Gujarat to emerge top cargo handler

Gujarat, with a leading number of major and minor ports, will emerge as undisputed leader for handling large amount of cargo in the country.

This view emerged at the day long symposium, 'Gujarat Junction 2004 by LAW (Land-Air-Water),' hosted by the Container Corporation of India (Concor), leader in containerised freight transportation by rail in India and the leading container terminal operator, on Friday in Ahmedabad.

The symposium comprehensively focussed on multimodal logistics and cargo movement in Gujarat and the north-west region.

"In recent years, Gujarat has emerged as the focal point of multimodal activity, a vital entry and exit point to and from India. The state is ideally located to emerge as cargo-consolidating hub for trade generated in the northern and western hinterlands of the country, especially given the numerous ports that dot its coastline, its productive cargo aggregation centres and its efficient and vast hinterland connections," said P G Thyagarajan, director, international marketing and operations, Concor.

The event provided an opportunity to the maritime trade and industry to seek a common platform, facilitating interaction between multimodal services providers and shipping lines, agents CHAs, freight forwarders, transporters, railways, airlines, airfreight agents amongst others.

According to Concor, the symposium is an effort on its part to facilitate discussion on logistics scenario in the state and the important north-west trade region so as to help generate new ideas for the smooth and streamlined flow of goods and information.

A veritable who's who from the logistics, ports and shipping, airlines and associated sectors, including prominent officials from the customs and other government agencies, participated in the symposium's two sessions, 'Connectivity' and 'In-Transit'.

The Connectivity session primarily presented an overview on port facilities, besides railways, road transport, airport and customs among others.

The session was chaired by Ravi B Budhiraja, chairman, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), while the speakers included A K Joti, chairman, Kandla Port Trust, Bhupendra Parikh, president, marketing, Pipavav Port, M P Shukla, president, planning and business development, Adani Port Ltd, M R R Reddy, joint commissioner of customs, L M Sahore, DRM, Western Railway and Samir Mankad, general manager, Adani Exports Ltd.

The In-Transit session was chaired by S S Rangnekar, director, Shipping Corporation of India Ltd, while the speakers included P G Thyagarajan, director, international marketing and operations, Concor, Ian Claxton, managing director, APL India, Gave Sarkari, director, Samsara Shipping Pvt Ltd, S K Shetty, managing director, Allcargo, D Kishore, manager, (Gujarat), Air India Cargo, R Venkatesh, joint managing director, Clearship Group, Boom Kiam Kuah, general manager-India, Singapore International Airlines Cargo and M Sreedharan, an exim consultant. Earlier, Mukul Jain, chief general manager, Concor, north-west region, delivered the welcome address, while Chinubhai R Shah, president, Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), delivered the keynote address. P C Jha, chief commissioner of customs was the chief guest.