The Railways on Friday announced haulage charges for smaller height, double-stack containers, which will be 17 per cent lower than the conventional double-stack boxes.

The move will allow smaller containers to be used for commercial purposes.

The new freight charges will be applicable on all routes apart from those where the normal double stack containers are moved. To start with, the cheaper rates will be valid till March 31, 2018, an official release said.

RIL may start moving cargo in these containers in a couple of months, reflecting a shift from road to rail, it is understood.

Double stack dwarf containers (DSDC) are 6 feet 4 inches in height and run on electrified routes. DSDC shall, therefore, run on routes where only a single stack of ISO containers can run, which offer a huge potential for DSDC, as it can be run under wire across the Indian Railways.

The double-stack containers can carry 50 tonnes, against 26.5 tonnes in a single stack container, up 89 per cent. At a normal haulage rate, DSDC can generate more than 50 per cent revenue. In a related move, the Railways has expanded the list of cargo permitted for movement in containers and has included bricks and stones, sanitary wares, stone pillars, polished granite slabs, white cement, asbestos, cement blocks, cement plasters, fly ash, chemical manures, clay and sand, flours and pulses, iron and steel, cable wires, fish plates, ingots, pipes all types, wheels, iron and steel pipe cuttings, all types of metal and steels scrap, salt, soap and sugar.

A trial run of double stack dwarf container was conducted successfully on March 2, 2017 on the Jamnagar-Ludhiana route. The Jamnagar-Vapi section has also been identified for running it. The new concessional freight structure is expected to bring down the overall logistics cost in the country significantly.

Meanwhile, Hindustan Vacuum Glass Pvt Ltd, a promoter concern of DCM Shriram Industries Ltd, has successfully developed and manufactured a short height dwarf container in association with Kalyani Cast Tech Pvt Ltd. The container has the standard dimensions of a shipping container and an engineering design that enables these containers to be stacked and run on the designated electrified tracks of Indian Railways, a company release said.

Published on July 14, 2017