UltraTech boosts sustainable transport by leveraging inland waterways
UltraTech first cement company to transport gypsum via National Waterway 1, the Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hooghly river system.
UltraTech Cement, India’s largest cement and ready-mix concrete company, is leveraging inland waterways to transport a large consignment of mineral gypsum via National Waterway 1 (Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hooghly river system) in a pilot project.
UltraTech is the first cement company in India to leverage National Waterway 1 for gypsum transport at scale, says an official release.
The pilot movement was flagged off by Sarbananda Sonowal, Union Minister of Shipping, Ports and Waterways, at G.R. Jetty, Kolkata, the release added. "UltraTech’s participation in the pilot was supported by the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) and Inland & Coastal Shipping, a wholly owned subsidiary of Shipping Corporation of India (SCI). The consignment is being shipped from Haldia port in West Bengal to Gaighat terminal in Patna, Bihar and is being transported to Pataliputra Cement Works, UltraTech’s cement grinding unit located in Patna district, Bihar."
K C Jhanwar, Managing Director, UltraTech Cement says: “Emerging and innovative transport solutions are a key lever in UltraTech’s shift towards sustainable logistics practices. Through this pilot, we are proud to partner the Government of India in promoting use of inland waterways in line with Maritime India Vision 2030 and Maritime Amrit Kaal Vision 2047. The pilot movement over National Waterway 1 underscores UltraTech’s commitment to green logistics as an enabler to realise its Net Zero goal by 2050.”
In April 2023, UltraTech leveraged inland and coastal waterways to transport 57,000 metric tonnes of phosphogypsum from Paradeep port in Odisha to UltraTech’s integrated manufacturing unit Gujarat Cement Works located in Amreli, Gujarat, in a first-of-its-kind initiative in India, the release added.
UltraTech Cement, the cement flagship company of the Aditya Birla Group, is the third largest cement producer in the world, outside of China, with a total grey cement capacity of 156.66 million tonnes per annum.