Kolkata Port Trust sees good revenue prospects from auto exports to Bangladesh

Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) feels automotive exports to Bangladesh has the potential to generate an additional earning of Rs 30-40 crore a year, a top official has said.

"We see a good scope of exporting automotives from our port to Bangladesh and achieving a revenue of Rs 30-40 crore a year is quite possible if things turn out as planned," KoPT chairman Vinit Kumar told PTI.

"We have already sent the first lot of 240 trucks of Tata Motors from Netaji Subhash dock to Mongla port of the neighbouring country and very shortly, another consignment of the same size will be sent," he said.

Once the truck export stabilises, KoPT will explore the option of exporting passenger cars using inland waterways. Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) is carrying out a number of infrastructure projects to ensure National Waterways-I (NW-I) can be used as an economical and green highway for cargo movement.

KoPT offered solution to Tata Motors to use its land for parking and docks to export trucks out of Jamshedpur or Pantnagar (Uttaranchal) meant for Bangladesh.

"Tata Motors officials said they were unable to export about 1,000 trucks per month to Bangladesh due to Petrapole-Benapole land border congestion. They were scouting for a solution to overcome the issue and we offered them that in just a single meeting," Kumar said.

Tata Motors has been witnessing a demand of 3,000 Tata trucks per month but due to land border congestion and infrastructure limitations, it could export only about 1,800-2,000 trucks. KoPT expects to earn revenue of Rs 10 crore a year from export of 1,000 trucks per month.