NEW DELHI: State-owned Container Corporation of India Ltd (CONCOR) will raise rail freight rates for moving export – import dry loaded and empty containers and reefer loaded and empty containers from June 1. The move follows a decision by the Ministry of Railways to scrap the 5% discount in haulage charge ...
... per twenty-foot equivalent unit or TEU for movement of loaded containers from May 1.
Further, the Railways Ministry decided to cut the discount for movement of empty containers and empty flat wagons to 15% from 25% in haulage charge per TEU from May 1.
CONCOR said in a trade notice the revision in rail tariff for movement of empty (dry and reefer) containers under discounted tariff to various terminals for export purpose will also take effect from June 1 and remain valid till March 31, 2023.
Terminal handling and other charges will be levied separately at the respective terminals. Any port related charges will be borne by the customer, it added.
Officials said that CONCOR has increased the rates in the same proportion as the rate rationalisation carried out by the Ministry of Railways.
The Indian Railways’ decision to rationalise haulage rates will be a burden on CONCOR. “We are not going to absorb the increase; we will pass it on to our customers,” said a CONCOR official.
Other container train operators are also expected to announce rate revisions in the next few days.
The decision by the railways to rationalise the haulage charges comes at a time when the trucking industry, its main rival, is hit by soaring operational costs on the back of higher diesel prices that have pushed up the freight rates.
Currently, some 35 per cent of domestic freight is moved via railways, while 60 per cent is transported by road. The share of railways is expected to rise as more stretches of the Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) are commissioned and multi-modal logistics parks are opened.
Containerised cargo accounts for only 5% of the Indian Railways total volumes; the rest 95% is moved on railway-owned wagons. Experts say the railways’ rate increase is unlikely to shift the traffic to the road.
