The Container Corporation of India (CONCOR), a Navratna public sector undertaking under the Ministry of Railways, has signed an agreement with Shiv Carriers Roadways Pvt. Ltd (SCRPL) for exclusive containerised operations by CONCOR at Sukhpur Private Freight Terminal (PFT) near Morbi-Wankaner belt on the Gandhidham-Viramgam rail network. This PFT is approximately 50 km from Morbi and 40 km from Maliya.
The agreement was signed in the presence of Mr P. K. Agrawal, Director (Domestic), CONCOR, on August 20, 2018, in Ahmedabad. The arrangement will ensure guaranteed connectivity for containerised cargo ex Sukhpur to the entire country through the vast rail network. This is the 80th terminal of CONCOR’s operations in the country. Loading of containers for destinations like Shalimar, Kanpur, Patna, Amingaon, Bangalore, Hyderabad, etc. has been initially planned at attractive rates.
The PFT, which is spread over an area of more than 1.5 lakh square metres, has state-of-art infrastructure like concrete paved yard measuring 15,000 sq. m for container stacking and handling along with 2 full-length rail lines, modern container and cargo handling equipment, huge transport fleet, administrative and user buildings, round-the-clock CCTV surveillance, etc. The facility will strategically help the trade to reduce its first leg road connectivity cost and will provide a huge advantage through economical rail movement.
Signing of this pact will give the trade in the region a shot in the arm, facilitating faster and cost-effective logistics solutions under a single window. The prime beneficiary of the facility will be the ceramic industry in Morbi, which produces 5 million tonnes of ceramic products in a year and fulfils around 70 per cent of the country’s demand. In addition, it will be advantageous to the soda ash, salt, agriculture and mixed commodity traffic, which, at present, is scattered and without any structured logistics support.
