February 12, 2003

Transworld, Concor tie up for direct coastal shipping
The Hindu - Business Line: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com

The Transworld Group, in joint venture with Container Corporation of India (Concor), on Wednesday will commence its direct coastal shipping service on the East Coast connecting Chennai with Chittagong and Myanmar. The IBM (India, Bangladesh and Myanmar) service will offer exporters of India and Myanmar a ``cheaper and safe'' mode of transportation, said a Transworld official. While the Transworld Group would provide the sea services, Concor would provide containers for cargo movement from various ICDs (inland container depots)to Haldia and Chennai ports, he added.

The Transworld group owns and operates 22 vessels with capacities varying between 400 and 1,250 TEUs (20- foot equivalent units) and is a major feeder operator accounting for nearly 15 per cent of the country's liner business.

Currently, containers from Chennai to Yangoon and vice versa go via Singapore, and the trade bears the additional transhipment cost at Singapore. The new service would cut this additional cost, he added.

The first IBM service will commence with the 369-TEU capacity container vessel, Orient Vision, leaving Chennai to Haldia (nine days)on Wednesday, said the official. From Haldia, the vessel would leave for Chittagong (four days) and from there to Yangoon (four days).

From Yangoon it would be a direct service to Chennai.

Once the trade is fully aware of the coastal service, there would be a major cargo diversion from road to sea, he added.

This is the second such direct coastal service on the East coast. A few months ago, the Bangladesh-based HRC Shipping started its coastal service connecting Chennai with Chittagong, Haldia and Colombo.

According to the official, the new service would offer a direct connection to Myanmar via Haldia and Chittagong. While cotton yarn is a major commodity moving from Chennai, there is a good scope for moving other cargoes including machinery and automobile spare parts, he said.

In the return direction, pulses would be a major commodity with about 5,000 containers coming from Yangoon to Chennai last year, he said.

Currently, most of the commodities between India and the neighbouring countries move by road. However, there is a ban on movement of some commodities including cotton yarn by road, which can now be moved by the coastal service, he added.

The major advantage in the coastal movement would be hassle-free cargo movement and protection from pilferage. In road movement, the trade lose 20-25 per cent of cargo due to pilferage, he added.

Trade sources said that the concept of coastal shipping on the East coast was yet to catch up in a big way, and its success would depend to a large extent on more main line vessels calling at the Chennai port.

According to the Transworld official, the Haldia ICD would consolidate cargo from the northern belt, while Chennai would take care of the south. Concor would bring the containers through rail to Haldia and Chennai ports respectively, he added.

The IBM service would enable regular empty repositioning facility for TEUs empties from Chittagong - Yangon/Chennai.

The other coastal operator, HRC, has so far called 13 vessels to Chennai and handled 2,500 TEUs. The IBM move will provide a further fillip to making Chennai as the hub port on the east coast of India, said a Chennai Container Terminal Ltd official.