Concor, FACT to set up container freight station

Kochi: The joint venture between Container Corporation of India (Concor) and the Fertilizers and Chemicals Travancore (FACT) to set up a Container Freight Station would provide total logical facility for export and import shipments and enhance its commitment to customers.

The project, requiring 20-30 acres of land, would be within 10 km from Vallarpadam island, where the international container transshipment terminal is being constructed, a press release from Concor said.

Concor is also planning to have rail connectivity near the joint venture project to move its international and domestic containers to hinterland areas and vice-versa, which would be an important step in consolidating its position as the market leader. The proposed container freight station would provide complete infrastructure for a ‘single window one-stop solution’.

The existing ISO 9001:2000 certified Rail Container Terminal of Concor at Willingdon Island, Kochi is providing rail connectivity to its door-door services at inland container depot at Whitefield in Bangalore; domestic container terminal at Okhla; domestic terminal at Phillaur (Ludhiana); inland container depot at Balasore (Orissa); domestic terminal at Shalimar (Kolkata).

Concor, Kochi can connect rake load consignments to any hinterland terminal/station other than those mentioned as per the customer’s needs, the release said. The Kochi terminal also provides 24x7 road transportation services for export and import containers between Rail Container Terminal at Kochi and inland container depot at Irugur in Coimbatore. It has been observed that the traffic between the two depots has grown exponentially.

In the last fiscal, Concor, Kochi has grown by more than 100 per cent in its domestic business over the previous year. Terminal stuffing of cargo commenced in the second half of last fiscal, with customers arranging the labour from the Kerala Head Load Workers Board. More than 500 containers were stuffed in Concor’s yard during the last fiscal. Similarly, new customers are also welcome for terminal stuffing/de-stuffing.

The Rail Container Terminal, Kochi has also repositioned ISO empty containers to Bangalore, Tuticorin, Chennai and Hyderabad. The terminal has the customs bonded facility providing “storage and delivery” of raw cashew imported containers and “customs examination and delivery” facility for imported scrap. Concor, Kochi has dealt with the highest ever scrap imports in the last fiscal.

With its economical tariff, rail connectivity, and customer-oriented services, Concor’s terminal at Willingdon Island, Kochi is expected to perform much better this fiscal, both in domestic as well as international container traffic.