Inland Container Depot Whitefield (wfd), Bangalore

1. Zeinab Bagherpour Group 9

2. Emma Uhde Jönsson

3. Ann Joseph

Inland Container Depot Whitefield (WFD), Bangalore

1. Introduction

The dry port we chose to study is the Inland Container Depot at Whitefield (WFD), Bangalore. Inland Container Depots (ICD) are dry ports equipped for handling and temporary storage of containerized cargo as well as empty containers. This enables the hinterland customers to receive port services more conveniently closer to their premises. The city of Bangalore is in the southern part of India and is a landlocked city.

2. Owners and operators

Container Corporation of India (CONCOR) is a public sector under the Indian Ministry of Railways that owns and operates the ICD at WFD, Bangalore. The main objective of CONCOR is to promote and boost the Indian International Trade and Commerce by providing and organizing multi-modal logistic support. CONCOR operates ICDs which provide single window facility in coordination with railways, customs, seaports, shipping lines, road hauliers etc. to deal with transport logistics of imports and exports. CONCOR also organizes rail/road transport for domestic containers and provides consultancy in the field of multimodal transport. CONCOR set up ICD in Bangalore in the year 1981, which is also India’s first ever dry port and was operating from Bangalore Cantonment Railway Station. As the city started expanding the ICD had to be moved to the outskirts of the city. In the year 1993 the ICD was moved to Whitefield, Bangalore.

Bangalore is a landlocked city and is one of the fastest-growing major metropolis of India, housing several global players like ABB, Airbus, Bosch, Boeing, GE, GM, Google, Microsoft, Mercedes-Benz, Nokia, Oracle, Philips, Shell, Toyota, Volvo, SKF, Tyco etc. The need for ICD surfaced when it had become difficult for importers/exporters to clear their goods which arrive or depart by sea for which the importers/exporters were required to go to the port of receipt of the goods for clearing the same. ICD Bangalore provides facility to clear goods imported (and exported) in containers by sea to the ports of Chennai and Cochin.

3. Types of transport modes

The port of Chennai is located at 341 kilometers and the port of Cochin at 528 kilometers from Bangalore. The two main transportation modes that are used between the seaports are rail and road. For the rail transportation, the tracks fall under the Indian broad gauge, which is 1,676 mm (5 feet 6 inches). From Whitefield to the Chennai harbor the rail service is scheduled every day. To the Cochin harbor the rail services are scheduled on demand. Domestic rail services are available to Tughlakabad thrice a week. 20 feet container trucks are used for road transportation. There are national highways and state highways connections between Bangalore and both the port cities and other areas within the country for domestic transfer of goods.

4. Volumes of standardized units handled and offered services

This ICD can handle 50,000 TEUs (Twenty foot Equivalent Units) per year. The ICD has two container stacking yards, one international yard and one domestic yard with

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1. Zeinab Bagherpour Group 9

2. Emma Uhde Jönsson

3. Ann Joseph

the capacity of 1000 containers. Moreover, it has six Bonded warehouses with an area of about 14,000 Sq. One of these warehouses is specifically for storing of export coffee beans. A bonded warehouse is a place in which dutiable goods may be stored, manipulated, or undergo manufacturing operations without payment of duty (Bangalore Customs Website, 2015).

Container Corporation of India Ltd (CONCOR) is responsible for handling the dry port and providing intermodal logistics. The containers are imported/exported to and from the ICD by rail and road to ports of Chennai and Cochin. Import goods are distributed from the ICD to other parts of the country by trucks and rail. In order to combat road competition, high speed-heavy duty Volvo trucks are used extensively in the region to provide an alternate road connection between the ICD at Bangalore and gateway port of Chennai.

According to Bangalore Customs report there are several types of handling euipment for the transshipments of goods in this dry port such as top lift trucks, terminals, tractors and forklifts. As mentioned on CONCOR official website, this ICD has specific facilities for hazardous goods and these goods are handled according to CONCOR rules. Bangalore ICD offers services for maintenance of domestic containers. But maintenance of international containers is outsourced to third parties such as shipping lines. Custom clearance can be done at the Bangalore ICD. They offer special services to facilitate this process, such as 2x2 lane gate/inspection to examine complex goods and prepare smooth clearance. In addition, the ICD benefits from computerized system for processing duty free shipping.

According to the Bangalore Customs statistics companies such as American Power Conversion, TATA BP Solar India Ltd and Jeans Knit PVT. Ltd are examples of the ICD’s main customers. The existence of these companies is great opportunity for this ICD to benefit from several large customers. Besides, one of the Swedish automobile manufacturing giant Volvo has entered a Green Cargo Agreement with ICD WFD for setting up a hub for their accumulation and distribution of their cargo from the ICD to their factories at Peenya and Hoskote (industrial areas) in Bangalore and to their then new factory at Pithampur in Indore (The Times of India, 2011).

5. Advantages and disadvantages implementation of the facility brings to the system

According to The Dollar Business (2016) the need for a dry port in the Bengaluru area was felt 30 years ago when importers experienced difficulties to clear goods arriving at the sea port. The importers had to go to the port to clear the goods. Today these services among others is provided at Whitfield and a lot of goods is transported intermodal through the Whitfield dry port which brings a lot of advantages to the system.

It has showed that dry ports entail many advantages for the exporting companies in the surrounding area. It decreases costs and provides greater access to international market (Business standard, 2011). Hence the implementation of Whitfield might have prevented some companies from running out of business resulting in saved jobs. The

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