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S
ome
time
ago I was asked by
Mrs Sarita Dasgupta to write an
article on ICD – what it is, what we do there,
how we manage all the shipments etc. Simple as it may
appear, when I actually got down to penning this article, I
realized the complexity of our operations and the pain and care
that is taken by all of us in the Marketing Dept to ensure
smooth ‘operations’. It is understandable that my former senior
colleague, Mr S.K. Mawandia, was fondly called “Doc”.
What is ICD and why was it established?
Inland Container Depot or ‘ICD’, as it is popularly known,
is an initiative of the Ministry of Railways. Owing to the
vastness of the entire country – 3000 plus kilometres from
north to south and east to west, the Railways introduced
‘cheaper’ Door-To-Door Multi-Modal Transport service by
moving domestic cargo in DSO containers way back in 1966.
Thus, the establishment of ICDs helped movement of various
types of cargo originating in a particular region to other
regions at a relatively cheaper cost and in a much more
focused manner.
It was not until 1981 that international shipments of ISO
containers were handled by Railways.
Bangalore had the first ICD in 1980 and by 1988 seven ICDs
were built in
the country, ICD
Amingaon being one of
them. In March 1988 the
Railways set up Container Corporation
of India Ltd (CONCOR) under the
Companies Act and by 1989 the running of ICDs
was handed over to CONCOR.
About ICD Amingaon:
Located on the north bank of the Brahmaputra
approximately 15 km from Guwahati, ICD Amingaon was
established in 1986-87 and commissioned on 1 November 1989.
It is the first ICD in the eastern region and the only one in
the entire Northeast. Established to facilitate export out of
Assam, ICD Amingaon has been serving the tea sector since
its inception. 99% of export from ICD Amingaon is tea.
History tells us that severe disruptions in Kolkata Port owing
to labour problems during the late 1970s and early 1980s forced
the tea industry to look for alternative ports for shipments of
teas. Kandla Port on the west coast in Gujarat and some
southern ports were tried without much success. With the
introduction of containerized cargo and extension of the broad
gauge line to Guwahati in the early 1980s, the tea industry
found it appropriate to approach the Ministry of Railways and
the State Govt to support the initiative of setting up an ICD at
Amingaon. In the meanwhile, to test the viability of ICD, a
seminar, TEXPORT, was organized in 1984 and, as a trial, 20
containers of export tea were
loaded by George Williamson,
now McLeod Russel, in 1985.
It was flagged off by the then
Chief Minister of Assam, Late
Hiteswar Saikia. The first full
rake of 80 containers was moved
out from ICD in 1986.There has
been no looking back since then.
The total area of ICD Amingaon is 94424 sq metres out of
which 26400 sq metres have the following infrastructure and
user facilities:
Two railway spurs of 727 metres and 686 metres to
handle two rakes simultaneously.
Modern handling equipment such as Reach-stackers and
gas and battery fork-lifts.
Three bonded warehouses out of which one is owned and
operated by Assam State Warehousing Corporation and
the remaining two by CONCOR.
Office of the Superintendent of Customs, Service Centre
for EDI and office space for Custom Handling Agents
(CHA) and Shippers, other than a full-fledged
CONCOR Office with back-up power.
CONCOR has installed state-of-the-art technology
ETMS/DTMS systems for tracing and tracking container
movements and other operational works.
ICD Amingaon is connected to all major ports and Inland
Container Depots in India and is in close proximity to
Kolkata Port and Haldia Port.
With effect from 1March 2013, ICD Amingaon established
a full-fledged EDI System for electronic filing of shipping
bills.This has reduced paperwork to a great extent in addition
to simplifying the documentation process.
McLeod Russel Operations:
McLeod Russel has been involved with ICD Amingaon since
its inception and has the maximum tea exports out of ICD
Amingaon. Due to our sheer volume we have leased warehouses
from Assam State Warehousing Corporation (A Govt of Assam
undertaking), Central Warehousing Corporation (A Govt of
India undertaking) and CONCOR, totalling more than 1.25
lakh sq ft in and around ICD Amingaon.
In the last five years MRIL’s share of shipments out of ICD
has been as given below:
Shipments can be broadly segregated into two parts i.e.
pre-shipment and post-shipment.Whilst most pre-shipment
work is handled from Guwahati, all post-shipment work is
handled from Kolkata. The Marketing Team in charge of
logistics both at Kolkata and Guwahati work in tandem to
ensure that our shipments are in top order starting from
receiving teas in the warehouses, palletizing and strapping
and loading in the containers, backed by robust ERP systems
of Warehouse Management and Warehouse Control and
subsequent filing of documents in the bank for realization.
Our foreign buyers have often commented that ours is the
Best Shipping Team in the entire tea industry and I am
indeed proud to be part of such a TEAM.
– Sanjay Bajpai
MRIL Guwahati
For all those who were wondering where and how the tea is stored
once it reaches Guwahati, Sanjay Bajpai of our Guwahati office gives
you the answer.
Mr Anil Gupta, MD, CONCOR handing over the 'Best Shipper Award' to the MRIL Team
Packed Container
ICD Amingaon – Shipment HUB for Tea
Producer-Exporters of Assam
(TEU stands for Twenty Equivalent Unit, a 20’ container)
Year
Total Shipment
MRIL’s Share % Share
2013-14 2617 TEUs
1929 TEUs
74%
2012-13 2900 TEUs
2041 TEUs
70%
2011-12 2600 TEUs
1863 TEUs
72%
2010-11 2285 TEUs
1572 TEUs
69%
2009-10 2954 TEUs
2273 TEUs
77%
Late Hiteswar Saikia inaugurating ICD Amingaon
Mr S. K. Mawandia
at Work
L - R: Sanjay Narayan Chowdhury,
Sanjay Bajpai & Sujit Kakati
July 2014 49
48 July 2014
Container loaded on Rake