Pristine Logistics & Infraprojects Ltd (PLIL), one of India’s biggest and fastest growing integrated rail terminal operators, is entering neighbouring Bangladesh by partnering with Summit Alliance Port Ltd (SAPL), a local company and a market leader in the off-dock sector.
Pristine Logistics & Infraprojects signed a memorandum of understanding with Dhaka and Chittagong Stock Exchanges-listed Summit Alliance Port on 27 August, to set up joint venture companies for developing rail-linked Inland Container Depots (ICDs), Container Freight Stations (CFSs) and Multi Modal Logistics Parks (MMLPs) at strategically important locations in Bangladesh.
Summit Alliance Port handles over 25 percent of export cargo and 15 percent of import cargo of Bangladesh’s containerised volume.
“Through development of world-class rail-based cargo hubs, Pristine Logistics & Infraprojects and Summit Alliance Port seeks to enhance the logistics infrastructure in Bangladesh and facilitate the landside needs of exporters and importers by providing long-haul rail services from Indian locations to the border and interiors of Bangladesh,” a company official said.
The partnership also aims to offer warehousing, consolidation, labelling and packaging, palletisation, import and export bonding, multimodal transport options of rail and road, empty storage, container repair, first and last mile distribution, and connectivity to gateway ports for Bangladesh’s exporters and importers.
Pristine Logistics & Infraprojects provides end-to-end multicargo logistics services which are pivoted around rail terminals, both in India and Nepal.
The company runs Inland Container Depots (ICDs), Private Freight Terminals (PFTs) and Logistics parks through subsidiary companies in Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh), Ludhiana (Punjab), Siliguri (Bengal), Patna (Bihar) and Birgunj (Nepal).
It owns and runs container trains, trailers and domestic containers which transport both containerised cargo (EXIM and domestic) and noncontainerised cargo (liquid, breakbulk and bulk).
Pristine’s multimodal services offer a combination of rail and road (including specialised rail transport in dwarf containers), while their ICDs and PFTs provide warehousing, storage, container repairs, consolidation, and first-last mile distribution.
Earlier this year, it acquired SICAL group of companies, with well-established CFSs in Chennai, Visakhapatnam and Tuticorin.
Summit Alliance Port operates inland container depots with facilities for empty container storage and container freight stations for handling both export and import cargo in Bangladesh.
In addition to its facilities in the Chittagong Port and a river terminal on the banks of Dhaleshwari River in Munshiganj district, the company operates and manages river terminals in India. In November 2018, the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) picked Summit Alliance Port through a tender to operate and manage the Garden Reach Terminal in Kolkata and Kalughat Terminal in Patna.
