• Investment World
• eWorld
• Catalyst
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Cross Currency

• Rates
  
  

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• Business Line
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

P. Manoj
Mamuni Das

New Delhi , Oct. 23

THE state-owned Container Corporation of India Ltd (Concor) will set up two more container freight stations (CFS) in joint venture with container shipping lines/private sector inside its inland container depot (ICD) complex located at Dadri in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, the chief executive of Concor has said.

Of the two new joint ventures, one will be with P&O Ports, while the other would be with either the French container line CMA-CGM or MISC, Mr A.K. Kohli, Managing Director, Concor, told Business Line. The joint ventures would be announced after getting approval from the company's board.

"This together with the three joint ventures already set up with Maersk, Transworld Group and APL will give us 60 per cent of the country's container business straightaway. Besides, it will guarantee traffic at our rail head at Dadri", Mr Kohli said.

The ICD Dadri complex is a mega terminal spread over 110 hectares, connected by six railway lines, designed to handle 5,00,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) per annum in the first phase with a possibility to enhance the capacity to 1 million TEUs per annum.

While a part of the ICD has been developed by Concor on its own, the balance requirement is being met by entering into partnerships with private entities/container shipping lines, which will have the responsibility to develop the CFS independently.

This is a strategic decision taken by Concor to leverage its strengths and secure the company's future before other private players enter the business of rail movement of containers to and from the ports, breaking its monopoly in this area, a Concor official explained.

The railway PSU has decided to join hands with the private sector for setting up container freight stations in a bid to consolidate business with customers who provide a big chunk of its cargo business. For instance, Maersk is Concor's biggest customer, providing for about 20 per cent of its total container throughput. "This is our response to critics who say that we are not competitive. To fight competition, we have decided to hold hands with the private sector," Mr Kohli asserted.

Since management control of the joint venture CFS will be vested with the private sector by holding a majority stake of 51 per cent, they have a commitment to these ventures to bring in the volumes, he said.

On the other hand, by setting up joint venture CFS with Concor, the shipping lines will have dedicated space in which they can provide value-added logistics services. "For Concor, they are more like a marketing arm, enabling the railway PSU to tie-up volumes in this manner", the official noted.

Out of these joint ventures, the one between Maersk and Concor christened Star Track Terminals Pvt Ltd has started functioning since October 16. The joint venture container freight station with APL christened Trident Terminals Pvt Ltd and the one with Transworld Group named Albatross CFS are expected to start operations in 2005.

Concor is also looking at operating a container terminal on India's east coast, preferably in Paradip port. Despite the Shipping Ministry's recent decision to revoke the "in-principle" approval granted to it in November 2003 to undertake container-handling operations at Paradip Port, it is hopeful of winning the project.

"We are still pursuing the Paradip project and is hopeful of a positive response from the Shipping Ministry in this regard", Mr Kohli said.

More Stories on : Announcements | Supply Chain Management | Shipping

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Concor plans 2 joint venture freight stations at Dadri ICD

Copyright © 2004, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line