route via Bangladesh as Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) ship MV Maine 66 sailed in with the massive 485 metric tonnes Disel Hydrotreating Reactor for the refinery expansion project on Friday.

This is the first consignment transported by, nodal agency of the Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Waterways in charge of inland waterways in the country, for the expansion of Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) capacity from 3 million metric tonnes (MMT) to 9 MMT.

The length of this reactor is 31.5 meters while height is 8.250 meters along with a diameter of 8.00 meters. The reactor left Kolkata on 18 March and reached Numaligarh after travelling for nearly three months via Bangladesh. IWAI, in assistance from Dredging Corporation of India (DCI), also employed three dredgers at five locations in Dhansiri since March to make this transportation a success.

The MoU to transport a total of 24 over dimensional cargo (ODC)as well as Over Weight Cargo (OWC) for NRL was signed between IWAI and NRL last year in presence of Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal.

Speaking on the occasion of the arrival of the first cargo, Sonowal said, “Today, Assam has witnessed a memorable event when an ODC was transported from Kolkata to Numaligarh using inland waterways. This is the true realisation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of transformation via transportation.

“Given the thrust to empower the waterways of India, under the visionary leadership of the Prime, our ministry took on the task to make this transport happen in a swift and smooth manner. With the successful arrival of first ODC at the NRL, traversing a huge distance via waterways, the role of Inland Waterways to empower the growth of Assam as well as that of Northeast India is imminent and I believe it is going to play a pivotal role in the rapid transformation of our region via an economical, ecological and sustainable mode of transportation,” the minister added.