| The Inland Container Depot (ICD) of Container Corporation of India (Concor) at Ajni has crossed another milestone. It handled 5000 TEUs (twenty feet equivalent units) of containers in June 2005.
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| The ICD achieved a throughput of 5007 TEUs in the export-import business last month. Imports to the ICD touched a new high of 2784 TEUs during the month. The imports were mostly of heavy and light melting scrap, polyester compounds, waste paper, and teak while exports comprised steel, de-oiled cakes and rice.
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| The container terminal was commissioned at Ajni in January 1997 and it has been among the fastest growing in the country.
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| It did a throughput of 47,066 TEUs last fiscal against a target of 43,500 TEUs. The initial target for this financial year was fixed at 52,500 TEUs, but the ICD expects to cross this figure much before the end of the fiscal.
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| The growth in import cargo is expected from the import of scrap as the government has now lifted restrictions on such imports. Export container growth is expected from rice exports as the commodity is being exported to newer destinations in the Far East and Sri Lanka.
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| Concor has taken steps to increase the capacity of the terminal for handling additional traffic, joint general manager of Concor's central region, Anil Sonawne said. It has already commissioned a separate empty container park near the ICD to ease congestion at the terminal.
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| Cargo imports by air in closed body trucks (CBTs) from the international airport at Mumbai are also accepted at Nagpur through Concor. Regular services for exports and imports of less than container load (LCL) cargo in CBTs are being provided at the ICD.
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| Concor has been contributing to the region's growth by helping it transform into a natural transhipment point in the country. Nagpur suburbs are witnessing a mushrooming of warehouses and the region is expected to eventually account for close to a fifth of the total third-party warehousing capacity in India.
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| According to industry estimates, about half a million square feet of warehousing capacity has already sprung up around Nagpur and further capacities of equal measure are being constructed at a rapid pace. Concor sees itself playing a vital role in this sector in developing the Nagpur ICD as a transhipment hub for domestic cargo offering east-west and north-south trunk rail routes. This makes it possible to run trains to and from all ports of the nation.
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| The total third-party warehousing capacity in India is estimated at 7 to 8 million square feet. This excludes warehouses owned by Concor. The domestic movement is also expected to gather pace as value added tax (VAT) regime becomes a national phenomenon and central sales tax (CST) is reduced to zero in due course.
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| The city is a converging point in the country's railway and road network and lies within 750 to 1250 kms from almost all major consumption and industrial centres.
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| Train connectivity has also increased now and Concor is providing regular services to all major ports like Jawaharlal Nehru Port, Chennai Port and Vizag Port. Concor has started the "hub and spoke" concept for coastal traffic coming to Nagpur via Chennai and Vizag ports. |
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