Thirty four containers bound for Manila in the Philippines left the railhead at Container Corporation of India’s (CONCOR) Hyderbad’s inland container depot (ICD) heading for PSA Chennai’s on-dock rail terminal.
After more than three years since the last direct link, the freight train carrying 32 export containers of sunflower seeds for Ocean Network Express (ONE) and two containers of PVC board for APL will link with the 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 freight train 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 transported by road to PSA Mumbai from nearby depots.
PSA Chennai and PSA Mumbai have seen an increase in rail shipments from Hyderabad
after a 2019 trade meeting 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%, 10.8% and 21.5% respectively.
“All CONCOR Terminals functioned without any interruption during the lockdown period which not only helped EXIM (export/import) trade but also movement of essential commodities across India,” V. Kalyana Rama, Chairman and MD at CONCOR, said.
Mike Formoso, PSA India managing director, commented, “Storage utilisation remains within limits: there are no delays in vessel berthing nor in handling of outside transport. Evacuation via truck to CFS’s [container freight stations] and by rail is also taking place.”
