Employment Opportunities and Infrastructure Development in India's Maritime Sector
The Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways has implemented a multi-pronged strategy to strengthen employment opportunities in the maritime sector, focusing on capacity building through enhanced training facilities and onboard training opportunities. As part of these initiatives, 96 training berths have been created on the passenger vessel MV Swaraj Dweep of the Andaman & Nicobar Administration in collaboration with the Shipping Corporation of India, benefiting General Purpose Rating and Certificate Course in Maritime Catering candidates.
National Waterways Development and Cargo Growth
The government declared 111 National Waterways (5 pre-existing and 106 new) through the National Waterways Act, 2016, with development action plans under Maritime India Vision 2030 and Maritime Amrit Kaal Vision 2047. Due to infrastructure and policy measures, cargo movement on National Waterways increased dramatically from 18 million tons in 2013-14 to 218 million tons in 2025-26, representing substantial growth in inland water transportation.
Infrastructure Development Across Waterways
Significant infrastructure development includes fairway maintenance works providing navigation channels of 35/45m width and 2.0-3.0m depth across various National Waterways. Specific developments include: 66 community jetties, 20 floating terminals, 3 Multi-Modal Terminals, 1 Inter-Modal Terminal, and 4 Ro-Pax terminals on NW-1 (River Ganga); 13 floating terminals and MMTs at Pandu and Jogighopa on NW-2 (River Brahmaputra); upgraded terminals at Badarpur & Karimganj on NW-16; 9 permanent IWT terminals and 2 Ro-Ro/Ro-Pax terminals on NW-3; and various jetties on NW-68, NW-4, NW-110, NW-73, and NW-37. A new Navigation Lock at Farakka and 2 Quick Pontoon Opening Mechanisms have been constructed on NW-1 to facilitate vessel movement.
Policy Measures and Incentives
The government has approved a scheme providing 35% incentive to promote utilization of inland waterways transport by cargo owners for scheduled service on NW-1, NW-2, and NW-16 via Indo Bangladesh Protocol by Inland & Coastal Shipping Limited. This ₹95.42 crore scheme for three years is expected to divert 800 million tonne Km cargo (17% of current 4700 million tonne Km on NWs). The tonnage tax scheme has been extended to inland vessels registered under the Indian Vessels Act, 2021, announced in the budget on 01.02.2025, expected to boost industry competitiveness. The National Waterways (Construction of Jetties/Terminals) Regulations 2025 has been notified to allow private companies to invest and operate inland waterways infrastructure.
Digital Initiatives and Cargo Aggregation
The Jalyan & Navic portal has been developed for digital registration of vessels and crew nationwide, similar to 'vahan' and 'sarathi' systems. To address multimodal connectivity issues, cargo aggregation hub projects include MMLP at Varanasi and Integrated Cluster-cum-Logistics Park at Sahibganj, with NHLML engaged for development. The Indo Bangladesh Protocol route no. 5 & 6 between Maia and Sultanganj has been operationalized with trial movements, awaiting Bangladesh consent for regular movement. More than 140 Public Sector Units have been approached to shift cargo to waterways, with relevant ministries advised to earmark certain percentage of cargo for IWT mode.
Employment and Seafarer Statistics
The count of active seafarers has shown consistent growth from 117,090 in 2014 to 323,429 in 2025, demonstrating the sector's employment generation capacity. The year-wise progression shows: 126,945 (2015), 143,940 (2016), 154,349 (2017), 208,799 (2018), 234,886 (2019), 224,478 (2020), 205,787 (2021), 250,186 (2022), 285,454 (2023), and 307,901 (2024).