Kolkata, June 28: The Shipping Corporation of India is augmenting its services to tap the high growth potential in global container trade and emerging opportunities in the Far East sector, a top company official said on Friday. “We foresee tremendous potential for growth in global, regional and intra-regional container trade. On most major global trade routes, container volumes have doubled in less than 10 years,” SCI director (liner and passenger service) S S Ranganekar said here.

Stating that the Far East Asian countries had significant impact on the movement of global containerised trade, he said SCI had launched its Index 1 Service and Index 2 Service in consortium with internationally reputed container shipping lines to tap the emerging opportunities in this sector.
Ranganekar, however, resented the high taxation for the shipping sector, poor infrastructure and outdated laws in the country posing as hurdle for increasing India's share in global freight handling.
Speaking at the annual general meeting of the Calcutta Freight Brokers Association, he said SCI has been constrained to shift its shipments for container cargo from Kolkata Port to the Far East markets "on account of low freight rates prevailing in this sector". Bureau Report