CONCOR to start one more container train from Agra

Despite Agra being a major hub of footwear, engineering products, glass and handicraft industries, the exporters of the town often face problems in transporting their products from Agra to the port in Mumbai due to the shortage of the number of container trains passing through Agra, often resulting in undue delays in the shipping of consignments.

Taking note of this problem, Container Corporation of India Ltd. (CONCOR) has now agreed to operate another container train for the town's exporters, while also relenting on providing a number of other concessions to new exporters.

Discussing the issue with the exporters in Agra on Wednesday, Deepak Kapoor, chief general manager, CONCOR, said the corporation was ready to run another container train for Agra by the first week of October, provided there was enough business generated from the town.

He said CONCOR was also ready to extend a pre-deposit account facility to new exporters of the town in which, they could make payments to CONCOR through cheques instead of unnecessarily paying bank commissions on demand drafts.

Besides, he said, logistical support for loading and unloading of consignments at the dry port in the town will also be upgraded as many exporters had expressed their concerns on the lack of adequate logistical machinery at the dry port.

Later, talking to Business Standard, Avneesh Kaushal, chairman, foreign trade cell, National Chamber of Industries & Commerce, UP, said the exporters of Agra were at present utilising approximately 1,500 TEU (Twenty-foot Equivalent Units) container capacity each month, of which almost 60 percent was being utilised by the footwear industry and the rest by the engineering products and handicraft exporters.

This traffic was presently being serviced by just three container trains operating from Delhi on alternate days of the week, resulting in a continuous space crunch on the trains which caused delays in shipping the consignments.

But with one more container train becoming operational from Agra in the coming months, the shipment delay would be significantly decreased and a major volume of traffic, which was presently being sent to Mumbai via road transport, could also be directed through the new container train, he added.