Question 1; Conduct a secondary research to understand the functioning of intermodal

transportation provided by companies?

Solution-

INTERMODAL TRANSPORTATION
SEA-AIR
The sea-air intermodal transportation service is considered a relatively recent entrant into the
transportation industry involving the movement of cargo by sea on its first leg of its journey and
air on its second. Its transit time is about half that of sea freight and the cost is reduced to half
that of airfreight. The 'half the time half the cost' notion was touted as the mainstay of the
concept and proved impressive on paper as the service sought to capture the advantages of both
sea and air transportation giving users a greater flexibility to meet a variety of schedules and
situations. This paper traces the global trends in the development of sea-air transportation from
its teething stages to rapid growth and subsequent stagnation over the past thirty years.

ROAD-AIR

The road-air intermodal transportation service freight and passenger vehicles still share the
roads. The growth of freight traffic is increasing road congestion and in many cities concerns are
being raised about the presence of trucks. Already, restrictions are in place on truck dimensions
and weights in certain parts of cities, and there are growing pressures to limiting truck access to
non-daylight hours. Certain highways exclude truck traffic – the parkways in the US for
example. These are examples of what is likely to become a growing trend; the need to separate
truck from passenger vehicle traffic. Facing chronic congestion around the access points to the
port of Rotterdam and at the freight terminals at Schiphol airport, Dutch engineers have worked
on feasibility studies of developing separate underground road networks for freight vehicles. Air
transport is the mode where freight and passengers are the most integrated. First, they tend to
share the same terminal facilities, although there is a specialization with some airports focusing
on freight activity. Yet, even here a divergence is being noted. The growth of all-freight airlines
and the freight-only planes operated by some of the major carriers, such as Singapore Airlines,
are heralding a trend. The interests of the shippers, including the timing of the shipments and the
destinations, are sometimes better served than in passenger aircraft. The divergence between
passengers and freight is also being accentuated by the growing importance of charter and “low-
cost” carriers. Their interest in freight is very limited, especially when their business is oriented
towards tourism, since tourist destinations tend to be lean freight generating locations.
 Question 2; list the names of inland container depot in India.

Solution-
INLAND CONTAINER DEPOTS IN INDIA
SI. SI. No SI. No State(province)
No
Rail ICDs with CFSs
1 Tughlakabad(TKD) New Delhi Haryana

2 Sanathnagar(SNF) Hyderabad Andhra Pradesh

3 Anarpati East Godavari(AP) Andhra Pradesh

4 Nagpur Nagpur Maharashtra

5 Coimbatore Coimbatore Tamil Nadu

6 Tondiarpet Chennai Tamil Nadu
7 Agra Belanganj Uttar pradesh

8 Moradabad Moradabad Uttar pradesh

9 Guntur Guntur Andhra Pradesh

10 New Mulund(E) Mumbai Maharashtra

11 Whitefield Bangalore Karnataka

12 Chirala Dist Guntur(AP) Andhra Pradesh

13 Sabarmati Ahmedabad Gujarat

14 Amingaon Guwahati Assam
15 Madurai Madurai Tamil Nadu
16 Dhandarikalan Ludhiana Punjab

17 Kanpur Kanpur Uttar Pradesh

18 Daulatabad Aurangabad Maharashtra

19 Cossipore Kolkata West Bengal

20 Jodhpur Jodhpur Rajasthan

21 Kanakpura Jaipur Rajasthan
22 Miraje Miraje Maharashtra

23 Balasore Balasore Orissa

24 Bhusawal Bhusawal Maharashtra

25 Riwari Haryana Haryana

26 Dadri(Greater Noida) Delhi Haryana
27 Raipur Khapa Madhya Pradesh

28 Tirupur Tirupur Tamil Nadu

Road ICDs with CFS
29 Mulund(W) Mumbai Maharashtra

30 Pithampur Indore Madhya Pradesh

31 Tuticorin Milavittan Tamil Nadu

32 Babarpur Panipat Haryana
33 Malanpur Gwailior Madhya Pradesh

34 Pondicherry Pondicherry Tamil Nadu

ICD with out CFS
       
35 kochi Kochi Kerala
36 Chincwad Pune Maharashtra

37 Wadi Bunder Mumbai Maharashtra

38 Vadodara Vadorara Gujarat

39 Jamshedpur Tatanagar Jharkhand

40 D'Node Navi Mumbai Maharashtra

Port Side Container Terminal

41 Harbour of Madras Chennai Tamil Nadu

42 Kandla Kandla Gujarat

43 Haldia Kolkata West Bengal

44 Shalimar Kolkata West Bengal

45 Vizag(Visakhapatanam Vizag(Visakapatnam) Andhra Pradesh

)

Port Side Container Terminal

41 Harbour of Madras Chennai Tamil Nadu

42 Kandla Kandla Gujarat

43 Haldia Kolkata West Bengal

44 Shalimar Kolkata West Bengal

45 Vizag(Visakhapatanam Vizag(Visakapatnam) Andhra Pradesh

)

Empty Park (Rail Linked

46 Ballabhgarh Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh
Discuss about the connectivity of each depot.
ICDs in the Northern Sector In the North, ICDs commissioned by the Indian Railways include
Delhi ICD at Pragati Maidan and Ludhiana ICD. CONCOR added two more CFSs on the
intermodal map covering this sector, viz. Moradabad and Panipat. The Delhi ICD was opened in
1984 as an extension of Bombay Port to serve the exporters and importers of North India. This
ICD is located at Pragati Maidan and spans a total area of 9 acres. Adjacent to this is the ‘Y’
yard, which is the stacking area for import and empty units. Destuffing of import containers
takes place here. The stuffing of export cargo is carried out in the ICD. A warehouse is utilised
for the storing of export cargo. All operations at Delhi ICD have now been computerised keeping
procedural wrangles to the barest’. minimum. The ICD takes the credit for being the first one to
go on-line. Delhi ICD despite increasing throughput, is facing physical constraints such as fully
utilised space. As the volume of cargo is anticipated to be much higher in the coming years, a
new site for the ICD was developed at Tuglakabad. The new terminal is about 20 km on the
outskirts of Delhi and is on the main Bombay Delhi railway line. The ICD is equipped with all
modem facilities using state of the art technology. The Panipat ICD is located 100 km from
Delhi and includes the CFS at Moradabad. The Panipat ICD will function as a Satellite depot for
the main container depot in Delhi. CONCOR’s has also established a full-fledged ICD at
Dandhari Kalan in Ludhiana to replace the existing one. This ICD serves as a cargo aggregation
and consolidation centre. ICDs in the Eastern Sector The ICD at Amingaon in Guwahati was
completed in October 1985 to serve tea exporters in the region. It has a total covered area of
20,000 sq. feet for warehousing of tea. The full capacity of the ICDs is not being utilised. As
there is no import traffic to ICD Guwahati the shipping lines have to send empty containers there
from Haldia. The Assam government is planning to set up a tea township approximately 13 km
away from the ICD inclusive of warehousing facilities for tea shippers. CONCOR has set up two
CFSs, one each at Cassipore and Shalimar, in addition to a full-fledged ICD at Sankrad in
Howrah, to facilitate movement of exports as well as domestic cargo. Apart from these, the West
Bengal Government has been offered the choice of selecting a suitable location for setting up
another CFS for promoting exports
ICDs in the Southern Sector
The inland container depots at Coimbatore, Bangalore, Guntur and Anaparti were set up as pilot
projects by the Indian Railways. ICDs at Coimbatore and Bangalore handle all kinds of cargo,
while those at Guntur and Anaparti predominantly handle tobacco. The ICD at Guntur, the first
pilot project of the Indian Railways, picked up initially on a low key. Barring the years, 115 from
1983-86 for which results have been poor, the years which followed have recorded impressive
growth. The Bangalore ICD at the Cantonment Goods shed complex was commissioned in
August 1981 but its growth was phenomenal after 1983-84. Traffic however could not improve
much in the following years as the ICD was beset by a few problems, mainly lack of space for
bonded warehouse at the depot. To overcome this problem of lack of space CONCOR moved in
to set up a full fledged ICD on a 200-acre site at Whitefield 15 km from Bangalore. The ICD is
equipped with all sophisticated infrastructural facilities to handle ISO containers to and from the
warehouses of customers. With the experience gained at Guntur and Bangalore ICDs another one
was set up at Anaparti in April 1983. The ICD at Coimbatore was opened in December 1983
connecting the gateway ports of Cochin, Madras and Tuticorin. Traffic handled at the depot has
made a steady progress and its overall growth has been quite commendable. As at Bangalore,
CON COR has planned to set up a few more full fledged ICDs at lrugudy near Coimbatore,
Quilon in Kerala and Tirupur in Tamil Nadu. The Tirupur ICD would be used mainly for export
of garments, while the Quilon ICD would concentrate on cashew exports. In December 1990,
CON COR commissioned the longawaited ICD at Hyderabad. This ICD located at Sanatnagar
has adequate facilities for stuffing and handling containerised cargo. It is linked to Bombay and
Madras ports. In March this year, CONCOR commenced operations at its port side container
depot outside of Madras Port. This exclusive import container facility has been set up inside the
Tondiarpet CFS.
ICDs in the Western Sector
A major development in the western sector has been the setting up of the port side container
depot at Wadi Bunder in South Bombay, on the lines of a similar one operated at Tondiarpet in
Madras. CONCOR has linked Wadi Bunder to ICDs at Pune, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Madras
and Coimbatore. By doing so, CONCOR has succeeded in the unique achievement of giving a
tremendous boost to intermodalism in general and to the landbridge system in particular.
Bombay’s first CFS with CONCOR’s assistance is at Mulund in the city’s northern suburb. The
most recently commissioned CFSs in the western region include the ones at Ahmedabad at Pune.
The CFS at Adalaj near Ahmedabad (managed by CWC) is linked to Sabarmati ICD and is also
connected to Kandla Port. The CFS at Pune (also managed by CWC) is linked to the gateway
ports by road as well as by rail. The ICDs in the northern sector are predominantly linked to
Bombay and Nehru ports, those in the eastern sector are linked to Calcutta and Haldia ports; the
southern ICDs are 116 connected mainly to Madras, Cochin and Tuticorin ports; and the ICDs in
the western region are linked to Bombay and Nehru ports and in some cases to Kandla Port as
well. Container Corporation of India Limited (CONCOR), is meant to deal with multimodal
logistics infrastructure for India’s international trade traffic as well as for domestic cargo
transport and distribution. For this purpose, CONCOR will coordinate with gateway ports,
Customs, Railways, shipping lines, road transport operators, warehousing undertakings and other
related agencies. CONCOR will be directly involved in establishing a network of inland
container depots (ICDs) and trade development centres (TDCs)/container freight stations (CFSs).
Containerisation and multimodal transport are relatively new concepts in India. New
technologies in respect of material handling equipment, establishment of facilities as well as
ancillary documentation and procedures, involving banking and insurance, market research and
methodologies, forecasting, management information system etc. have all to be properly
imbibed. CON COR shall play an important part and a catalytic role in this process.
Constraint in Growth of ICDs
The slow growth of ICDs and CFSs was due to the combined effect of high capital costs
involved, the resource constraints and lack of attention. A few anachronistic procedures as far as
containerized cargo is concerned are as follows:
a. Inland containers cannot move directly to the ICDs unless special permission is obtained from
the Collector of Customs for which the shipping agent has to file an application.
b. Movement of containers between the quay, container yard, rail terminal and shed requires
specific permissions from port and Customs authorities, which delays the movements.
c. Movement of containers outside the port requires a bond for the container to be furnished by
the shipping line even though it moves by rail and remains all along in the custody of a Central
government agency.
d. In the case of ICDs, three bonds are required - one for the container, other for the cargo in
case it moves by road and third for the movement of container outside the ICD to the shipper’s
premises.
e. All the import containers are opened and examined by the Customs, requiring double
handling of all the containers. Normally, 10 per cent of the cargo is examined unless there are
special reasons to do a more thorough examination. However, instead of examining 10 per cent
of the number of containers, 10 per cent of the cargo in each container is examined.
Port Infrastructure for Containerized Cargo
Out of the 11 major ports in the country, only Madras, Haldia and Nehru Ports have full-fledged
container terminals. Bombay, despite provision of container handling facilities, cannot be stated
to have a container terminal as connected operations are widely dispersed in the dock area.
Cochin and Calcutta have only basic facilities and due to draft and crane limitations can handle
only small feedering vessels. Other ports do not have specific container handling facilities but
the Indian government is making provisions in its Eighth Five-Year Plan for setting up container
handling facilities at all the major ports. Despite lack of container handling facilities, the
container traffic has been increasing at Indian ports due to the pressures of international traffic.
International Scenario
The earlier limited and experimental efforts apart, regular containerized shipping of cargo in
international trade commenced with the institution of container service between the US and
Europe in 1966 across the Atlantic. This was followed by container service between Japan and
the US across the Pacific in 1967, between Australia and Europe in 1969, between Japan and
Europe in 1971, culminating in the coverage of nearly all major routes by 1973. The
containerized shipping of cargo has seen tremendous growth thereafter. To meet the increasing
demand for containerized services and to cut costs, ship sizes have also increased from under 500
TEU capacities to over 3000 TEU capacity. Intermediate ports at major routes have developed
into important centers of aggregation and dispersal of cargo where larger vessels discharge and
pick up containers, smaller vessels providing the feedering services to and from other ports
served by the transshipment port. Further penetration of containers from the ports to inland
destinations was a logical extension of this massive growth in the containerized movement of
international cargo resulting in the setting up of Inland Container Depots (ICDs) and Container
Freight Stations (CFSs). Operational versatility of containers has brought into effect the concept
of land bridging, that is, substitution of the part of the ocean route by shorter land route. With
mini land bridges providing coast to coast overland bridges and micro land bridges linking ports
with inland locations, a cost-effective multi modal system has evolved. With the setting up of
ICDs/CFSs, the shipping services are now closer to business/commercial centres, giving the
added advantage of issuing through bills of lading and discounting by the banks providing for
easy cash liquidily.