A meeting was held on Monday between Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal and his Railways counterpart Ashwini Vaishnaw to facilitate an ecosystem for container production under the Make In India programme, an official statement said.
The high-powered meeting deliberated on 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 statement added.
The meeting also discussed how the availability of Made-in-India containers may open up the avenue for domestic cargo transportation using the vast expanse of inland waterways of the country.
The ministers also discussed the possibility of movement of bulk cargos like cement, foodgrains and fertilisers through coastal and inland waterways in containerised form. This will contribute to reduction in the cost of logistics, handling charges, it added.
According to the statement, in the EXIM (export-import) segment, container availability and space onboard vessels are consistently improving.
It said in the domestic segment, the Container Corporation of India Ltd (CONCOR) has requirement for approximately 50,000 containers in the next 3 years.
The meeting was held to craft an ecosystem that can help domestic manufacturers produce Made-in-India containers with an ultimate aim to help the domestic trading community in the EXIM sector.
