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Mamuni Das

First vessel operation-cum-double stack container movement

A FILE PHOTO of the double stack container train.

New Delhi , July 18

Container Corporation of India (Concor) has started working on a new plan to overcome the congestion problem that the company is facing at the JN port.

It has started moving containers from the JN port to the Pipavav port in Gujarat using smaller vessels along the coast.

Evacuation from Pipapav helps as the rail link from Pipavav to Jaipur allows for movement of double stack container trains.

So, from the Pipavav port, Concor moves the boxes by double stacking them on trains to its inland container depot (ICD) at Jaipur.

From Jaipur, some containers are unloaded and loaded again in another train - in single stack - to be moved to Tughlakabad ICD in Delhi.

This is Concor's first vessel operation-cum-double stack container movement.

"We have started moving containers from JN port to Pipavav port on an experimental basis from July 1," a senior Concor official told Business Line.

The PSU has already moved over 500 containers from JN port by redirecting them to Pipavav port in the last fortnight.

From Pipavav port, the boxes have been moved to Jaipur by running three double stack rakes during July 1-16.

When containerised imports shoot up, evacuation of containers from the ports gets delayed owing to limited train track availability from JN port.

The exercise has prevented a build up of containers at the port.

"We have been able to move boxes from JN port to Tughlakabad ICD - using the combination of vessels and double stack containers - within 5-7 days," said the official.

Additional revenues

However, the entire exercise escalates the costs against a straight movement from JN port to Delhi.

Instead of passing on these charges entirely to specific customers, Concor has distributed the costs across all containers being handled at JNPT and is charging Rs 300 extra per container.

In terms of revenues, this operation has resulted in additional earnings for vessels operators along the coast, apart from Pipavav port, Railway Ministry and Pipavav Rail Corporation Ltd, which owns about 269 km of the Jaipur-Pipavav rail route.

On the Jaipur-Pipavav route, while about nine double stack container trains ran between April-June, five double stack trains have run in the last fortnight - two carried load of traffic that came to Pipavav directly and three were diverted from JNPT using vessels. Concor is also evaluating a similar option from the Mundra port.

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