Role of Containers in Multimodal

Transport
&
Container Hubs for Regional
Development

Pranai Prabhakar
CGM-NWR / CONCOR
NAIR, Vadodara, 28th September 2016
 Multimodal Transport
Multimodalism refers to transportation of goods
between two points by more than one mode of
transport. This could be by road-rail, road-rail-
sea, road-air or any other combination.

The distance over which the goods have to be

transported is an important consideration
because the characteristics of haulage charges
and terminal charges vary widely from mode to
mode.
 Cost and Efforts Involved

-> A to B = Haulage Charges.

-> B to C = Haulage Charges.
-> At A, B & C = Terminal Charges.
-> At A, B & C = Handling Charges.
 Multimodal Transport…
After the goods are loaded in a “multimodal
equipment” at the commencement of the
journey, they travel across multiple transport
modes without any further handling of the goods
until the goods reach the intended destination.

The carrier responsible for the entire carriage is

referred to as a multimodal transport operator, or
MTO.
 Multimodal Transport:
modal choice criteria

• Cost
• Speed
• Cargo value
• Security & safety
• Route
• Equipment availability
• Cargo characteristics
 Multimodal Transport
Advantages
• Cost effective
• Cargo safety assured: no shortage/theft
/damage/pilferage - less insurance cost
• Multiple pickup/deliveries: FCL/LCL
• Environmental friendly
• Fuel saving compared to only road transportation
• Provides mostly faster transit of goods
• Single window operation
• Reduces overall transaction cost
 Multimodalism & Containerization

• Multimodalism developed with “container

revolution” of 1960s and 70s
• Containerization is the most vital factor of
multimodal transportation as it combines the
consistency of rail, flexibility of road, the cost
effectiveness of shipping and speed of air
transport
• It is important to remember that
multimodal transport is not equivalent to
container transport.
 Types of Container..

Flatrack Open side

Open Top Tank

 CONTAINERS..

Container shipping is different from conventional shipping because it uses 'containers' of

various standard sizes - 20 foot (6.09 m), 40 foot (12.18 m) , 45 foot (13.7 m), 48 foot (14.6
m), and 53 foot (16.15 m) - to load, transport, and unload goods. As a result, containers can
be moved seamlessly between ships, trucks and trains. The two most important, and most
commonly used sizes today, are the 20-foot and 40-foot lengths

The 20-foot container, referred to as a Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit (TEU)

became the industry standard reference so now cargo volume and vessel
capacity are commonly measured in TEU. The 40-foot length container - literally
2 TEU - became known as the Forty-foot Equivalent Unit (FEU) and is the most
frequently used container today.
Boxed up and
ready to go
State of the Art ICDs of CONCOR – Specialised Reefer Movement
 Benefits of Containerization

• Reduces transit time through quicker cargo

handling & by reducing the number of
individual pieces of cargo that need to be
handled
• Ensures substantial savings in packaging cost
as compared to break bulk shipment
 Benefits of Containerization…

• Obviates the need for covered warehouses as

containers can be stored in the open, thereby
reducing warehousing cost
• Eliminates the intermittent handling of cargo during
transit. Cargo arrives in better condition at
destination
• Safety & security- No pilferage and physical damage
to cargo
 Evolution of Containerization in
India

• Given the continental distances in India (almost 3000

km from north to south and east to west), rail
transport is most cost effective option for cargo
transportation over medium and long distances

• Indian Railways (IR) started door-to-door movement

of domestic cargo in special DSO containers in 1966
 Evolution of Containerization in
India…
• In 1981, first ISO container moved by IR to India’s
first Inland Container Depot (ICD) at Bangalore,
managed by IR
• By 1988, the network expanded to 7 ICDs
• Container Corporation of India Ltd (CONCOR) set up
in 1988 as a PSU under Ministry of Railways
• CONCOR aimed to develop multimodal logistics
support for India’s international & domestic
containerized cargo & trade
 Evolution of Containerization in
India…

• CONCOR today has a network of 63 terminals spread

over the country.

• CONCOR has three distinct activities - a carrier, a

terminal operator and a warehouse operator

• CONCOR’s ICDs are dry ports in the hinterland and

bring all port facilities including customs clearance to
the customer’s doorstep
Pure Dom -> 15
Pure Exim -> 13
Combined -> 35
________________
Total -> 63
 Evolution of Containerization in
India…

• CONCOR provides single-window facility coordinating

with different agencies like customs, gateway ports,
IR, road haulers, shipping lines, CHAs and forwarders

• In terms of Twenty-foot Equivalent Units (TEUs)

handled every year, CONCOR’s Throughput has
grown tremendously (52,000 TEUs in 1989-90 to
3.11 million TEUs in 2014-15)
 Evolution of Containerization in
India…
• In Feb 2006, Ministry of Railways granted license to
private players to operate container trains

• These companies are expected to invest in rolling

stock, ICD and logistics parks

• Apart from CONCOR, 16 container train operators

were granted license
 Containerization in India:
Present status
• India handled 11.53 million TEUs (175 million tons) at all Ports in
2014-15.
• Major ports handled 8 million TEUs registering a growth of 6.71%
(Indian Ports Association).
• Mundra and Pipavav ports handled 2.64 and 0.79 Million TEUs
registering growth of 14% and 15.45 % respectively over the
previous financial year.
• Rail share of EXIM containerized traffic between gateway ports and
hinterland ICDs was 38.38 million tons (22%).
• Container traffic (48.83 MT) accounted for 4.45% of the IR’s freight
basket of 1097.57 MT.
• CONCOR handled 3.11 million TEUs (36.19MTs) in 2014-15 at its
vast network of 63 terminals spread across the Country.
Double Stack Container Rakes..
 Typical Journey of a Container
Need of Hubs
Empty Containers at Inland Container Depot/Stacking Park
By road
Factory (Stuffing of Containers).
By road
ICD/PORT
By Road/Rail
Port
from Stack
Scheduled Ship

Transhipment Port

Destination Port

ICD

Destination
(Destuffing)
 Busiest Container Ports
Sr. Port Vol.2014 Sr. Port Vol.2014
No. (Million No. (Million
TEU) TEU)
01. Shanghai, China 35.29 11. Rotterdam,
12.30
Netherlands
02. 12. Port Kiang,
Singapore 33.87 10.95
Malaysia
03. 13. Kaohsiung,
Shenzhen, China 24.03 10.59
Taiwan, China
04. Hong Kong 22.23 14. Dalian, China 10.13

05. 15. Hamburg,

Ningbo-Zhoushan, China 19.45 9.73
Germany
06. Busan, South Korea 18.65 32. JNPT, India 4.45
07. Qingdao, China 16.62 Source data: The Journal of
Commerce annual top 50 World
08. Guangzhou Harbor, China 16.16 Container Ports, Lloyd's List annual
Top 100 Ports, AAPA World Port
09. Rankings, Drewry World Container
Jebel Ali, Dubai, UAE 15.25 Traffic Port Handling and individual
port websites.
10. Tianjin, China 14.05
 Top 15 Exporters of Containerized Cargo
Sr. Port Vol.2014 Sr. Port Vol.2014
No. (Million No. (Million TEU)
TEU)

01. China 36.0 11. Brazil 2.88

02. United States 11.9 12. Malaysia 2.60

03. South Korea 5.93 13. Saudi Arabia 2.24

04. Japan 5.28 14. Italy 1.83

05. Indonesia 4.00 15. Turkey 1.82
06. Thailand 3.92

07. Germany 3.32 Source data: IHS Global Insight, World

Trade Service
08. Taiwan 3.25
09. India 3.07
10. Vietnam 2.94
Top 15 Importers of Containerized Cargo
Sr. Port Vol.2014 Sr. Port Vol.2014
No. (Million No. (Million
TEU) TEU)
01. 11.
United States 19.6 India 2.39
02. 12.
China 14.7 Thailand 2.35
03. 13.
Japan 6.55 Malaysia 2.33
04. South Korea 5.09 14. Brazil 2.32
05. 15.
Indonesia 3.17 U. A. E. 2.30
06.
Germany 3.00
07. United Kingdom 2.64 Source data: IHS Global Insight, World
Trade Service
08. Taiwan 2.53
09.
Australia 2.52
10. Vietnam 2.47
 Top Trade Routes..
Sr. Route TEU shipped
No. 2013
01. Asia-North America 23,125,000
02. Asia-North Europe 13,706,000
03. Asia-Mediterranean 6,739,000
04. Asia-Middle East 5,014,000
05. North Europe-North America 4,710,000
06. Australia-Far East * 2,923,279
07. Asia-East Coast South America 2,131,000
08. North Europe/Mediterranean-East Coast South
1,680,000
America
09. North America-East Coast South America 1,306,000

Source data: IHS Global Insight, World Trade Service

 SERVICES PROVIDED AT TERMINALS

• Train Handling
• Container Storage
• Customs facilitation
• Warehousing of cargo (transit, bonded,
LCL etc)
• Associated Value Added Services
• Door to Door Solutions
DETAILS OF MOVABLE ASSETS
• Rolling stock - 315 rakes
• No of Containers -20984
• No of Gantry Cranes - 17
• No Reach Stackers - 52

Company has been procuring around 750

wagons from IR workshops every year for
last 5 years.

29
 CONCOR’s Robust IT Systems
• VSAT based network extended over 64 locations
• Terminal Management Systems for
– EXIM
– Domestic
– ERP for Finance & HR
– Data Warehouse Module for Commercial
Applications
• E-Payment of RR to IR through TMS
• Web enabled Customer Feedback
• Facility for e-filing of documents
• Online container tracking on CONCOR system
• KYC (Know Your Container) in some terminals
• SMS based container tracking
 Future Ahead: MMLPs
(Multimodal logistics parks)
• To harness the potential of development of DFC and
expansion of Port capacity

• Value addition centre for cargo

• Just in Time Inventory management for customers

• All facilities at the doorstep of customers

• Synergies between various stakeholders in the

logistics chain
 Facilities in MMLPs
• Rail access for container trains for movement in both EXIM and Domestic
sectors.
• Inland Container Depot / Domestic Container Terminal facilities
• Warehousing
– Transit
– Bonded
– Cold Chain etc
• Access to Indian Railway freight wagons for loading/unloading of bulk
cargo under the PFT policy.
• State of art operational and handling facilities like Reach stackers,
cranes, Forklift trucks and trailers for internal transfer and local and long
distance transportation.
• Fully paved area with separate entry and exit gates with sufficient supply
of electricity and water.
• Customized IT application for the state of art facilities of operations and
storage.
• Management functions covering a wide array of value added services
along location to make use of synergies.
• Other customer facilitation services
 CONCOR’s plans for MMLPs

• Coming up at 15 locations

• Along Western and Eastern DFCs and Feeder

Routes

• In Rajasthan, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Andhra

Pradesh, Odisha, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu
and Uttar Pradesh
Artist impression of MMLP
MMLP KHODIYAR ....1st MMLP in Gujarat
View of Integrated Gate Complex
at MMLP, Kathuwas
 Rail Transshipment Hub
• In DFC system trains carrying capacity to quadruple and
costs to come down (360 TEUs per train)

• But Aggregation of single origin-destination will become

time consuming

• CONCOR developing Rail Transshipment Hubs for re-

aggregation of containers dispatched from Ports and Dry
Ports

• Thereby decongesting the three main western Gateway

ports – particularly JNPT

• And making services cheaper and quicker for the

Customer
• RTHs planned at Swarupganj and Phulera in Rajasthan
along Western DFC
 RTH – Pictorial Version
RAJASTHAN PUNJAB DELHI/NCR UTTAR PRADESH
& UTTRAKHAND
- JODHPUR -LUDHIANA -TUGHLAKABAD - PANTNAGAR
-DADRI - MORADABAD
- JAIPUR -AHMEDGARH
-REWARI - KANPUR
- KATHUWAS -BALLABHGARH

SWARUPGANJ PHULERA

MUNDRA PIPAVAV JNPT

PRES CAP - 3MN PRES CAP - 0.8MN PRES CAP – 5 MN TEUs

ADDL. CAP – 3 MN ADDL. CAP – 0.5 MN ADDL. CAP – 5 MN TEUs

HINTERLAND DRY PORT

RAIL TRANSHIPMENT HUBS

GATEWAY PORTS