Strategic Infrastructure Investment to Create East Coast's Largest Integrated Bulk Transshipment Terminal Linking National Waterway-5 with Heavy-Haul Rail Corridors

PARADIP — In a major step toward establishing seamless inland water and rail freight evacuation along India's eastern seaboard, the Sagarmala Development Company Limited (SDCL), operating under the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways (MoPSW), has officially sanctioned a ₹1,120-crore capital investment for the construction of an advanced Multimodal Rail-Water Logistics Hub at Paradip Port.

The infrastructure project is engineered to bridge National Waterway-5 (NW-5)—encompassing the Brahmani and Mahanadi delta river navigation systems—directly with East Coast Railway's electrified heavy-haul freight network. Designed to optimize the movement of thermal coal, finished steel, metallurgical coke, containerized equipment, and fertilizers, the integrated terminal will eliminate multi-point cargo handling and cut regional supply chain expenditures by over 20%.

Engineering Layout and Multimodal Cargo Handling Architecture

The approved master plan establishes an integrated 185-acre intermodal transshipment complex situated adjacent to the southern dock basin of Paradip Port. The facility is configured to handle both inland river barges and long-distance container and bulk train formations:

  • Dedicated Mechanized Barge Berths: Construction of four continuous low-draft quayside berths equipped with automated continuous ship-unloaders and radial telescopic conveyor loaders capable of handling shallow-draft river-sea vessels of up to 3,500 deadweight tonnage (DWT).

  • High-Speed On-Dock Rail Sidings: Laying of six full-length electrified railway lines directly behind the barge wharves. The sidings feature twin tandem wagon tipplers and automated rapid rail loading systems designed to load full 58-wagon BOXN rake formations in under 90 minutes.

  • Covered Stockpiling and Eco-Friendly Conveyance: Integration of 80,000 square meters of covered, pressurized bulk storage domes paired with high-capacity dust-suppression misting systems and enclosed overhead tube conveyors to transport dry bulk without ambient environmental dust leakage.

  • Digital Yard Management and Direct Customs Interface: The hub incorporates real-time radio-frequency identification (RFID) tracking, automatic weighbridges, and smart optical character recognition (OCR) checkpoint portals synchronized with the Unified Logistics Interface Platform (ULIP) and the Port Community System (PCS 1x).

Slicing Hinterland Supply Chain Transit and Haulage Costs

Historically, moving heavy industrial commodities from the mineral belts of Odisha, Jharkhand, and Chhattisgarh to maritime export docks required either long-distance road convoys over congested state corridors or heavily queued mixed passenger-freight railway lines.

The rail-water interchange terminal allows industrial manufacturers in the Kalinganagar, Angul, and Talcher industrial corridors to move finished steel coils, sponge iron, and bulk minerals via inland water barges along NW-5 directly to Paradip, where cargo can be tipped into heavy freight rakes for northern transit, or transferred to coastal vessels bound for southern and western domestic ports.

Logistics modeling indicates that routing heavy commodities through this multimodal rail-water interchange reduces carbon emissions by up to 45% compared to road trucking while shielding shippers from fluctuating spot freight rates.

Strategic Alignment with National Maritime Targets

Speaking on the sanctioning of the funds, senior administrative officials from the Paradip Port Authority stated that the rail-water logistics hub forms a vital cornerstone of the Maritime Amrit Kaal Vision 2047 and the PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan.

By scaling inland water navigation and linking it with railheads inside port limits, Paradip Port aims to expand its total annual cargo throughput capacity beyond 200 million metric tonnes while lowering aggregate logistics overheads for domestic manufacturing hubs. Project tendering on a hybrid engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) model is slated to commence next month, with commercial operations targeted for late 2028.