The Hindu Business Line : Container operators seek lower terminal access charges

New Delhi June 26 The private container train operators plan to move Indian Railways against the terminal access charges that Railways has proposed to levy from July 1. The operators decided this in a meeting held recently.

The Association of Container Train Operators (ACTO) is working on a proposal that would demand a lower level of access charges and increase in "free time" that the Railways proposes to allow them on terminals for handling containers.

Free time is the duration for which these operators can use the railway terminals without having to pay any extra ground handling charges or detention charges.

High Charges

"Given the present facilities and average time taken to handle containers, the Railways is asking us to pay up about Rs 2,500 per twenty feet equivalent unit (TEU) container. This includes the terminal access, ground handling and detention charge," said an industry official based on back-of-the-envelope calculations.

The operators also pointed out that the terminal access charges proposed by the Railways are only for class III terminals (those terminals that handle below seven rakes per month). These charges are higher than the wharfage charges imposed by the Railways for class I and class II terminals (terminals that handle more than seven rakes per month).

Moreover, the operators point out that the Railways plans to disallow them access to the class I and class II terminals. This move would prevent operators from capturing the domestic traffic from relatively busy centres.

Guidelines

"If the Railways wants us to capture additional containerised traffic, it is not possible for us to do the job with the conditions it has imposed. A terminal is class I or class II only because there is cargo available in the vicinity of terminal," said an industry official.

The Railways recently issued guidelines firming up its procedures and rates for letting private container operators access its terminals (good sheds, sidings and unused tracks). These operators would have to pay terminal access charges of Rs 34,000 per rake per terminal. Additionally, the operators would have to pay detention and ground handling charges on a per hour per rake basis if they use the terminals beyond the allowed free time limit.

Currently, the private container operators do not pay any access charges at all for using the railway terminals — they just need an approval from the divisional or zonal railway manager. This is because there were no guidelines on charges for container operators as this sector was recently opened up by Indian Railways.

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