Tuticorin EXIM Rake, First 40-ft Domestic Containers to Delhi, and VOC Port Sustainability Drive
Container Corporation of India has delivered a hat-trick of rail logistics milestones this week, marking significant advances in both international and domestic rail freight connectivity from southern India — developments that come at a time when India’s rail logistics infrastructure is under intense scrutiny as a crisis-resilience asset amid the Hormuz shipping disruption.
The first milestone is the successful operation of an EXIM container rake from CONCOR’s Container Freight Station at Milavattan in Tuticorin, in collaboration with global shipping major Hapag-Lloyd. The inaugural movement transported 90 TEUs of EXIM containers from Tuticorin to the Inland Container Depot at Tondiarpet in Chennai — establishing a rail-based cargo evacuation link between V.O. Chidambaranar Port and the Chennai inland logistics hub. The service represents a meaningful step toward reducing road congestion around Tuticorin port and offering exporters and importers a more efficient and cost-effective cargo evacuation option.
First 40-ft Domestic Container Movement: Chennai to Delhi
The second milestone is the launch of CONCOR’s first-ever movement of 40-foot CONCOR-owned domestic containers from ICD Tondiarpet in Chennai to Tughlakabad in Delhi — a landmark in domestic containerised rail freight. The inaugural movement comprises 39 containers transported in collaboration with TCI CONCOR, with CONCOR providing end-to-end door-to-door logistics including both first-mile and last-mile connectivity.
The significance of 40-foot domestic containers on this corridor goes beyond the container size itself. Forty-foot containers are the global standard for international maritime trade but have historically been underutilised in India’s domestic rail freight market, which has been dominated by shorter 20-foot boxes. Deploying 40-foot domestic containers on the Chennai-Delhi corridor creates greater volumetric efficiency, lower cost per tonne-km, and alignment with the container dimensions that domestic manufacturers increasingly need as they scale up supply chains that integrate both domestic distribution and international export.
CONCOR CMD Visits VOC Port on Sustainability and Growth Agenda
CONCOR Chairman and Managing Director Sanjay Swarup visited V.O. Chidambaranar Port Authority in Tuticorin this week, where he was received by Chairperson Susanta Kumar Purohit and senior port officials. The visit focused on the port’s progress in adopting green and sustainable practices, improving cargo handling efficiency, and advancing infrastructure development to meet growing trade demands. Discussions covered VOCPA’s expanding container handling capabilities, multimodal connectivity improvements, and its role as an increasingly strategic node in India’s southern maritime logistics network. The CONCOR CMD’s visit to VOC Port, coupled with the launch of the new Tuticorin EXIM rake service, signals a deepening of the CONCOR-VOCPA operational relationship — one that is expected to generate increasing rail freight volumes between Tuticorin’s port hinterland and India’s major consumption and industrial centres in the months ahead. Together, this week’s three CONCOR milestones — Tuticorin EXIM rake, 40-ft domestic containers, and the VOC Port engagement — reinforce India’s rail logistics sector as an active contributor to supply chain resilience during the current maritime crisis.
