CONCOR to procure 1,000 specialised tank containers to transport cement by rail

Specialised tank container loaded with cement
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Container Corporation of India (CONCOR), a part of the Indian Railways, plans to procure nearly 1,000 specialised tank containers that can transport cement by rail. This is in a bid to divert the cargo from road to rail. It had already procured 90 such containers from Braithwaite, a public sector unit under the Ministry of Railways, said sources.

Recently, CONCOR flagged off its first tank container rake carrying 2,199 tonnes of bulk cement from Maha Cement (Mellacheruvu, AP) to ICD Whitefield, Bengaluru. The client was Hyderabad-based My Home Cement, sources said.

The shipment marked a new development in cement transportation for CONCOR, introducing specialised tank containers that enable safe, efficient movement of cement in loose form; reduced dependency on conventional bagged transport by road; lower transit losses and multi-handling and significant cut in carbon footprint, the source said.

By moving using these tank containers, storage silos are not required and the containers can function as a warehouse. It can be transported directly to the market or to customers sites rather than a railway siding from where the cargo needs to be moved by road, sources said.

The containers can also be taken to ready-mix concrete plants in urban centres and large construction sites like highways and metro projects. These containers offers the flexibility of multimodal (rail, road and ship) transport, sources said.

Interestingly, in 2022 CONCOR handled the first rake movement of bulk cement for Bharathi Cement in specialised tank containers from cement siding of Bharathi Cement (Yerraguntla, Andhra Pradesh) to ICD/ Irugur where they unloaded some to their silos and took the rest to Kerala markets. The container belonged to Bharathi Cement, sources said.

The Railway board has also encouraged movement of full rake of bulk cement by tank containers by providing reduced haulage charges for 5 years for empty container movement, sources said.

Published on July 6, 2025