State-owned rail operator Container Corporation of India announced the launch of train services between the ports of Jawaharlal Nehru (Nhava Sheva), Mundra and Pipavav.
The move comes in the wake of cargo diversion by shippers after operations at Nehru, India's largest container gateway, came to a virtual standstill with the recent collision of two cargo ships at the Mumbai main harbor.
Concor also said it will operate additional services to reroute Nehru-bound export containers, which have been booked from its northern inland container depots at Tughlakabad and Dadri, near Delhi, as well as at Jaipur and Ahmedabad, to Mundra and Pipavav.
"In case containers are required to be moved from other depots such as Moradabad and Kanpur to Mundra and Pipavav, instead of JNPT, Concor would deploy trains to facilitate such movements," the company said.
Shipping lines and trade associations welcomed the initiative taken by Concor. "We have no other option but to divert cargo to Mundra and Pipavav," a shipping line official said.
The Journal of Commerce Online