Chennai Port Trust will waive port-rail charges between Chennai and Bengaluru to increase share of container rail service and ease road congestion, which has been a major factor affecting the port.
The waiver will be ₹125 a twenty foot equivalent unit (TEU) for haulage and ₹22.97 a tonne as terminal handling charge to Container Corporation of India (Concor) for its container train operations on the Chennai-Bengaluru sector.
The waiver will take effect on November 16 and will be valid till March 31, 2017.
The minimum reduction in rail charges will be around ₹450 a TEU, says a press release from ChPT. According to a study by Boston Consulting Group, there is a potential to target 2.5 lakh TEUs for conversion from road to rail in the long term at the Chennai port. At present, out of total container handling, nearly 93 per cent moves by road and the rest by rail, said a senior ChPT official.
In March, on a trial basis ChPT announced a similar concession for three months with Concor announcing a waiver of ₹160 a TEU (haulage) and ₹22.97 a tonne (terminal handling charge) in the Chennai-Bengaluru sector. The cost reduction was passed on to the trade. Similarly, the cost reduction will be passed on this time too, the official said.