More train services to touch ICTT

KOCHI: With the increase in the volume of cargo from the Inland Container Depots (ICD) in Bangalore, train service to the Vallarpadom International Container Transshipment Terminal (ICTT) has been enhanced to five a week. The fifth service became possible with the Container Corporation of India (CONCOR), which runs the train services between the ICDs and ICTT, inducting one more train in September.The five services include scheduled services and ad hoc services. Scheduled services operate to Kochi on fixed dates while ad hoc trains conduct services whenever there is a special requirement. “The arrival of cargo from Bangalore ICD was nominal when the ICTT was commissioned in February this year. It was around 200-300 Twenty Equivalent Units (TEUs) a month then. However, during the past eight months, there has been a considerable growth in the flow of cargo,” said a top official of the DP World which operates the ICTT “The volume of cargo from Bangalore rose   to around 800 TEUs a month. A train that  has 45 rakes brings 90 TEUs containers in one service. The fourth train is an ad hoc service which runs as per the requirement. The increase in the number of services obviously indicates that exporters prefer their consignments to be sent via the ICTT,” he said. He expressed hope that starting of two services a day to the terminal is not far away.Till June this year there was only one train a week to connect Bangalore with the ICTT. In July it became two trains a week and later three a week in August. In October there were 20 services from Bangalore. Gherkins, garments, granite and machinery constitute a major chunk of consignment from Bangalore ICD. Shipping major CMA CGM has started direct services connecting the ICTT to European ports. The weekly service to Africa began in May with the commencement of the cashew season this year. CMA CGM had started direct service to Europe by the end of July.