Wagon shortage

Rail wagon shortage hits car movement, says Ford ED

Our Bureau

Try coastal shipping: CII logistics institute chief

Chennai, Sept. 19:  

Lack of multimodal transportation and shortage of specialised Railway wagons to move cars are affecting the movement of vehicles within the country and exports, according to Tom Chackalackal, Executive Director, Manufacturing, Ford India.

At present, Ford has to depend only on roads to move cars from its manufacturing plant at Maraimalai Nagar near Chennai or from Ennore port to the North of the city for exports. There is no proper rail connectivity from the plant to the port or to reach customers in other parts of the country.

The shortage of specialised wagons is adding to the problem, he told reporters on the sidelines of a two-conference on Auto SCM 2013 — ‘World-class automotive supply chains – accelerating enablers in India,’ organised by the CII Institute of Logistics.

When asked to comment on the shortage of wagons for the automobile sector, a senior official of the Southern Railway said the vehicles are moved by specialised wagons. The Railways has converted some of the passenger bogies to load cars. While these wagons are in short supply, the automobile majors are not giving a commitment on the requirement to plan properly, he said.

R. Dinesh, Co-Chairman, CII Institute of Logistics Advisory Council, said coastal shipping offers ‘enormous’ cost saving to the trade. The institute has suggested to the Government on this, he said.

raja.simhan@thehindu.co.in