New Delhi, Jan. 2: The shipping ministry has asked the railways to explore the possibility of double stacking containers on freight trains running from the western ports to the northern hinterland.

Shipping secretary D. T. Joseph told The Telegraph this would result in immediately doubling the capacity of the freight trains and improve the connectivity between the ports and the hinterland.

The shipping ministry proposed that around Rs 50 crore would be required to raise the overhead electricity cables and changing the structure of some bridges on railway lines in order to accommodate the increased height of the container stacks. The ministry is of the view that merely modernising the ports will not remove the infrastructure bottleneck for international trade if it is not backed by an efficient transport link to the hinterland.

This is the most important lesson that has been thrown up by the recent congestion at the JNPT.

While the ports can install modern equipment to ensure that ships are unloaded and loaded quickly, unless the cargo is swiftly moved out of the port congestion is bound to result.

Joseph feels that in the long run the country would have to go in for a dedicated high-speed freight corridor, which could cost as much as Rs 5,800 crore.

Since the existing railway lines are functioning at 140 per cent capacity with some sections even touching 180 per cent there is little scope for increasing the freight movement unless new lines are laid. The situation continues to worsen as each railway minister announces new passenger trains every year.

Laying a new freight corridor is imperative if the country wants to ensure a smooth flow of trade and achieve its ambitious export target in the long run.

Interestingly, Dubai Ports that is setting up a new container terminal at Kochi is also asking for better rail connectivity from the port to the hinterland.

The company appears to have realised after the recent JNPT logjam that unless its customers have access to an efficient transport system to transport their goods to and from the hinterland the profitability of its operations would be hit.

Joseph is also of the view that importers should spread out their exporters. They should also not hone into one or two ports but spread their consignments to other ports as well.

?There is no point in having any particular port functioning at 110 per cent capacity with the other ports having excess capacity. While a particular port may gain in such a scenario, the nation as a whole loses out,? he said. According to Joseph, the more efficient ports in the world operate at about 90 per cent of their capacity.

However, the private port operators who have invested large sums in the terminals want to handle as much traffic as they can even pushing beyond the 100 per cent capacity mark in order to maximise profit.