The Hindu Business Line : Concor offers package to N. Indian importers using Kolkata dock

Container Corporation of India (Concor) has offered a comprehensive package to North Indian importers using the Kolkata Dock System (KDS) for routing their imports.

The offer was made here recently at a high-level meeting attended by the Managing Director of Concor, the Chairman of Kolkata Port Trust and a cross-section of the trade.

Services offered

The essence of the Concor’s offer is this: the North Indian-bound consignments imported through the KDS, once cleared by the Customs, will be brought by Concor to its Majherhat terminal within the dock, destuffed, reloaded into Concor’s own domestic containers which will then be transported by rail to Concor’s various terminals in North India for onward movement for delivery at the doorsteps of the customers.

A package rate will be charged for rendering the entire gamut of services covering both rail and road transportation. Concor sources feel that the package, which will be competitive vis-À-vis road transportation, should be grabbed by the importers as the transit time will be shorter and the freight rate will be significantly lower. The cargo inducement on the route is not small — an estimated 25,000 TEUs annually, including about 11,000 TEUs for Delhi, another 6,000-7,000 TEUs for Uttar Pradesh, 2,000 TEUs for Punjab and the balance for Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and other States.

Double number of rakes

Concor, which now runs six rakes a month between its Majherhat terminal and Tughlakabad terminal, can double the number of rakes on the route depending upon the kind of support the importers choose to give, observe Concor sources. It might be recalled that the authorities of the Kolkata Port Trust had been insisting on rail evacuation of import containers out of the KDS in view of the acute congestion problem. KDS, which is ideally suited for handling 4,000-4,500 containers, is now saddled with more than 15,000 containers, the bulk of which is evacuated by road, thus, throwing up a plethora of problems.

Discouraging factors

However, there are a few factors which, it is felt might discourage some of the importers to avail themselves of the Concor package in preference to road movement. Overloading, which is the most common thing in road transportation, will not be possible in rail transportation. Also, in rail transportation, there is no way one can evade the payment of mandatory charges. The foreign shipping lines, it is learnt, are opposed to offering their containers for transportation to Tughlakabad from KDS.

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