The Hindu Business Line : Concor mulls services to Bhutan

Eyeing Bhutan
Concor's interest has arisen in the wake of report that the country is planning to launch a dry port in Phuentsholing.
A team of Concor officials found the Hasimara railway goods shed, ideally suited for handling rail-borne containerised traffic to and from Bhutan.

Kolkata , June 1

Container Corporation of India (Concor) is mulling if it can transport by rail the containerised traffic currently moving by road between Kolkata port and Bhutan. But the problem is that the volume of traffic is too small to run a regular service.

Like Nepal, Bhutan is also a Himalayan Kingdom and uses the same Kolkata port for routing its imports and exports to and from a third country (i.e. country other than India) and the imports are more than exports.

But unlike Nepal, which has a dry port at Birganj connected to Kolkata Dock System (KDS) by Concor's service, Bhutan does not have a dry port and therefore there is no Concor service.

Hasimara service

Concor's interest in Bhutan traffic has arisen in the wake of report that the country is planning to launch a dry port in Phuentsholing, a border town in Bhutan, close to West Bengal's Jalpaiguri district.

A foreign consultant too is believed to have been appointed to prepare a report in this regard. A team of Concor officials recently visited Jalpaiguri and found the Hasimara railway goods shed, complete with a siding, ideally suited for handling rail-borne containerised traffic to and from Bhutan.

From Hasimara, an air force station town in Jalpaiguri district, the containers could be transported by road. Hasimara is the nearest railway station from Phuentsholing.

Small volume

But then the present volume of traffic is too inadequate to warrant any investment to create container handling facilities at Hasimara. It should be possible to carry Bhutan bound containers on the same rake that runs between KDS and Amingaon (Guwahati) inland container depot but then the rake has to take a detour at Siliguri and cover an additional distance of 25-30 km or so to reach Hasimara. The volume of traffic therefore has to be adequate to warrant such an extra movement.

At present, KDS handles on an average six to seven containers per day with imports for Bhutan. These containers are moved by road all the way to Phuentsholing where the containers are destuffed and checked by Bhutan Customs. The importers take the delivery of their consignments there itself. Bhutan being a mountainous country it is difficult to transport containers by road up the hills. There is hardly any containerised export.

Meanwhile, reports have it that the Bhutan Government has clamped the restriction on import of goods in containers in view of critical foreign exchange reserves.