b) Existing Modal Share in Transport
During the year 2000-01, about 140 lakh tonnes of food grains was moved on the interstate
account by FCI, 98 percent of that was by rail and remaining 2 percent was by road.
The data obtained from Ministry of Railways shows that the overall movement of food
grains by railways is about 32 million tonnes in 2001-02 (Table 4.19).
Table 4.19 Movement of Foodgrains by Railways
Years Movement by Railways
(in million tonnes)
1999-00 30.1
2000-01 26.1
2001-02 32.0
The movement of food grains by rail declined during the year 2000-01 compared to
previous year. The same trend can be observed for food grain production quantities also
in the same year as seen from the Figure 4.16. It was observed from the Railway data that
around 15 percent of the total food grains are moved by railways as priority cargo. The
tariff structure is low for food grains and for long haul bulk movements generally prefer
railways.
Following the decision to remove restrictions on movement of wheat, paddy, rice and
other food grains, coastal shipping and railways will encounter a demand surge in
transport facilities in this area. For want of actual data of movement of food grains and
other agricultural commodities by road, reliance has been placed on information and data
collected directly from field agencies. This goes to show that for short leads and small
parcel sizes road transport will continue to be preferred and that rail and coastal shipping
will be in competition for long haul movement of agricultural products.
More than 95 percent of railway freight traffic consists of bulk commodities such as coal,
POL, raw materials, iron & steel, food grains, fertilisers, cement and salt. The freight
rates are decided on the principles of what the commodity can bear. This explains why the
freight rates for salt; foodgrains and fertiliser are cheaper than those for coal, POL,
cement, steel etc. This particular system followed railways is called the “classification of
freight rates”. Yet this differential tariff structure goes against the market mantra of
offering level playing field for all players in the transport system.
Food grain handled in ports as coastal cargo are as given below as (extracted from Basic
Ports Statistics) which is shown in the Table 4.20.
Table 4.20 Foodgrains Traffic by Coastal Shipping
Year Quantity Handled
(‘000 tonnes)
Quantity Moved
(‘000 tonnes)
1998-99 128 64.0
1999-00 129 64.5
2001-01 123 61.5
2001-02 88 44.0
Chapter 4: Coastal Traffic Estimates
4 - 34
It is seen that compared to total production the movement through coastal shipping is
negligible. During the course of visits with agencies it transpired that movement of food
grains between certain O-D pairs through coastal shipping is favoured provided parcel
sizes and tariff structure is competitive.
c) Estimated Production and Consumption
The Working Group on “Crop Husbandry, Demand and Supply Projections and
Agricultural Inputs for the Tenth Plan” has estimated food grains requirement of 230
million tonnes at the end of the 10th Plan (2006-07). On the basis of normative
requirement of foodgrains of 182.50 kg/consuming unit /year (167.9 kg cereals and 14.6
kg pulses), as recommended by the National Institute of Nutrition, the demand works out
to 221.4 million tonnes considering the anticipated population level of 1135 Million.
Based on behaviouristic approach, the demand of foodgrains estimated by the Working
Group was around 230 million tonnes. On the other hand, supply projections for
foodgrains by the end of the terminal year of the Tenth Plan have been projected in the
range of 225 million tonnes to 243 million tonnes.
An adequate thrust on maize cultivation is proposed as a part of Tenth plan and it could
bring a substantial increase in foodgrains production as even with existing area of about
6.5 million hectares, an additional production of about 10-13 million tonnes is envisaged.
Total coarse cereal production is estimated to increase about 43-48 million tonnes by
2006-07. Thus, there is possibility to achieve a production level of food grains of about
245- 248 million tonnes by the end of the Tenth Plan.
d) Forecast for Share of Coastal Shipping
FCI represents a single largest institutionalised setup for the movement of food grains in
India. All its activities relates to procurement of food grains, storage and movement to
public distribution centres and other schemes. The FCI’s activity are monitored by the
movement division in the Department of Food and Public Distribution which closely
monitors the movement and co-ordinates with Food Corporation of India with railways
representative in it. Traditionally the preference of FCI is railways as warehouses and
godowns are established on route and this connectivity/other linkages makes for better
and cheaper logistics movement of food grains for FCI than other modes.
Other players in the food grain market who requires bulk movements of food grain
quantities are wholesale traders. Wholesale markets spread throughout India, channel
domestic and imported foodgrains to retailers. Major wholesale markets in the coastal
states are located at Mumbai (Vashi), Kolkata (Postha) and Chennai (Govindappa Naikan
Street). The markets do not maintain formal records for movement of goods therefore
consolidation of data on the movement pattern of goods in this circumstances is not
possible.
Historic trend of movement of food grains shows that around 15 percent of the total
produce in the country moved by rail and coastal shipping had a negligible share with
road transport capturing major share of short haul with small parcel sizes.
Situation may change if the vertical integration, between importers and wholesalers,
producers and wholesalers, wholesalers and retailers takes place. This kind of integration
Chapter 4: Coastal Traffic Estimates
4 - 35
makes for proper flow of information and creation of a platform for bulk movements in
big parcel sizes. This increase will in turn will generate opportunities for coastal shipping
in future years.
The estimates of food grain movement by rail and coastal shipping are presented in Table
4.21 for the years 2006-07 and 2011-12.
Table 4.21 Projected Movement of Food Grains (in ‘000 tonnes)
Year Rail Coastal Shipping
2006-07 36000 120
2011-12 45000 150
The quantity of food grains moving through coastal shipping is negligible. The economics
of diverting foodgrains from rail to coastal shipping shows that per tonne km movement
is far more than that of railways for selected O-D pairs except for Kakinada to Kollam
located along coast. However the removal of restrictions on the movement of all
agricultural products across the country is bound to encourage the north – south and south
– north movement in future years. But till the railways decides to rationalise its freight
tariff structure coastal shipping would not emerge as an attractive choice.
4.10 CONTAINERS
Containerisation, which marked the second phase of transportation revolution, succeeded
because it makes for safety, speed and security of the goods transported. Containerisation
also offers a modular solution to the problems of transportation saves manpower cost and
encourages the development of multi modal transport where modes like road and rail also
come into play complementary but equally important roles in the process.
Containerisation, however demands massive investments for building up of infrastructure
facilities like ICDs, port terminals, handling equipment, carrier vehicles (road trailers /
rail wagons), CFS, connecting roads etc.
a) Ports
The general cargo traffic in major ports increased to 96.6 MTPA, which is 45 percent of
the total cargo. Containerised cargo traffic is expected to scale a new high with increasing
level of containerisation level taking place and also with the emergence of new ICDs and
CFSs in the hinterland.
With the general cargo traffic increasing at the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of
15.7 percent, the volumes of future containerised cargo is slated for a high growth. The
major commodities that can be containerised include mainly general cargo in break bulk
form. Distinct from liquid bulk cargo, break bulk traffic includes a large number of low
volume commodities like electrical and electronic goods, consumer goods, machinery and
machinery parts, automobile components, iron and steel scrap, food grains in bags,
garments, processed food products, agricultural products, handicrafts etc. A substantial
part of this traffic is expected to be containerised in future.
Chapter 4: Coastal Traffic Estimates
4 - 36
Table 4.22 Containerized Cargo and Level of Containerization (in MTPA)
Year
Total
Traffic
Handled
at Major
Ports
Containerised
Cargo
(a)
Other
cargo
(b)
Total
General
Cargo
(a + b)
Level of
Containerisation
(as % of
general cargo)
1999-00 271.923 27.69 38.663 62.443 44.3
2000-01 281.105 32.222 43.457 75.679 42.6
2001-02 287.588 37.230 46.259 83.489 44.6
2002-03 313.529 43.673 52.955 96.628 45.1
CAGR 15.66
Source: Major Ports of India, A Profile 2002-03, Indian Ports Association
The Figure 4.17 depicts the share of total container traffic handled by major Indian ports
in terms of TEU's and tonnage for the year 2002-03. It can be seen that out of all major
ports Jawarharlal Nehru Port stands apart with maximum number of TEU's (tonnage)
handled whereas New Mangalore, Mormugao and Paradip have no container traffic at all.
The Table 4.23 gives the container handling volumes across the ports in India.
Figure 4.17 Container Traffic Handling by Major Ports 200203 (in TEUs)
Kandla
5%
Kolkata
3%
Haldia
3% Vishakapatnam
1%
Tuticorin
7%
Cochin
5%
JNP
57%
Chennai
13%
Mumbai
6%
Chapter 4: Coastal Traffic Estimates
4 - 37
Table 4.23 Region-wise Share in percentage of Container Traffic (In Tonnage)
Region Ports 2002-03 2001-02 2000-01 1999-00 1998-99
Calcutta
Haldia East
Paradip
8 8 9 9 10
Vishakapatnam
Chennai South -
East Tuticorin
22 22 24 21 18
Cochin
New Mangalore South -
West Mormugao
5 5 6 5 4
Mumbai
JNP West
Kandla
65 64 62 65 67
Total 100 100 100 100 100
Tonnage (MT) 43.673 37.23 32.22 27.69 23.78
Source: Major Ports of India, A Profile 2002-03, Indian Ports Association
c) Existing Modal Share in Transport and Movement Pattern
Rail
CONCOR the sole carrier in this line handles the largest number of containers in the
country today. Its operational performance shows that the average growth of total
container traffic of the company is 12.3 percent. This is clearly in line with the
approximately 13 to 14 percent growth of containerization in India. The break-up of
CONCOR growth pertaining to exports/imports and domestic container movements is
given in the Table 4.24 below.
Table 4.24 Operational Performance of CONCOR
Handling in TEUs 2002-03 2001-02 % age Growth
EXIM 1031925 905058 14.02%
DOMESTIC 351238 326775 7.49%
TOTAL 1383163 1231833 12.28%
Coastal Shipping
Coastal movement of containers in India has picked up somewhat with the entry of couple
of private players namely Shreyas Shipping primarily on the west coast and Shahi
Shipping operating on the west coast and feedering between Mumbai and JNPT ports
respectively. Containers carrying International cargo form the major portion of cargo for
Shreyas Shipping where as the Shahi Shipping 100 percent cargo is of International
nature. The Table 4.25 highlights the coastal movement between the ports in India. Some
of the movements have been proportionated to arrive at annual volumes.
Chapter 4: Coastal Traffic Estimates
4 - 38
Table 4.25 O-D Pairs of Coastal Container Movement
From To TEUs
Mumbai J N P T 600
J N P Mumbai 17400
JNP Kandla 13000
Kandla J N P 14000
J N P Tuticorin 9000
Tuticorin JNP 9000
J N P Cochin 9000
Cochin J N P 9000
* Consultants Primary data (Year2001-02)
The following Table 4.26 figures have been derived from the above origin – destination
pairs.
