The Hindu Business Line : Will Concor retain monopoly?

THE acute shortage of wagons may be causing heartburn to the Railways and rail freight users, but not for Container Corporation of India Ltd (Concor).

The Railway Ministry has signalled its intention to end Concor's monopoly in rail container freight movement by allowing other players to enter the segment.

So far, Pipavav Railway Corporation Ltd (PRCL) has been given the green signal to operate container transport services connecting around 20 hinterland routes to its recently laid Surendranagar-Pipavav port rail network.

Besides, a host of other parties, including the Central Warehousing Corporation and the Kutch Rail Company - a joint venture of Gujarat Adani Port Ltd, Kandla Port Trust and the Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd,have sought permission to provide rail haulage services for container freight.

But all their plans may now go awry mainly because of the tight wagon supply position in the country.

According to a PRCL official, the company already has a rail network connecting its port at Pipavav to Surendranagar in Gujarat.

And since Surendranagar is well connected to the rest of the hinterland, "We can very well operate containerised freight services on our own, instead of moving through Concor".

The Railway Ministry has even given permission to the company for starting containerised operations across select sectors.

The problem, however, is that PRCL is not in a position to source wagons for the purpose, unlike Concor, which, apart from having its existing fleet of 4000-odd high-speed wagons, already has tied up bookings for the next two financial years.

This gives the corporation, which earned a net profit of Rs 367.59 crore on total income of Rs 1,807.4 crore for the year ended March 31, 2004, a decisive advantage over prospective competitors.

One way out for the new entrants is to source their wagons through imports.

But as the PRCL official admitted, importing whole wagons is not a particularly feasible option.

Instead, what PRCL is exploring is to offer a share of its revenues to wagon manufacturers in order to secure supplies.

"We are in talks with some wagon makers and are hopeful to start operations within this calendar year," the official added.

As of now, though, Concor's monopoly over containerised freight services remains unchallenged.

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

Stories in this Section
HAL shows off `Dhruv' copter to LatAm nations

UAE trust offers NRI support for Kerala airline plan

DHL launches specialised services

Will Concor retain monopoly?