Concor eyes a bigger pie of goods movement

Container Corporation of India Ltd (Concor) is all set to double its wagon capacity from the present level of 3,000 wagons to over 6,000 wagons in the next 18 months to cater to the increased demand for containerised movement of cargo within the country.

"We have placed the orders and have already received five rakes having 225 wagons," P G Thyagarajan, director, international marketing and operations, Concor, told Business Standard.

In the exim segment, Concor plans to enhance capacity for transportation, terminal operations and storage by building a few large and several small, customised terminals at strategic locations across the country.

Concor plans to establish strategic presence at some major container handling ports so to have presence at both points of transportation stream. Acquisition of new rail flat cars will lower rail haul cost in real terms and transit time.

"The focus on exim and domestic segments of the company's business will depend on their relative growth potential and profitability. While the company will build on its own expertise, it would also draw on the strength of potential associates in profitable business ventures," said Thyagarajan.

While in the domestic arena, Concor plans to bring back to railways a significant share of containerisable general goods cargo through aggressive marketing efforts. The main competition in this segment comes from road transportation.

The main strategy of Concor to capture domestic traffic is to run regular, scheduled point-to-point services. It plans to expand these CONTRACK services to several more origin-destinations (O-D) points.

The corporation plans to introduce greater efficiency through the use of newly acquired rolling stock. Special cargo and corporates will get particular focus by customisation of services and a wider terminal network will be put in place.

For Mumbai ports, which forms the dominant gateway for Concor traffic. Around 30 per cent of the port traffic belongs to an area within 300 km from the port, while the remaining 70 per cent traffic is for hinterland.

At 100 per cent inland penetration level, the share that Concor expects in the near future is over 70 per cent of the international traffic handled at the Mumbai ports.