Container Corporation of India (Concor) is replacing containers in the domestic segment with those that can carry almost ten per cent heavier load than its existing lot of containers. The move comes in the backdrop of Concor's domestic business segment registering a sharper growth compared to the export-import segment, albeit on a lower base.

The public sector enterprise handled 1.62 lakh boxes in the domestic segment in the quarter ended March, registering a 5.45 per cent growth. It also handled 8.16 lakh twenty foot boxes in the export-import segment, up 2.46 per cent against the previous fiscal.

New containers – which will be owned by Concor – will be able to carry extra load against the older containers. “Gross load of each container will be 34 tonne vis-a-vis existing 30/31 tonne. Also, payload (which the weight of commodities loaded) will be 31 tonne vis a vis 27.5-28 tonne,” Pradip K Agrawal, Director-Domestic, Concor, told BusinessLine .

These containers – to be owned by Concor -- are meant for domestic use only, Agrawal added. This will allow loading of “all types of commodities”, at a time when more cargo are being containerised. Domestic containers are usually heavier than the export-import containers.

Simultaneously, Concor is also procuring newer wagons with higher capacity and convert existing wagons with to those that can handle higher loads. The higher capacity wagons can move 68 tonne payload as against existing 60/61 tonne, according to Agrawal.

Concor, which has announced a flat tariff throughout this fiscal for its all services including freight, handling charges and other charges for all customers, expects to garner newer customers and aditional volume from existing customers, the company's CMD V Kalyana Rama said in the earnings call with analysts. The rate hike was roughly five per cent across-the-board or four per cent of total yearly revenue.

The company is able to provide this assurance to consumers based on an advance freight of ₹ 3000 crore already paid to the Indian Railways, and another tranche of ₹ 1500 crore to be paid to the Railways by September 30 this fiscal. The company expects to recover ₹3000 crore of advance freight by November this fiscal, KalyanRama added.

Concor, on Tuesday late night, declared a final dividend of ₹ 8.55 per equity share on a face value of ₹5 each. For the quarter ended March 2019, the company registered a profit after tax of ₹ 352.31 crore, up 20 per cent against the same period last year. The company also registered a total income of ₹ 1963.11 crore in the fourth quarter, up almost 15 per cent. The revenue growth was despite a lower-than-expected growth in containers handled (2.46 per cent) in export import segment during the last quarter, which was primarily due to a drop in exports.

The company shares closed at ₹ 492.6, down Re 1 against the previous close.

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