Maersk, the integrated logistics company, has flagged off another weekly, dedicated rail service Pratigya Express from Sonipat Inland Container Depot (ICD) in the National Capital Region (NCR) to APM Terminals, Pipavav port in Gujarat.

"The NCR is abundant with retail and rice exporters who need a regular connection from their manufacturing facilities to the consumers in the western market," says Major Jyoti Joshi Mitter, Head of Rail, Maersk India. "Through our dialogues with our customers, we realized that they faced two challenges - either they don't have a fixed schedule for departure from Sonipat ICD, and once they get it, they do not necessarily make it to the right vessel connection at the port. Our ambition was to address both these problems with a single solution - we launched a dedicated weekly rail service that gives the exporters a fixed visibility on departure from the origin and then connects to a fixed vessel connection at APM Terminals,Pipavav."

Pratigya Express will move cargo from Sonipat ICD to APM Terminals, Pipavav with a transit time of two and half days. "From there, the cargo will have the option to connect on services such as the Shaheen Express, which will be launched in the coming days or the MECL. Both of these services will then be able to take the cargo to the Middle Eastern or European markets. Studies show that cargo moved on rail instead of road has advantages in terms of both cost-savings and time-savings. These two benefits eventually also contribute to reducing carbon footprint."

Pratigya Express on the western dedicated freight corridor will move 90 TEUs every week.