Category Archives: Rail/Road

After the resumption of exports to Bangladesh through Bengal’s Petrapole land port, stakeholders in the neighbouring country have expressed despair, saying the situation has led to a crisis in industrial output and skyrocketing of prices of perishables there. According to the stakeholders, unavailability of drivers to take cargo to Bangladesh and problems related to parking of trucks in Petrapole has led to the crisis. “Even though trade has resumed, but due to complexity in your systems, export-import is not taking place to its potential of 500-700 trucks a day. A mere 10-20 trucks crossing the border will not achieve any business purpose,” Mafizur Rahman Sajan, President, Benapole body, said in the letter to the FIEO.

With the recommencement of exports to Bangladesh through Bengal’s Petrapole land port, 100 local trucks got permission to go into the neighbouring country. The trade will be allowed for 12 hours daily. All Bangladesh-bound vehicles stranded in and around the Petrapole check post, around 80-km from Calcutta, will be cleared by June 14. The local administration has also asked traders to be ready with another pool of 50 drivers outside the ICP area for any exigency. Bilateral trade through this land port, the largest facility on the Indo-Bangla border, was stopped on May 2 after two days of operation, following protests by locals who were afraid that truck drivers and labourers might spread the coronavirus infection. According to FIEO, “A large number of trucks are stranded near the border due to the lockdown. We have agreed to follow the instructions given by the administration.”

DBS Bank India in partnership with TCIL has introduced the DBS RAPID (Real Time APIs by DBS) solution for truck drivers, thereby enabling them to receive payments instantly. Given the large volumes of transactions, and round-the-clock nature of the operations, the bank proposed setting up a UPI-based real-time payments solution which is available 24x7x365. With this solution, TCIL truck drivers receive an instant credit into their bank account, which they can then swipe at terminals or withdraw cash using ATMs. Through DBS Bank India’s custom API solution, TCIL will now be able to save 45 lakh hours annually. DBS RAPID (Real-time APIs by DBS) and UPI payments, provides a seamless integration with the company’s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. The solution has been set up under the aegis of National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) has announced that it will introduce a new train-handling charge on all trains handled at Mundra port from May 1. The new charge has been set at Rs2.60 lakh plus GST per rake handling in/out with 48 hours and it is being introduced to utilise this infrastructure at Mundra port.

The service providers are facing a cash flow crisis because of not getting payments on time from their clients. To tide over the crisis, apex bodies; Federation of Freight Forwarders Association in India, Association of Multimodal Transport Operators of India and The Air Cargo Agents Association of India has decided that for the next six months, logistics service providers will handle shipments only against 100 per cent advance payments by their clients. Generally, the payment by an exporter or importer to service provider is done only after handling the shipment and paid in advance. The service provider pays the bill and waits for the payment from their clients.

Due to coronavirus pandemic, Indian railway will end 2019-20 with 15.7 million tonnes less than the previous financial year’s 1,212.56 million tonnes. Indian Railways was on its way till February to not just meet but surpass its freight loading target. But because of the pandemic, the railways virtually shuts down operations and earnings from freight loading have declined from Rs1,25,354 crore in 2018-19 to Rs1,23,225 crore in 2019-2020 fiscal with a loss of Rs 2,129 crore. In February this year, the railways loaded 106.5 million tonnes of goods which was more than around 6 million tonnes in February last year. With the national transporter managing to load 1,108 million tonnes by the end of February this year, around 5 million tonnes more than what it was this time last year, it looked good to achieve its target by March 31. However, after the three-week lockdown in the country, freight loading dipped by almost 3 per cent with the railways carrying around 15.7 million tonnes less goods in March than the previous year. The railways, however, continues to be the lifeline of the country, supplying essential commodities even through the nationwide lockdown. From March 23 to April 4, it transported 1,342 wagons of sugar, 958 wagons of salt and 378 wagons/tanks of edible oil across the country.

Maersk has announced the Inland Container Depot (ICD) Madurai as a new acceptance point to help the trade in the hinterland of Tamil Nadu. Equipped with a warehouse to support faster cargo clearance, the ICD will help reduce the overall logistics costs by up to 30 per cent, while also providing operational transparency to customers. Spread over a total area of about 70 acres, the state-of-art ICD is one of the largest in the country and will serve as a major infrastructural hub for South India. Steve Felder, Managing Director, Maersk South Asia, said “Our operations at ICD Madurai are aimed at reducing logistics costs for our customers by cutting the cargo transport journey by up to 150 km. We are also tapping into the hinterlands’ potential by opening up new trade possibilities and enabling ease of doing business for the trading community in the region.”

DHL Express and BVC entered a partnership to enable Indian SMEs, in the gems and jewellery industry, to grow their presence in the international marketplace. The service is targeted at 10,000 Indian jewellery SME exporters to help them expand their presence in international markets for B2C shipments. Commenting on the partnership, Sandeep Juneja, Vice President – Commercial, DHL Express India, said, “There is a significantly large cross-border e-commerce opportunity, that this sector can leverage using our e-commerce supply chain solutions. Our vast network of over 220 countries and territories opens the door to expand beyond traditional trade lanes.” Yogesh Bansode, President – International, BVC, said, “BVC is digitising the jewellery industry through its ecosystem of offerings and the DHL partnership expands the shipping solutions.”

Aiming to reduce the total cost of ownership (TCO) for fleet owners, provide better control over operations and increased protection against fraud, Shell has launched Shell Fuels, Shell Fleet Prepaid program and Shell Telematics. Parminder Kohli, GM – Business Development, Marketing and Operations for Fleet Solutions, Shell, said, “Our mission is to be our customers’ first choice for sustainable mobility solutions. We would like to achieve this through understanding their fleet management problems and then providing customised solutions addressing their pain points.”

APM Terminals Pipavav has begun operation of ‘drive-through container scanner’. The scanning system adheres to the guidelines issued by the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board and specifications issued by Directorate of Logistics (DOL). The new drive through container scanning facility is an important trade facilitation measure which besides improving the maritime safety and security would help enhance the overall efficiency and integrity of the logistics chain. The Eagle P60 scanning machine will reduce the dwell time, improve productivity, facilitate faster turnaround of the consignment thereby reducing the transaction cost and enhancing the overall Port’s performance.