The Hindu Business Line : Tea shipments begin from Amingaon inland depot

Kolkata, Aug.22 Regular tea shipments through Container Corporation of India’s Amingaon (Guwahati) inland container depot (ICD) have started in July end this year compared with June end last year.

The throughput so far has been around 340 TEUs compared with 550 TEUs in the same period last year.

Two factors – Good Kenyan crop throwing a stiff competition to the Indian teas in the international market and appreciation of the rupee may have dimmed the prospects of a rise in exports. Last year, the total throughput of the Amingaon ICD was around 2,600 TEUs, likely to be much less this year if the present trend is any indication, according to sources.

Concor has placed three rakes on the route with a total capacity to haul 220 TEUs. There is no immediate proposal to place a fourth rake even during the peak season, which has just started and will continue till September/October.

This is because of the uncertainty over the export prospects. More important, North Frontier Railway cannot handle too many rakes due to its operational constraints.

Shipping Corporation of India, traditionally the largest participant in the ICD shipments particularly to the UK/Europe, yielded its number one position to K Line last year. The situation is unlikely to be different this year. While UK/Continent continues to be an important segment of the trade, the port of Jebel Ali in the UAE has emerged as the new important destination .

It might be interesting to note that SCI till now accounts for 57 per cent of the total ICD shipments to the UK/Continent and 50 per cent of the shipments to the non-UK ports.

The only other shipping line active on the UK/Continent route is K Line while for the non-UK ports, SCI faces competition not only from K Line but also APL and Maersk.

The rising demand for hi-cube containers for shipments through the Amingaon ICD has been a matter of concern to SCI.

The limited availability of these containers has forced SCI to go for repositioning from Chennai but only at an additional cost.

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