Following the overwhelming response from the Nepal trade and shipping lines to carry out third country shipments via Visakhapatnam Port, more new importers and increased cargoes are finding their way to the port city bound for Nepal. The response from Nepal trade has been very good and till date 36 trains have departed for Nepal over the last six months, with momentum being gained since the beginning of this year with 12 rakes railed out in January and 7 already railed out in February till date, virtually a train every third day.
The Nepal Commerce Secretary, Mr Chandra Kumar Ghimire, had led a high-level delegation, including Joint Secretary, Mr Ravi Shanker Sainju, Executive Director of Nepal Intermodal Transport Development Board, Mr Laxman Bahadur Basnet, Director-General of Nepal Customs, Mr Jagadish Regmi and Chairman, Nepal Chamber of Commerce, Mr Rajesh Kazi Shreshtha, that visited Vizag to understand the modus operandi and investigate the reasons for delays in railing of Nepal-bound containers as per various news reports.
However, after checking the ground reality and after meetings with concerned authorities, i.e. the VPT Chairman, Mr Krishna Babu, IAS, and Commissioner of Customs, Dr D. K. Srinivas, IRS, and a visit to the Visakha Container Terminal, they were pleasantly surprised and pleased to note that there were no delays attributable to Visakhapatnam Port, Customs or CONCOR. On the contrary, they observed that the containers were being railed out within three days of the relevant documents being presented by the consignees and Nepal Embassy due to the highly simplified process at Visakhapatnam.
The delegation was very impressed by the product offered by Maersk Line and few other lines and NVOCCs out of Vizag, which is a unique one wherein the consignee or his appointed representative need not be present at Vizag and can clear his goods after the container reaches Birgunj, a major advantage to the trade in Nepal.
