Delays continue to plague the Nagpur International Container Depot (ICD) of the Container Corporation of India (Concor) with shipping line agents now claiming that there are over 1000 containers meant for Nagpur piled up at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) and the Nava Sheva International Container Terminal (NSICT). Movement from the Nagpur ICD, which till recently had a throughput of 5,000 TEUs (twenty feet equivalent units or standard container) per month has come to a virtual standstill. Importers and exporters maintain that they have adequate cargo for Concor, but the organisation is not able to handle the traffic.Problems began on May 1 when the central region of Concor segregated container handling and transportation contracts and awarded them to two different parties. Earlier, both contracts were bundled as one and were awarded to Kandla Cargo Handlers for the past decade. Concor is saving crores of rupees by splitting the contract, D K Tripathi, chief general manager, (central region) of Concor, said.However, the new party which got the handling contract, Maruti Transport, does not yet have the equipment for handling containers. Kandla Cargo Handlers did have an interest in the transportation contract alone and has since dismantled its equipment and shipped it out.Meanwhile chaos prevails at the container depot with both importers and exporters wanting their containers off-loaded or loaded urgently. Shipping line agents say there are 1050 containers piled up at JNPT and NSICT meant for Nagpur. They can't be brought here because rake turnarounds have reduced. Containers are also piling up at the Nagpur ICD despite Concor's reluctance to accept export containers.
