The Hindu Business Line : Cramped Kovai ICD giving exporters a tough time

The Coimbatore ICD handled about 250 to 300 TEUs a month. But the actual potential was nearly twice as much, which could not however be achieved because of the space constraints in the present location.

COIMBATORE, June 15

THE space constraint in the Coimbatore Inland Container Depot (ICD), located just outside the Coimbatore Railway junction, is hampering the efforts to increase its handling capacity and reduce the time taken for shipment of export cargo.

Though there have been reports that the ICD will be shifted to Irugur, about 17 km from the city, it has not materialised till now.

The Southern India Engineering Manufacturers' Association (SIEMA), Coimbatore has sought the intervention of the Union Commerce Minister, Mr Arun Jaitley, for remedial steps to so that exporters from this region are not forced to move their products to Kochi or Chennai for stuffing in containers before shipment.

According to the SIEMA President Mr G. Rajendran, the export of engineering goods from Coimbatore region was around Rs 1,400 crore during last year. The major engineering products exported were cast iron components, machined castings, valves, motor pumps, etc. The Far East, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, the US, Africa, the West Asia were among those regions to which the goods were exported.

He said the Coimbatore ICD handled about 250 to 300 TEUs (Twenty Equivalent Units - containers) a month. But the actual potential was nearly twice as much, which could not however be achieved because of the space constraints the ICD was facing in the present location.

The small exporters had to bear the brunt of the problem due to the delay in moving the export cargo.

The ICD authorities waited for a full container load before moving it and at times it took even up to 10 days for a container to get filled up.

This resulted in delay in meeting the export commitments and also in realisation of the bills for the small exporters.

Mr Rajendran said to overcome this problem, the exporters had to transport the goods to either Kochi or Tuticorin ports for stuffing in containers but this added up to their cost. Major players opt for this to save time.

The big shipping lines were reluctant to send their containers to Coimbatore for stuffing because of the long wait for full stuffing before they could be moved and many don't have any office here.

He said though it was reported that land has been identified in Irugur to re-locate the ICD from its present location, so far this had not taken place.

It was reported that the railways, which own the land where the ICD is located now, took possession of part of the area for expansion leading to space constraints in the already cramped ICD.

Though ICD had the equipments to handle the cargo, it could not use them efficiently due to space constraints, resulting in delay in daily turnaround time, he said.

According to the SIEMA President, the lack of warehousing facility in the ICD raised safety and security concerns for the exporters who were forced to take the export cargo back to their units if they could not load them into the containers on the scheduled day.

Besides, the ICD did not have its own fleet of vehicles to move the containers to the designated ports and was dependent on agents which compounded the problems of the small exporters, he said.

Mr Rajendran wanted the ICD to be shifted to a more spacious location and the necessary infrastructure like safe warehousing facilities be provided so that exports would be hassle free.

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