The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : “Need to establish more container freight stations”

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Thursday, Nov 01, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

“Need to establish more container freight stations”

Staff Reporter

To meet the exponential growth in cargo movement

“Modernise the yards with equipment such
as fork lifts and
gantry cranes”

Tuticorin: More number of container freight stations (CFS) should be established to commensurate the exponential growth in containerised cargo movement taking place in the country over the last decade, according to K. Suresh, Chairman, Tuticorin Port Trust.

Inaugurating the Container Freight Station established by the Vilsons Group of Companies here on an outlay of Rs.2 crore at a function held on Monday, he said that the container movement in the State registered 33 per cent growth during the first quarter of this fiscal vis-À-vis the corresponding period last fiscal.

He urged the operators of CFS to modernise the yards with state-of-the art equipments such as fork lifts and gantry cranes to facilitate faster movement and efficient handling of containers, rather than considering the facility as a mere transit point in the freight movement chain.

In his address, A. Subbiah, Deputy Chairman, Tuticorin Port Trust, said that the port plans to establish an additional container terminal on built, operate, transfer (BoT) mode during this fiscal to catapult Tuticorin as a major cargo handling port on the eastern coast of the country.

He reiterated the need for infrastructure development in the hinterland of the port in proportion with the increasing trade volume.

“The container freight stations are the ‘ideal answer’ for logistic support to the container trade and its growth,” he opined.

Freight corridors

Mr. Subbiah said that the port administration had submitted a report to the Central Government suggesting establishment of ‘backbone freight corridors’ connecting Erode with cities like Bangalore, Hyderabad and Nagpur during the first phase. This would facilitate easier movement of goods by rail from central India to the port here.

The corridor would also help expand the hinterland of the port and the container traffic through the port would witness a boom.

Infrastructure

Joe Villavarayar, chairman of Vilson CFS, said that the station was equipped with warehouse area of 20,000 sq.ft., fork lifts, escort crane, trailers and fool proof security system.

“We plan to handle 3,000 TEUs of containers a month and the capacity would be increased in phased manner,” he added.

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