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Container movement by rail is set to become costlier with the Railways deciding to bring in a 25-41 per cent hike in rail haulage charges with effect from December 5.
The sharpest increase is proposed for containers that carry 30 tonnes and more, while movement of empty wagons, empty containers, and containers weighing up to 10 tonnes is set to go up by 41 per cent, Sachin Bhanushali, General Secretary, Association of Container Train Operators (ACTO), told BusinessLine . He is also the President of Gateway Rail Freight Ltd (GRFL).
The ACTO, which includes Container Corporation of India (Concor) and Gateway Distriparks as its members, has already taken up the issue with the Railway Board.
The Railways has also imposed a 10 per cent congestion surcharge on rail traffic originating in all ports.
About 55 per cent of container traffic originates in ports. If the operators were to pass on the hike with congestion surcharge to customers, this would mean an increase of 30-54 per cent for all container imports using train services.
The move is expected to benefit road transporters, with lighter containers moving to the road segment.
Haulage charges are what container train operators have to pay the Indian Railways for using the rail network infrastructure. Bhanushali said that this is the ninth round of rate increases since 2006, when this sector was deregulated.
ACTO feels the Railways has been unfair to container train operators. In the past 10 years, the Railways has increased goods freight rates five times.
With a cumulative increase of 52 per cent, container movement has increased by 120 per cent in the light category and by 230- 265 per cent in the heaviest segment.
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