The demand for electric power in India has been growing steeply during the past decade particularly in the rapid industrialising southern regions and power shortages are frequently experienced. In order to cope with this problem, several coal burning power stations will be constructed along the west coast of India. One of the projected sites for a power station is at Kayamkulam, supplied by coal from Talcher mines in the north east. The Central Electricity Authority established that the least coal transport costs from Talcher (Port of Paradip) to the coastal power stations is by means of sea transport. Different coal unloading locations have been put forward for consideration for the Kayamkulam powerplant. One of these locations is at the existing port of Cochin (110 km north of Kayamkulam). Furthermore several ways for transporting the coal from the coal unloading terminal at Cochin to the powerplant site have been considered : slurry pipe, rail and inland waterway transport. In the assessment of alternatives concerning the coal transport scenarios for the Kayamkulam powerplant it has been required to perform a more detailed assessment of the option by which coal will be unloaded at the existing port of Cochin and further transported by Inland Waterway Transport (IWT) to the Kayamkulam plant site. The objective of this study is to assess constraints and opportunities concerning the transportation of the projected coal throughput of 8.06 million tons per year from the coal unloading terminal at Cochin to the projected powerstation at Kayamkulam by IWT using the existing West Coast Canal; and to select the most promising scenario for this transport system on basis of technical feasibility and costs. To meet the objective an inventory of the existing situation has been made and constraints and bottlenecks have been identified. Main constraints are the inadequate waterway dimensions and the restricted dimensions of the existing locks at Thanneermukkom and Trikkunnapuzha. It is concluded that the existing waterway is not suitable for the transportation of the required throughput of 8.06 million tons per year. Improvement scenarios have been generated and it is concluded that feasibility of the transport scenario requires the deletion of the existing locks at Trikkunnapuzha from the system, the construction of new locks at Thanneermukkom and extensive capital dredging works. I Several options for the coal carrying vessels have been considered i.e.: -self propelled vessels, ranging from 600 to 2,250 tons -push formations, ranging from 3,500 to 11,200 tons. These options have been analyzed with respect to the required -waterway improvements -Ioading- and unloading terminal -fleet composition Further, a distinction has been made between daytime only and dav and night navigation. Costs for each option have been determined in order to make a comparison between the options. Based on these analyses, the preferred option for the transportation of the required throughput of 8 mmtpa, is the use of self propelled IWT vessels having a payload of 2,250 tons. The total coal transportation cost for the 8 mmtpa are estimated to be US$ 4.0 per ton.