Container Corporation of India (Concor) today said it has inked a pact with Bharat Mumbai Container Terminals Ltd (BMCT) for shuttle train service between the terminal and the former's rail trans-shipment hubs (RTHs) at Kathuwas and Jakhwada.
"Concor and BMCT has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on December 19 to launch dedicated shuttle train running between BMCT and Concor's rail trans-shipment hubs (RTH) at Khatuwas and Jakhwada to consolidate containers railed between BMCT and North and West of India," the company said statement.
BMCT will designate the Kathuwas and Jakhwada RTHs as BMCT's inland extended gateways for north and west India while Concor will ensure competitive rail freight costs and transit times between BMCT and the RTHs in addition to providing competitive pre/on carriage rail options, it said.
The aggregation of all north and west India-destined boxes onto single train at BMCT in the gateway port of JNPT will enhance train utilisation.
At the same time, Concor will also be given priority handling its train at BMCT.
It said the speedy trans-shipment at Concor's RTHs will ensure boxes reach their destination on time. The end result is that shipping lines using BMCT's rail terminal can enjoy a higher service level overall at a much more competitive cost.
Concor and BMCT will also provide two further enhancements to the service offering and Dronagari Rail Terminal (DRT) will be designated as a direct port delivery point for longer stay import boxes, removing traffic from the roads and providing a more effective evacuation option, it said.
It added that BMCT will work in partnership with the Concor to offer shipping lines domestic repositioning of their empty containers, a service currently not available at terminals in JNPT due to lack of capacity.
BMCT, in a separate statement said its rail facilities will be the largest in India and the only on-dock Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) compliant facilities in JNPT, capable of handling 1.5km long, 360 Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit (TEU) container trains on completion of the DFC.
Kalyana Rama, Chairman and Managing Director of Concor, said, "By working together to provide superior service levels and offerings via our RTHs, we have no doubt that rail percentage in JNPT will see a major upswing with the commissioning of BMCT and we aim to see 35 per cent of volumes at BMCT handled by rail once the DFC is completed."
BMCT's CEO Suresh Amirapu, said, "CThis partnership between India's largest and most advanced rail container terminal facility at BMCT and with Concor, India's largest container train operator, will bring a significant enhancement in service levels to the trade. We also eagerly await completion of the DFC to unleash the full benefits of our facility.
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