BIRGANJ, Nov 29: A senior official of Container Corporation of India (CONCOR) made a site visit to the Inland Container Depot (ICD) of Sirsiya, Birgunj, to study reasons delaying shipment of goods from Kolkata port of India to Nepal.
Rathendra Raman, chief general manager of eastern region of CONCOR - a sister organization of Indian Railways, visited the Sirsiya ICD on Monday. The visit of a senior CONCOR official has come at a time when Nepali cargoes stuck for months at the Kolkata port are gradually being shipped toward Nepal.
"There is not congestion at present. There are less than 400 containers at the Kolkata port which is a normal number," Raman said. "The number of racks arriving Nepal has reached 42 in November which is an all-time high figure."
Over 1,500 empty cargo containers stuck at Birgunj dry port
Each rack contains 90 containers (20 feet long).
It is estimated that 3,780 containers will arrive at the Sirsiya ICD by the end of November.
Raman also said that CONCOR had deployed 16 trains to transport Nepal-bound cargoes.
"Delays occur sometime as these trains also carry passengers. Similarly, railway service was affected as we had to repair flood-damaged railway tracks," he said, adding that CONCOR was committed to providing top-notch service to Nepal.
Nepal has also been granted permission to use an additional terminal, Majerhat, at the Kolkata port until January, Raman said and that the period can be extended as per the need.
Bishnu Kant Chaudhary, CEO of Himalayan Terminals, told Raman that racks are returning empty because of the delay in unloading of goods from containers by Nepali traders and importers.
CONCOR is one of the partners of Himalayan Terminals.
However, Surya Sedhai, a customs officer at the Birgunj Dry Port insisted that it was the duty of the Indian side to ease shipment of cargoes to Nepal.
