CONCOR: Tea Transportation

Abstract

This case looks at how to develop a marketing strategy for CONCOR, for transporting tea from gardens to the processing plants as containerized. cargo by rail. The worldwide trend in product movement is towards containerized. Tea is well suited to containerization, but very little containerization actually takes place, particularly in the domestic segment in India. The case identifies the reasons behind the preference of tea transporters for road over railways and the constraints faced by the railways and CONCOR. It also explores possible options that would help stem the shift of tea movement from the railways to road transport. The focus is on developing a logistics strategy that would attract tea transporters to containerization. Issues such as pricing, value added services like scheduling, tracking of consignments, insurance, etc. are important.