The Hindu Business Line : Apeda, Concor tie up for moving perishable goods

Concor has expressed interest in acquiring 100 reefer containers to transport products such as apples from J&K, grapes from Maharashtra and capsicum from Karnataka.

New Delhi , July 28

IN a bid to ensure a complete farm-to-gateway cold chain for export of perishable food produce from the country, the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (Apeda) has tied up with the Container Corporation of India Ltd (Concor) for using the latter's containerised rail transport and terminal network.

"To start with, we propose to part-finance 27 specialised controlled atmosphere (CA) refrigerated containers that Concor can use for transporting fresh fruits and vegetables from the main centres of cultivation or marketing to the export gateways. This will complement the network of centres for perishable cargo (CPC) that have already come up in different airports," said Mr K.S. Money, Chairman of Apeda.

He said Concor had expressed interest in acquiring 100 such reefer containers that can transport products such as apples from J&K, grapes from Maharashtra and capsicum from Karnataka to the CPCs. "We have approved a grant of Rs 7 crore to partially fund 27 reefer containers by Concor subject to the condition that it makes these available on a priority basis for export cargo and also provides a 25 per cent discount to exporters relative to what it charges for domestic use," Mr Money said.

Currently, there are six CPCs operating at the Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai and Thiruvananthapuram international airports, with cold storage and cargo handling capacities ranging from 450 square metre (sq m) to about 1200 sq m.

Recently, Apeda has signed up with the Cochin International Airport Ltd for setting up a Rs 15-crore 1,800 sq m CPC for providing cool room facility for vegetables, fruits, flowers, poultry and live stock products.

Besides similar smaller facilities are in pipeline at Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Amritsar and Goa.

"The reefer containers will provide the rolling stock base to complement the CPCs. This will ensure a complete cold chain which will particularly help boost export of fresh fruits, vegetables and animal produce from the country," Mr Money added.

According to Concor officials, the reefer containers would have special facilities like plug points, portable clip on generators and power packs that ensures continuous refrigeration.

During 2003-04, the country exported fresh fruits worth around Rs 760.65 crore and Rs 939.70 crore of fresh vegetables. These mainly include onion, dried walnuts, mangoes and grapes.

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