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A high-powered meeting was held between the Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways and AYUSH Sarbananda Sonowal and Union Minister of Railways, Communications and Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw in presence of Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare and Chemicals and Fertilisers Mansukh Mandaviya at New Delhi on Monday.
The meeting was held to deliberate and facilitate an ecosystem for container production under the Make In India programme. Ports, Shipping and Waterways Ministry in a statement said, "In a move to make India 'Atmanirbhar' in its requirement for containers, the high-powered meeting deliberated various aspects in this regard. With cluster base manufacturing in focus, the CONCOR will be working closely with the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and 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" the ministry said. It further said, "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 and 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 problems faced in the domestic manufacturing of containers. The MoPSW also interacted with the representatives from CONCOR, the Association of Container Train Operators (ACTO), steel manufacturing companies, container manufacturers, Container Shipping Line Association (CSLA). In the EXIM segment, container availability and space onboard vessels are consistently improving. In the domestic segment, CONCOR has requirement for approximately 50,000 containers in the next 3 years. The meeting was an extension to these 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 and help realise the vision of the PM to make India a USD 5 trillion economy. (ANI)
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