The Hindu Business Line : Concor moves 300 imported boxes into Nepal ICD

THE Container Corporation of India (Concor) has so far moved 300 imported containers in five rakes into Sirsiya (Birgunge) inland container depot in Nepal and the loading of the sixth rake at the port end is in progress.

Kolkata being the transit port for landlocked Nepal, bulk of its imports and exports, in fact more imports than exports, is routed through Kolkata port (i.e. both Kolkata Dock System and Haldia dock). Concor's new service is yet to handle Nepal's exports.

Considering that the service was launched only a little more than a month ago, on July 12 to be precise, the performance, one might feel, is not altogether bad. However, the Concor sources are not convinced. The throughput, as the sources pointed out, would have been more but for the shipping lines which are yet to streamline their operations.

The Concor officials had recently held discussions with the representatives of the Association of Shipping Interests in Calcutta (ASIC), the body of shipping lines and shipping agents operating at Kolkata port, to apprise them of the need for issuing through Bills of Lading (B/Ls) to expedite the movement of boxes between Kolkata port and the Birgunge ICD.

Right now the B/Ls are issued up to the port of Kolkata. After that, it is merchant liability. This arrangement delays the movement. Once a through B/L is issued, the port of discharge will be Kolkata and the port of delivery will be Birgunge.

The ASIC members were told that there should be no problem in issuing a through B/L, more so because the Nepal Rashtriya Bank, Nepal's central bank, has given go ahead for opening L/Cs (letters of credit) with CIF (cost and freight) Birgunge instead of the present CIF Kolkata. The members responded positively. It is hoped that their parent companies too will respond in a similar manner.

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