BackContainer Corp in talks for shipping services joint venture
Container Corp in talks for shipping services joint venture
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Mumbai: Container Corp. of India Ltd is in talks with shipping services firms for joint ventures that would help it offer multi-modal and door-to-door transport services, a senior official said on 3 May.
The state-run logistics company, which entered into a joint venture with private-sector firm Transport Corp. of India (TCI), now plans to extend the partnership to coastal services, managing director Rakesh Mehrotra said.
“We have also envisaged a coastal shipping service with them; it would be a truly multi-modal facility," he said.
The company already has a joint working agreement with the Seaways group for moving cargo by ship to Bangladesh and Myanmar.
“We can expand this if needed... We are in talks with a number of shipping services firms," Mehrotra said on his plans of a tie-up for moving cargo across international waters. Container Corp., in which the Indian government owns 63.09%, uses the Indian Railway network for operating its rakes and has a network of 57 container freight stations countrywide.
In March, the company entered into a joint venture agreement with Gateway Distriparks to move containers from the latter’s depot in north India. A venture along similar lines is being worked out with private container train operator India Infrastructure & Logistics, he said, where APL Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Neptune Orient Lines, has a stake.
Container Corp. and APL operate a container freight station in north India. “The joint ventures would help us to retain our position as a dominant player," Mehrotra said.
Container Corp. plans to maintain its revenue growth at 25% in 2007-08 on higher volumes from both the domestic and export-import segment, Mehrotra said.
It reported a 25.1% rise in 2006-07 revenue to Rs3,114 crore and a net profit of Rs691 crore.
“We had a growth in volume and our other expenses per twenty-foot-equivalent unit containers are down by 18% due to better efficiencies," Mehrotra said.
“The company hopes to maintain the rates, provided the Indian Railways don’t increase it midway," he added. “But we are working on a scheme on discounts where there is a committed volume."
Container Corp. plans to spend Rs5 billion in 2007-08 on building container freight stations, ordering new wagons and in joint ventures, Mehrotra said. It plans to add four freight stations this financial year to its existing 57.
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