| In a bid to facilitate faster evacuation of containers and shore up its container traffic, Kolkata Port Trust(KoPT) is negotiating with a host of private entrepreneurs for setting up another two to three container stations.
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| "Kolkata Dock System(KDS) needs another two or three container freight stations, preferably near the dock to ease the process of container evacuation and also to meet the growing container throughput. We are negotiating with some private players who have evinced interest in setting up these stations", A K Chanda, chairman of KoPT told Business Standard.
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| However, the private players have hitherto not come up with any specific proposal relating to their land requirement and the area where they are keen to set up these container freight stations(CFS), he added.
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| Denying reports that the price of land was too high and a deterrent for private players to set up CFS, Chanda pointed out that the rate of land offered by KoPT was reasonable.
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| An additional two or three CFS was expected to raise the container traffic at the KDS by around 15 per cent.
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| Currently, KoPT has one CFS built by the Central Warehousing Corporation(CWC) and another under Balmer Lawrie Ltd.
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| The third CFS, being built near the Kona Expressway, was expected to be commissioned in another 6-7 months.
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| The existing CFS within the dock areas were not enough to handle even the existing level of container traffic as a result of which the dock premises were being presently used as CFS.
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| KDS posted a 27 per cent growth in its container traffic during the first five months of this fiscal and handled 27,562 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) in the month of August alone.
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| Apart from establishing more CFS, other measures like enhancing the stack area within the dock premises also figures in KoPT's scheme of things.
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| KoPT had already anounced that it would increase the dock area by 40,000 sq metre, thereby taking the total dock area at the KDS to 1,30,000 sq metre.
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| The domestic containers apart, KoPT is also eyeing revenues from the export and import cargo containers.
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| Talking on this aspect, Chanda said, "We want Concor which has a dedicated terminal at the KDS to provide at least one rake per day exclusively for handling export-import containers. KoPT has sent a written request to the Union Railway Board in this regard." |
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