Indian Economy
LADIS – Least Available Depth Information System
- 16 Feb 2019
- 2 min read
To ensure optimum use of National Waterways (NWs), the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) has launched a new portal LADIS – Least Available Depth Information System.
- LADIS will ensure that real-time data on least available depths is disseminated for ship/barge and cargo owners so that they can undertake transportation on NWs in a more planned way.
- IWAI has designed LADIS to facilitate the day-to-day operations of inland vessels plying on NWs and to avoid any hindrance in service and operation.
- It will enhance credibility and efficiency of information sharing to achieve seamless operations on NWs, besides pre-empting problems that may occur during movement of vessels.
Inland Waterways Authority of India
- The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) is a statutory body under Ministry of Shipping established in 1986 for development and regulation of inland waterways for shipping and navigation.
- It is headquartered in Noida, Uttar Pradesh and its main function is to build necessary infrastructure in inland waterways, surveying economic feasibility of new projects and also carrying out administration and regulation.
- As per the National Waterways Act, 2016, 111 waterways have been declared as NWs.
- In 2018, the IWAI also launched a portal known as Forum of Cargo Owners and Logistics Operators (FOCAL) for cargo owners and logistic operators to access real time data on availability of vessels.
- In 2018, IWAI signed a project agreement with the World Bank for Jal Marg Vikas Project on river Ganga which aims for capacity augmentation of navigation on NW-1 (River Ganga) from Varanasi to Haldia.
- These initiatives are a part of objective to develop NWs as a key transport intervention and lower huge logistics costs, which currently account for 15% of the GDP and is about twice that of the U.S.’ logistics costs.
