CWC forays into international markets

The government-owned Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC) is literally going places. The premier warehousing agency of the country has forayed into international market, and has set up warehousing facilities in Uruguay and Philippines, which have started functioning recently. The company is also planning to set up five more warehouses in different countries shortly.

This follows CWC’s recent move to expand its facilities in the domestic market. Recently, it flagged off operations at nine of the proposed 22 railside warehousing complexes in the country. Though these nine facilities were developed by CWC, they will soon come under the purview of newly-formed Central Railside Warehousing Company (CRWC), which is the process of being hived off from the parent body, sources said.

In March 2007, CWC has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Indian Railways for developing the rail-side warehousing complexes. However, the Railways is not funding any of the projects and the entire expenditure is being borne by CWC. The warehousing major believes that the new company would help it to become a comprehensive logistics service provider in the country.

The CRWC board met last week in Delhi to discuss the way ahead. The meeting, which was the second meeting of the newly constituted board, looked at its proposed organizational set up, including transfer of assets from the parent company, said a member of the board.

Designed to be a user-friendly logistics company, CRWC will add more value to warehousing by providing logistics management services, including moving cargo across the country.

With an authorized capital of Rs 150 crore, the company is expected to be proactive to the changing needs of the logistic requirements.

Even though CRWC was incorporated as a company on July 7, 2007, CWC has started implementing its project of developing the warehouse complexes. At present, nine warehousing complexes have already started offering services. According to CT Thomas, regional manager, CWC, who is in- charge of Maharashtra and Goa, of the nine facilities two are in Maharashtra; at Nasik Road and Badnera in Amravati. Development of two more for the state, one each in Pune and Nagpur, are in the pipeline, he said.

Locations for other rail-side warehousing complexes include: Mysore, Indranagar, Dehri-on-Sone, Kanhan, Tambaram, Saswad Road, Naini, Yamuna Bridge, Sambalpur, Shakurbasti, Ghaziabad, Alamnagar, Roza, Dankuni, Burdwan, Sanathnagar, Hatia, Kudalnagar, Kandla and Nishatpura.

The biggest public warehouse operator in the country with 514 warehouses having a storage capacity of more than 10.27 million tones, CWC provides warehousing services for a wide range of products ranging from agricultural produce to sophisticated industrial products. Warehousing activities also include foodgrain warehouses, industrial warehouses, custom bonded warehouses, container freight stations, inland clearance depots and air cargo complexes.

As a PSU, the company also takes care of farmers, who form a sizable segment of its cliental. According to company officials, CWC offers 30% subsidy to them for the use of its facilities. “Right now, the company is also involved in educating and equipping the farmers about the changes that are happening in the warehousing sector,” said another official.

CRWC also has the mandate to run container train service for which CWC is a license-holder. The CWC management is confident that with the commencement of own box train service networking the 22 warehousing complexes along with other facilities would take the company miles ahead of its competition.