Indian company proposes direct container transport

Container Corporation of India Ltd (CONCOR) has proposed that the government start direct container movement by barge and railway on a trial basis between the two countries.
The Indian state-run agency said container carrying charges and lead-time will come down drastically once the direct water and rail links are established.
Two CONCOR high officials met shipping ministry and communication ministry officials yesterday and placed the proposal.
But the government has asked the agency to place the proposal in detail after a few months, as infrastructure at river ports is not ready for such large-scale operation.
According to the proposal, CONCOR wants to use Khanpur and Pangao river ports in Narayanganj to handle containers between Kolkata and Narayanganj by barge.
The company will bring containers through Delhi-Kolkata-Dhaka route by railway and handle at Kamalapur Inland Container Depot.
Sk Mahfuz Hamid, managing director of Gulf Orient Seaways Ltd, the local agent of CONCOR, said they will be able to operate over one lakh containers a year in both ways.
Currently, businessmen will have to pay around $2,200-$3,000 for carrying a twenty feet equivalent unit (TEU) container from India to Bangladesh through feeder vessels, Hamid said.
The cost will come down to $700-$1,200 once the routes are introduced, he added.
It takes a container around 30 days to reach from India to Chittagong Port, which will also go down to only 7-10 days, Hamid said.
A shipping ministry high official said the company did not place its detailed proposal.
“After submission of a detailed proposal we will assess it and take decision,” the official said, requesting anonymity.
Manoj Krishna Akhouri, group deputy general manager (international marketing) of CONCOR, said there are no barriers to introducing the project. “The direct link will help the government generate a substantial amount of revenue from trade.”
Bangladesh will earn around $100 as service charge from each container, he added.
CONCOR is engaged in transportation, handling and parking of containers. As of March 31, 2009, the company had 13,576 containers and 8,117 high-speed wagons.
The company plans to operate under India-Bangladesh Protocol on Trade & Transit, which is part of a bilateral trade treaty, and has been extended by two years with effect from April 1, 2009. The two-year tenure of the protocol expired in March 2009.