Indian moots container movement with Bangladesh
By IANSWednesday, February 24, 2010
DHAKA - An Indian firm has proposed that Bangladesh permit direct container movement by barge and railway on a trial basis between the two countries to reduce cost and time.
Two senior Container Corporation of India Ltd (CONCOR) officials met Bangladesh shipping ministry and communication ministry officials Tuesday. The government has sought details as infrastructure at river ports is not ready for such large-scale operation, The Daily Star said.
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 it at Kamalapur Inland Container Depot.
Sheikh Mahfuz Hamid, managing director of Gulf Orient Seaways Ltd, the local agent of CONCOR, said they will be able to operate over 100,000 containers a year.
Currently, businessmen pay around $2,200-$3,000 for carrying a twenty feet equivalent unit (TEU) container from India to Bangladesh through feeder vessels.
The cost will reduce to $700-$1,200 once the routes are introduced, Hamid said.
It takes a container around 30 days to reach from India to Chittagong Port, which will go down to only 7-10 days.
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, the newspaper said.
