Direct Rail connectivity resumes between Hyderabad & PSA Chennai

0
1610

After more than 3 years since the last direct link, a rake carrying 32 export containers of sunflower seeds from Ocean Network Express (“ONE”) and 2 containers of PVC board from APL yesterday traveled from Container Corporation of India’s (“CONCOR”) Hyderabad ICD to PSA Chennai’s on-dock railhead. The containers were bound for export on ONE vessel “Xin Pu Dong”, on the TE1 service with a final destination of Manila.

To support exporters in the Hyderabad area with empty containers for loading, a rake of 90 empty containers also belonging to ONE departed PSA Mumbai’s railyard for CONCOR’s ICD at Hyderabad on 8 May 2020. The containers were first trucked to PSA Mumbai from nearby depots.

PSA Chennai and PSA Mumbai have seen an increase in rail shipments from Hyderabad after a 2019 trade meet held by PSA India in the city. In April 2020, PSA Chennai, PSA Kolkata, and PSA Mumbai all hit record highs in terms of the percentage of cargoes arriving or departing via rail at 23.2%, 0.8%, and 21.5% respectively.

Mr. V. Kalyana Rama, Chairman and Managing Director of CONCOR, said, “All CONCOR Terminals functioned without any interruption during the lockdown period which not only helped EXIM trade but also the movement of essential commodities across India. Extension gates at Chennai and Mumbai, a new concept, which started during this period with the support of Customs, Ports, and Railways, not only kept ports fluid but also increased rail share. I congratulate and thank Customs authorities, JNPT and Chennai port authorities, and Railways for all their support for making this new concept successful. One more good achievement is the starting of the Hyderabad-Chennai service after a long gap of more than 3 years. This will help the exporters and importers of the Hyderabad region. I congratulate all the stakeholders for coming together and bringing the innovative solutions without which the logistics would not have been smooth and successful.”

Mr. Mike Formoso, PSA India Managing Director, said, “Rail has played an essential role in ensuring freight continues to move nationwide, especially given the shortage of trucks and staff. By playing our part together with other stakeholders, we aim for higher levels of rail utilization as the norm, not an exception, under these unprecedented circumstances. Beyond the very welcome concessions from Indian Railways, CONCOR and other container-train operators, as well as new solutions such as extension Gate, we hope for a major structural review in the pricing of rail container haulage, to encourage a more permanent modal shift.

“All our terminals are operating normally, with added safety precautions in place to protect our staff and port users. Storage utilization remains within limits: there are no delays in vessel berthing nor in the handling of outside transport. Evacuation via truck to CFS and by rail is also taking place and we express our gratitude and appreciation to all our stakeholders, particularly Customs, Railways, the Port Trusts where we operate, CONCOR, CTOs, neighboring CFSs and ICDs as we work closely alongside each other to keep trade moving.”

อัพเดตข่าวสารและบทความที่น่าสนใจในอุตสาหกรรมโลจิสติกส์ก่อนใคร ผ่าน Line Official Account @Logistics Mananger เพียงเพิ่มเราเป็นเพื่อน @Logistics Manager หรือคลิกที่นี่

Previous articleDACHSER expansion in Erfurt
Next articlePIL Enhances West Africa Services
Ryan Finn
Ryan is the Digital Marketing and Content Creation Manager for Trade and Logistics Siam Ltd. He provides a creative flair to the team and his resourcefulness helps to bring an imaginative improvement to both literary archetypes and online content production. A writer by day and a rider by night, when he's not composing the latest logistics news update or creating compelling copy for our clients, Ryan spends his free time travelling Thailand by motorbike.