GUWAHATI, AUG 16: A high powered meeting was held between Union Minister of Ports, Shipping & Waterways and Ayush, Sarbananda Sonowal and the Union Minister of Railways, Communications and Electronics & Information Technology, Ashwini Vaishnaw in presence of the Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare and Chemicals & Fertiliser, Mansukh Mandaviya at New Delhi today.
The moot point of discussion was to deliberate and facilitation of an eco system for Container production under Make In India programme. Senior Officials from Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Waterways, Ministry of Railways and Container Corporation of India (CONCOR) also attended the meeting.
In a move to make India ‘Atmanirbhar’ in its requirement for containers, the high-powered meeting deliberated various aspects in this regard. With a cluster base manufacturing in focus, the CONCOR will be working closely with the Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Waterways (MoPSW).
The meeting also discussed how the availability of Make In India containers may open up the avenue for domestic cargo transportation using the vast expanse of inland waterways of India. Various ways and means to encourage Indian producers of containers were also discussed.
In the meeting, the ministers also discussed the possibility of movement of bulk cargos like cement, foodgrains, fertilisers etc through coastal and inland waterways in containerised form. This will contribute to reduction in the cost of logistics, handling charges as it will be through an economical, ecological & easier mode of transportation.
Earlier, a committee was formed comprising of Joint Secretary (Ports), Joint Secretary (Customs), Joint Secretary (Logistics), Joint Secretary (Steel), Representative from CONCOR and NICDC to assess the demand of containers in domestic trade, EXIM trade as well as the problem faced in the domestic manufacturing of containers.
The MoPSW also interacted with the representatives from CONCOR, Association of Container Train Operators (ACTO), steel manufacturing companies, container manufacturers, Container Shipping Line Association (CSLA). In EXIM segment, container availability & space onboard vessels are consistently improving. In the domestic segment, CONCOR has requirement for approximately 50,000 containers in next 3 years.
The meeting was an extension to this findings to craft an ecosystem that can help domestic producers to produce Make In India containers with an ultimate aim to help our trading community in the EXIM sector & help realise the vision of PM to make India a USD 5 Trillion economy.