CONTAINERISATION IN INDIA

Capt. Prakash Joag

OBJECTIVES OF THE PRESENTATION

What

is an Inland Container Depot?

Enumerate services provided by an
ICD
Name six ICD in India and the year
in which they are established
What is CFS and how does it
functions differ from ICD
What is the role of CONCOR ? How
does it help in the movement of
containers?
Why has progress of multimodal
transport been slow in India ?
Discuss various problems
AISCfull INSA
CY
CTD
Give
forms of LCL
following
abbreviations:
CWC
PSWC

CONCOR

Prior to Containerisation
HANDLING

MULTIPLE

All cargoes other than bulk commodities were moved package by package
and piece by piece with multiple handling, resulting in damage, pilferage and
time loss.

Containerisation In India
Indian

railways introduced container services

for the first time in 1966 and provided an
integrated intermodal door-to-door services
with in the country
Containers with a pay load of five tonnes were
loaded, sealed and taken over by railways
In 1969, Indian railways also started the Freight
Forwarder Scheme (FFS) utilizing the services of
road haulers between rail-head and godown
Railway Container Services
Freight Forwarding
Popularity + Revenue generation
*But services were only confined to inland transportation only

With the advent of

Containerisation

Source : Slide Share ; A-brief-presentation-on-containerisation-presentation by Subhash

Pictorial flowchart

Shipper books
shipment

Company advises port

depot to release empty
to Shipper

At Shippers premises
shipment stuffed into
Contr.

Stuffed laden box

returned to port by
Shipper

Port depot releases

empty to Shipper

Released empty is
taken to Shippers
premises

Stuffed laden box

upon return to port is
stacked in CY

laden box is loaded to

vsl
Ship sails out with the
shipment

Source : Slide Share ; A-brief-presentation-on-containerisation-presentation by Subhash

At Shippers premises
shipment stuffed into
Contr.

laden box taken to vsl

side for loading

Beginning & Development

Concept

of ocean going containers was

introduced in India for the first time in 1968 in a
seminar jointly by the INSA, DG SHIPPING, SCI,
AISC at Mumbai

In

early 1970s SCI acquired the first semi

container ship, other shipping companies like
Scindia Steam Navigation Co. Ltd and India
Steamship Co. Ltd followed on the steps of SCI

In

1973, the American President Lines began

scheduling their cellular feeder container ships
to Bombay and brought the necessary handling
equipments with them, action was repeated by
European lines and thereafter other countries
started scheduling their ships to Indian ports

Beginning & Development

Contd..
India started seriously to adopt containerization
in 1978.Major ports like Mumbai , Cochin,
Chennai , Haldia/ Calcutta commenced to equip
themselves for handling container ships
Shipper and consignees also responded to the
opportunities and benefits of containerization
Hence, despite heavy investments and
numerous problems in smooth flow of goods ,
Indian was forced into containerization to stay
abreast with the dominant trend in the world
economy
India finally entered into containerized transport of goods

ICDs Roles & Functions

An

Inland Container Depot is an organization

offering a total package of activities to control
container and general cargo flows between road , rail
and waterways, and vice versa providing maximum
services for inland transportation at minimum cost
ICDs / CFS ( container freight stations. ) are thus
interfaces between connecting modes of
transportation.
Full benefits of containerization can be only obtained
if the containers are permitted to reach the locations
of original cargo generation points and shipping
formalities can take place there itself rather instead
of at the exit gateway port, hence ICDs played a
crucial role in this process
Activity revolve around Rail sliding, container yard,
warehouse, gate complex.

ICDs / CFS Services

Handling

of containers from road , rail and barges to a

temporary storage area (e.g., Container Yard)
Intermediate cargo storage between various
transportation modes, managing the special containers
such as DG cargo and Reefers
Receipt and delivery of containers and general cargo
Cargo consolidation and distribution, if the container
cannot be received or delivered directly at the final
consignees door. In this case stuffing and de stuffing
are done before cargo movement prior to dispatch.
Temporary cargo storage.
Transit operations by rail/road to and from serving ports
Custom clearance of import / export cargoes.
Depot functions as storage for empty containers. Space
may also be required for temporary storage of loaded
containers awaiting movement out of ICD

ICDS Services Contd

Maintenance

and repair services for containers

container handling equipments , refrigeration
equipments , road chassis etc.
Reworking of containers.
Customs clearance activities at inland terminals
helps to decrease the dwell time for containers in
deep sea ports, this includes ;
Checking of LCL cargo prior to stuffing or after de stuffing
Checking container seals
Assessment and valuation of cargo
Physical

distribution services are provided

economically at or close to the ICDs, a variety of
cargo related services to finish the goods are
normally placed near ICD itself (Garments can be
ironed and packed , price tagged on consumer
goods, liquid in bulk can be bottled in short etc .)

Inland Container Depots in

On the initiative of Indian Railways below mentioned ICD have
India
been set up first as pilot projects Depots in India

Location

Established

Bangalore

Aug, 1981

Guntur

Apr, 1983

Anaparti

Apr, 1983

Coimbatore

Dec, 1983

Delhi (Pragati Maidan)

Mar, 1984

Delhi ( Tughlakabad
Softcoke Siding)

Feb,1985

Amingaon (Guwahati)

Nov,1985

Ludhiana

Aug,1986

ICDS Contd
Railways

provided the transport link between the

ICDs and the gateway port
Locations were selected on the basis of potential
of generating volume of export cargo or where
distribution of import cargo can be easily
facilitated
Locations of ICDs and CFS is regulated by the
Ministry of Commerce and Government of India,
Ministry is encouraging liberalization and
competitiveness with a view to making transport
more attractive and customer friendly maintaining
the inter-regional balance
Making ICD & CFS complementary to each other .
CFS (cargo aggregating points) should feed the
ICDs for carriage to gateway port in sizable
quantity and over long distances

CONCOR
Incorporated

in Mar, 1988 under Ministry of

Railways with the prime objective of developing
modern multimodal transport logistics and
infrastructure for supporting international trade
At present it has total 41 EXIM terminals (Rail /
Road linked ICDs and Port Side Container
Terminals (PSCTs) , with another 13 in pipeline
CONCOR provides linkage between ports and
hinterlands
One of the major thrust in improving the quality
of services in area of EXIM business has come up
with introduction of Stae-of-the-art Rolling Stock
by CONCOR for running long lead export and
import special trains to and from the gateway
ports

CONCOR Value Added

Services
As a CFS operator , CONCOR provides a number
of value added services;
Transit warehousing for EXIM cargo
Bonded warehousing, which helps importers to store
import cargo and take partial deliveries as and when
required , thereby deferring duty payment
Provision of air cargo complexes in some terminals
Consolidation of LCL cargoes
Reefer movements
Private Container Train operators --- CTOs
Rail operated by GOI

CTOs

Jan 2006 private and public were allowed to operate

container trains on IR net work through Competitive
bidding licenses given.

Till then monopoly of CONCOR put condition that CTOs

should not do business with existing CONCOR customers.

15 licenses issued for running TEU trains. Initial good

response.

Operators were skeptical about viability due to lack of

clarity about haulage charges, wagon maintenance, transit
guarantee, terminal charges etc.

Licenses given from / to JNPT , Mundra , chennai, Ennore,

Vizag, Kochi,Kandla, Manglore, Goaetc.

Gateway rail Freight pvt ltd first to run Container train in

May 2006.

16 container operators like Gateway, Adani, freight star,

Reliance, Transrail , SICAL, CWC, Concor, Boxtrans etc.

Central Warehousing
Corporation
A

premier Warehousing Agency in India,

established during 1957 providing logistics support
to the agricultural sector, is one of the biggest
public warehouse operators in the country offering
logistics services to a diverse group of clients

CWC

is operating 464 Warehouses across the

country with a storage capacity of 10.8 million
tonnes providing warehousing services for a wide
range of products ranging from agricultural
produce to sophisticated industrial products

Central Warehousing
Corporation
CWC also offers services in the area of clearing &
forwarding, handling & transportation,
procurement & distribution, disinfestations
services, fumigation services and other ancillary
activities
CWC is playing vital role in operating CFSs, there
is a proper coordination between CONCOR and
CWC for smooth flow of cargo between CFS
managed by different agencies
CWC at glance ;
Warehouses: 464
Storage Capacity: 10.81MT

Containerisation ISSUES
Slow Progress
&Challenges
Despite all measures which are intended to facilitate
multimodal transport, the progress of multimodal
transport in India has been slow
Container traffic handled by the ICDs constitutes only
about 15% of the total traffic handled by the ports
Containerisation in India continues to be essentially a port
to port movement and economic benefits of multimodal
transport have been realized only to limited extent by the
Indian trade and transport industry
INFRASTRUCTURAL

PROBLEMS

Reasons for slow progress are ;

Container handling facilities are not adequate to attract mainline
containers vessels who continue to rely on feeder services entailing
additional cost
Cost of moving the container through Indian port is comparatively
higher than the cost ion other South East Asian ports
Both rail and road transport have not been adequately developed as
yet for the inland cargo movement

Containerisation Issues
&Challenges
Lack of coordination
Apart from the listed factors, trade appears to be facing
a number of problems relating to documentation ,
handling and lack of coordination among the agencies
involved such as ports , customs , railway, carriers
agents etc
Hence most shippers , consignees and shipping lines are
wary of patronising ICDs to the maximum extent
Solutions

Many inter related and complimentary element

procedures and formalities at different points in the
multimodal transport chain which needs to be
coordinated under the overall control of a single
authority in order to ensure smooth and efficient
operations
CONCON needs to be developed further and
empowered.

Suggested Reading

Containerisation,

Multimodal Transport
and Infrastructure Development in India
Dr. K. V Hariharan , 5th Revised
Ed., 2007

E class Container vessel

Builders:Daewoo

Shipbuilding
Operators:Maersk
Preceded by:Mrsk E class container ship
Planned:20 ships orderedGeneral characteristics
Type:Container ship
Tonnage:165,000DWT
Displacement:55,000 tonnes (empty)[1]
Length:400m (1,312ft)Beam:59m
(194ft)Draft:16m (52ft)
Propulsion:Twin MAN engines, 32 MW each
Capacity:18,340TEU
Notes:Cost $185 million[1]