Airlines
Air New Zealand, Lufthansa, to launch freighter service
LUFTHANSA Cargo and Air New Zealand together propose to launch a round-the-world freighter service bypassing India but covering Pakistan. It will operate thrice a week using an MD11 freighter with an 85-tonne capacity.
Shipping
Major ports miss throughput target
THOUGH the combined throughput of the major ports registered a 3.32 per cent growth in 2000-01 over the previous fiscal, it fell marginally short of the target fixed by the Ministry of Shipping.
SCI scrip: Drowned by market wave?
THE SHARE price and traded volumes of Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) rose swiftly during February in the run up to the Budget. The share price rose about 37 per cent from around Rs 33 to peak at Rs 47.85 on February 21 as volumes kept ho
pping. Considering that the Government is holding 80 per cent of SCI equity of Rs 282 crore, and about 18 per cent with institutions and mutual funds, free float is negligible. Despite that, over 30 lakh shares or about half of the free float with
public were traded in just two days between February 20 and 21 when the stock peaked.
BSM opens Chennai office
BARBER Ship Management has opened an office in Chennai. This is the first step in establishing local representation in various parts of the country. BSM India has a presence in areas of crew management, maritime training and recently entered marine consu
ltancy. It will shortly commence ship management from its Mumbai office, according to a press release.
Transport
Car cos: Logistics of the parts and their sum
SEVERAL HUNDRED parts have to be in the plant on time so that the carefully-planned production schedules are not upset. The finished product has to be despatched to different markets without as much as a scratch on their shiny surface.
For a rail link to Sriperumbudur
THE Tamil Nadu Government has urged the Centre to provide a broad-gauge railway link to the Sriperumbudur industrial belt. Since Hyundai Motor India Ltd set up its greenfield plant at Irungattukkottai, near Sriperumbudur, a number of companies, includ
ing Saint-Gobain Glass India Ltd to manufacture float glass and some auto component manufacturers, have set up base here.
The milk run idea borrowed
IN THE past, especially in the West, milk used to be sold in bottles. The milk would be delivered like this: The bottles would be placed on crates and the crates loaded in a truck that would go to a locality and drop the bottles off outside each house. B
y the time it completes a round of the locality all the bottles containing milk would have been disposed of. The truck would then pick up the empty bottles from outside the homes and bring them back to the dairy. The truck would be full ensuring that it
is utilised effectively in both directions.
Truck industry overloaded!
ONE ISSUE causing major concern to the truck industry today is the problem of overloading. And the problem persists, despite the best efforts of the truck federations and the State governments to curb it. Overloading takes place when a goods vehicle
carries load much in excess of what is specified in the Registration Certificate issued by the State Transport Department.
Railways: On a Nowhere Express?
WHERE is the Indian Railways headed? Innumerable committees have been constituted to `study' what ails the monolith organisation, and to revamp and reorganise it. But it has been the Railways' misfortune that its presiding deities have not had a
clue of what needs to be done. They have only been introducing new trains, sanctioning new projects, doling out passes, and sundry other largesses.
One user, two ports and a dilemma
TWO PORTS and one user, and a major one at that. The user, having presence in both the ports (a much larger presence in one port than the other), would like to handle large quantities of liquid cargo at a minimum cost but is not sure yet which of
the two ports will be best suited for the purpose. The two ports are Calcutta and Paradip and the user is Indian Oil Corporation.
North-East trade trying to go places
A DISCUSSION paper on the potential of the north-eastern region, prepared by FICCI and FINER (Federation of Industries of North Eastern Region) in collaboration with North Eastern Council (NEC), attributes the investors' reluctance to com
e to the region to the small size of the market. Large-scale economic activities need large market which the region does not have. However, the problem can be overcome if the markets of South, South-East Asia and South-West China are integra
ted with the region. Such an integration will pave the way for rapid development of trade and transport in all the north-eastern States.
