The Hindu Business Line : Concor not yet recovered from jute mill strike

The strike was withdrawn a few days ago but Concor sources here said that it was doubtful if flow of jute goods traffic would become normal before another two weeks.

This means: no jute goods traffic for Concor in the remainder of the current fiscal.

The jute mills, after a long closure, are limping back to normalcy. The mills will inform the office of the Jute Commissioner once production has stabilised.

The Jute Commissioner's office, in consultation with the Food Corporation of India, will then place requisitions with the mills for gunny bags for deliveries at various destinations.

Accordingly, Concor will be asked to pick up the bags from different mills and have them delivered at the warehouses designated by FCI. The process is yet to commence, it is learnt.

Jute goods traffic account for an estimated 23 per cent of Concor's domestic traffic in eastern region.

In 2005-06, Concor's jute goods throughput was 7,000 TEUs. The figure for 2006-07 will be much less, lower by an estimated 2,500 TEUs, if the current trend is any indication.

As it is, the demand for gunny bags during the rabi season was less than satisfactory, causing a drop in Concor's traffic throughput.

Against the normal loading of six rakes a month during the rabi season, just about two rakes were loaded.

This was because of the large-scale wheat imports through various ports. As a result, there was a diversion of traffic.

Concor was required to move gunny bags to west coast ports instead of the traditional north Indian destinations. However, the diversion did not boost the volume.

Some of the west coast ports, largely due to capacity constraints, experienced the bunching of ships, throwing up congestion and other problems.

The unloading took time and the demand for gunny bags was slow and erratic.

The drop in jute goods throughput will have its effect on Concor's total domestic traffic from eastern region.

In 2005-06, total domestic traffic was around 32,000 TEUs; the figure this year, it is estimated, will be less than that.

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