Analyzing barriers to inland waterways as a sustainable transportation mode in India: A dematel-ISM based approach

Finding sustainable measures for maritime transport has long been a significant issue owing to a rising global population and the internationalization of supply chains. In Indian contexts, it has become imperative to shift from highly congested and polluting road and rail transport to a more sustainable Inland Waterway Transport (IWT). Inland waterway transportation has numerous limitations and challenges in its implementation. This study aims to study the barriers to the implementation of IWTs in India by establishing and analyzing the complex interrelationships between them. Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) and Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) methods are employed to analyze the cause-effect relationship among the barriers and to further identify the key influential barriers from an identified set of factors. The results reveal that governance issues, policy bias, high cost requirements, and lack of river-interlinking are the most critical inhibitors for IWT development in India and the policymakers should focus on eliminating these ‘key’ inhibitors to ensure effective implementation of IWT in India. The findings of this study provide useful insights from a strategic and policy-making perspective. •Identification of barriers to implementation of Inland Waterways as a sustainable transport mode in India.•Application of DEMATEL and ISM to analyze contextual relationships among the barriers.•Lack of Governance and policy parity are among the critical inhibitors.•Implications for policymaking for building IWT infrastructure in Indian transport system.