Trasport Corp of India defers capex plans

The slowdown in the cargo sector has forced supply chain and logistics solutions provider Transport Corporation of India (TCI) to postpone some of its capital expenditure plans.      

The company has deferred the decision to purchase a ship for which it had earmarked Rs 100-125 crore last year, besides going slow on expansion of its fleet of trucks. It had plans to invest Rs 50-60 crore for purchase of trucks.      

"The slowdown in customer demand (for logistics) has caused us to defer the plans for the acquisition of the ship," TCI Executive Director Vineet Agarwal told PTI.      

In September last year, the logistics player had said it would purchase a ship to augment its capacity for carrying cargo.      

The company currently has five vessels, with combined a capacity of 16,000 tonnes dry weight, for movement of goods from Chennai and Vizag ports to Myanmar and Andaman and Nicobar Islands' capital Port Blair.      

TCI has another ship with a capacity of 3,500 tonnes for international waters. "Another reason is that the asset prices have gone up in the last two years. We are re-assessing our needs and will buy the ship and trucks at an opportune time," he said.      

It has 1,100 trucks currently.      

However, the company will go ahead with its plans to set up warehouses in various parts of the country. It at present has 7.5 million sq ft of warehousing space. "We will add half to one million sq ft space every year for the next few years," Agarwal said.