Private warehouses rentals around Kakinada seaport have increased 200-250 per cent over the last one month due to shortage of rail racks.
The port needs four rail racks daily to evacuate fertilisers on a regular basis, but railways are not in a position to allocate the racks. As a result, importers have to depend on private warehouses, YS Prasad, chief executive officer of Kakinada Seaports Limited, told Business Standard.
Generally private warehouses rentals are in the range of Rs 3-4 per sft per month. But now to cash in on the situation, these warehouses are charging anywhere between Rs 12 and 14.
Iffco, Cribco, Zevari and a few other companies import fertilisers through Kakinada port to meet the domestic needs. Though there are godowns of the port, Central Warehousing Corporation and other government organisations, with a capacity of 250,000-300,000 tonnes, this falls short as the evacuation is quite slow. Currently more than 450,000 tonne fertiliser is lying in the godowns, said K Rajagopal Reddy, senior area manager, Iffco.
“We have imported these fertilisers for farmers of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra and West Bengal. These should reach them immediately to start their Rabi season activities, but due to the shortage of rail racks, we are not in a position to supply,” he said. At least, 8-10 rail racks are currently needed daily to move the stock, but the railways has been allotting just one or two racks a day from the last one month, he added.
Stating that the port was witnessing increase in fertiliser vessels from the last two months, he said as on date four such vessels had berthed while three were waiting on the roads. A few more were expected in the next two weeks. According to him, if quick evacuation does not take place, importers might divert their vessels to other ports and this would affect not only the port’s income but also the state's revenues.
The port management and fertiliser importers recently met the railway general manager and explained the problems.
