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Santanu Sanyal

Spread over 90 acres, the ICD has all the modern handling facilities, two warehouses with total storage of 175,000 sq ft. The storage yard can accommodate 1,600 containers.

recently in Birgunj

THE Birgunj-based Himalayan Terminals Pvt Ltd. (HTPL), a container terminal management company, was set up in July 2004 as a joint venture among three companies — Container Corporation of India, which is a subsidiary of the Indian Railways; and two Nepalese firms, Nepal Transit Warehousing Corporation, a state-owned organisation, and Interstate Multimodal Transport Pvt Ltd, a private firm. Subsequently, Concor divested 20 per cent of its stake in favour of Transworld, a shipping company.

HTPL is responsible for operation and maintenance of the huge inland clearance depot (ICD) set up with World Bank assistance at Birgunj. Business Line recently spoke to Mr Manoj Singh, CEO of HTPL, at Birgunj. Mr Singh is 1990 batch officer of the Indian Railways Traffic Service.

Excerpts from the interview:

A dry port is usually called an inland container depot. However, the one in Birgunj is called inland clearance depot. Why?

The reason is simple. At the Birgunj ICD, we propose to handle both containerised and non-containerised traffic. We are equipped to handle all kinds of traffic including containers, break-bulk, bulk and even what are known as dirty cargoes.

Have you started handling non-containerised traffic?

Not yet, but we hope to soon. For example, several thousand tonnes of rice imported for Nepal are being loaded in wagons (not in containers) at Haldia dock. We'll need at least three rakes of BCN wagons to transport the entire quantity from Haldia to this ICD. On unloading, the cargo will be bagged and stitched here to facilitate onward movement by road to different parts of Nepal.

We hope to handle in due course bulk minerals such as coal, gypsum and other items in this ICD. Right now these items are brought by wagons at Raxaul, the last railway station on the India-Nepal border, unloaded and then loaded on to trucks for transportation to various destinations in Nepal.

Once we start handling these minerals, the consignments in wagons will be transported straight into the ICD for unloading and reloading onto trucks for onwards movement.

When was this ICD built?

The construction of the Birgunj ICD with the World Bank assistance of more than $23 million was completed as early as 2001. But it was commissioned on July 16, 2004 when the first train from Kolkata port arrived at the ICD with 74 TEUs.

Spread over 90 acres, the ICD is complete with all the modern handling facilities. There are four reach stackers and other handling equipment. It has two warehouses, with a total storage space of 175,000 sq ft. The open storage space for containers can accommodate 1,600 containers.

Why was the delay in commissioning?

The delay was due to various factors, the most important being the non-finalisation of rail services agreement between India and Nepal on time. There was also delay in appointing the terminal management company.

What has been throughput like so far?

We started operation in mid-July and till December, our throughput was 2,444 TEUs, comprising 2,395 TEUs of imports and 49 TEUs of exports.

The highest throughput was achieved in December, 726 TEUs, followed by 532 TEUs in October.

There was a dip in November at 421 TEUs, largely due to some problems at the port end. The figures for September, August and July were 340 TEUs, 305 TEUs and 141 TEUs respectively.

Are you happy with it?

I would say I am not terribly unhappy, considering the odds we face. Traditionally, this trade was served entirely by road. The road transporters are very powerful as a group. We had to fight with them to establish our services.

Then the question of the mindset of the trade too was important, as people are generally resistant to change. To convince the trade that the railways provided much more reliable and therefore cost-effective service was really a tough job. But we did not give up. As you can see from the figures, there is a rising trend.

The export shipments are negligible. Why?

Yes. I concede that we've not yet been able to attract the exporters of Nepal routing their shipments through Kolkata port. But if you analyse the Nepal's total foreign trade figure, you'll see that the country is a net importer — imports far exceeding the exports.

India is the biggest trading partner of Nepal, accounting for 60 per cent of the Himalayan Kingdom's total foreign trade, but the ICD, as per the present agreement between the two countries, cannot handle the bilateral trade.

The ICD can handle only third country trade (that is, imports from and exports to countries other than India) and that too routed through Kolkata port (including Haldia).

Nepal's total imports in containers will be about 24,000/25,000 TEUs annually, of which around 18,000 TEUs are routed through Birgunj, mostly by road so far.

Nepal's total exports in containers through all the routes will be about 5,000 TEUs, an estimated 50 per cent of which is routed through Birgunj. We're trying to step up our share in the exports routed through the Kolkata port. If we can handle about 1,000 TEUs of imports and 100 TEUs of exports every month, we'll feel that our effort has not been in vain.

Is there any possibility of bilateral trade getting routed through the Birgunj ICD?

We are very hopeful of it. The mandatory meeting between the two countries to review the rail services agreement will be held shortly and the details of the participation in bilateral trade will come for discussion.

The economic blockade by the Maoist rebels has hit you in past few days. Isn't it?

Yes. The disturbed political situation in this country has really been a matter of grave concern to us. All our efforts to step up the throughput will fail if the political situation continues to be unstable.

The Maoists have made it clear that their writ runs everywhere. There were reports that they might even attack the ICD. Fortunately that did not happen. But we are really worried.

While the rake movement to and from the ICD and the operation within was maintained during the period of economic blockade, the goods unloaded from the containers could not be transported out of the ICD as the truck movement remained suspended. As a result, the warehouses were choc-a-bloc with cargo.

As a cumulative effect of all this, our earnings suffered. How can we pay at the agreed rate to the Nepalese authorities if our earnings drop for reasons beyond our control?

Do you think the example of Birgunj ICD might encourage similar such ventures in other neighbouring countries?

Yes, I'm absolutely certain about it. The Birgunj ICD has many firsts to it credit — it is Concor's first overseas project; also, for the first time Concor started running services across the border.

I've a strong feeling that Bangladesh is another country which holds out the promise for a Birgunj-type project (not exactly the same but similar) and services.

In fact, Concor did initiate some preliminary work in this regard. Right now certain items are exported from India to Bangladesh via the Jawaharlal Nehru Port on the west coast of India, Singapore and Chittagong (Bangladesh). This is ridiculous.

Once the train services are in place, it should be possible to transport goods from any part of India to any part of Bangladesh at much less time and much lower cost. I feel that similar opportunities could also be explored for Pakistan.

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