Efficiency in Inland Logistics: New Pathways, the first in the series of focused industry events organised by Maritime Gateway under the platform - Gateway Knowledge Forum on April 09, 2010 at Taj Mahal Hotel, New Delhi, was well-received and appreciated by the industry and trade. The day-long conference turned out to be a huge success as representatives from the government, industry and the trade participated in large numbers.

Hon’ble Secretary, Ministry of Shipping, Shri K Mohandas, the chief guest for the inaugural session, extended his support to look into the issues and act upon immediately on the recommendations made by the industry during the panel discussions. “The ministry will look into and take necessary action on the implementable recommendations that this event will come out with. It will be ensured that the recommendations addressed to other ministries will be forwarded to them for immediate action,” Shri Mohandas assured.

The sessions on freight policy and infrastructure were captivating and had an overwhelming response from the delegates, who engaged the panelists in interactive discussion. Mr Raghu Dayal, former Managing Director, CONCOR India Ltd. & Sr. Fellow at AITD, in his keynote address, suggested that Indian Railways (IR) needs to bring out a transformation in its approach and that the “business as usual” attitude may no longer hold good in the changing scenario of increased consolidation and competition. “IR has been a hugely successful organisation and has both the potential and genius to bring about the change …. IR can work collaboratively with the private players and use its land to build the necessary infrastructure through private participation,” Mr Dayal said.

A policy in place for the freight transportation by road was felt by many of the panelists. Mr Jasjit Sethi, CEO, TCI Supply Chain Solutions, stressed on the need to beef up road infrastructure in the fastest way possible. The panelists called for the establishment of a National Multimodal Transport Policy which encompasses not only the road but also the rail, inland water transport and the coastal shipping. This would enable the various ministries and government departments to work in a much coordinated way in removing the infrastructure bottlenecks.

Capt. Sriram Ravi Chander, COO, Visakha Container Terminal Pvt. Ltd. proposed an Integrated Freight Community System for the entire logistics sector on the similar line of the Port Community System. “Such a system would solve the redundancies, duplication of paper work and enables seamless connectivity across the value chain,” Capt Sriram emphasised.

The recommendations that came to the fore during the deliberations of the six focused session were duly compiled and presented to Shri K Mohandas over the evening session. The recommendations would further be presented to all relevant Ministries, including Railways, Commerce, Road Transport & Highways. The key recommendations are as below:

1. A National Multimodal Freight Transport Policy is the need of the hour and should be brought as soon as possible.
2. Indian Railways should bring out transparency in fixing freight and haulage tariffs.
3. Present Rail Freight Policy to be aligned with the exim policy of the Commerce Ministry.
4. Cabotage laws need to permit foreign vessels to operate in coastal shipping.
5. Separate low-cost infrastructure for coastal shipping which should be highly deregulated and standardised.
6. A “Green Channel” for trucks moving export cargoes or excise sealed cargoes to prevent delays at check posts.
7. Feeder Routes for dedicated freight corridors to be made common users’ facilities.
8. Redistribution of cargoes to be equitably directed to effectively utilise national port assets. Some amount of cargo originating from the northern hinterland to be directed to the east coast ports to avoid congestions and delays.
9. Introduction of a Freight Community System for the entire logistics sector in similar lines of Port Community System.
10. If not a single industry status for all logistics services, a single governing body needs to be set up to overlook the activities of this sector.
11. There should be carrot and stick approach on part of the government – the industry should be incentivised and EDI made compulsory.

About Gateway Knowledge Forum:

Gateway Knowledge Forum® is the place where key business, political and academic leaders, who bring diverse perspectives but a shared commitment to improve trade and business, are invited to debate and deliberate on the most pressing issues of our time.

Gateway Knowledge Forum®, a gateway to vast expertise and wealth of knowledge through a series of discussions, thereby facilitating knowledge exchange and dialogue to help build better business processes. Successful organisations and businesses come together to transform individual ideas into collective The forum facilitates each of its participants to gain an understanding of the key concerns and come up with pragmatic solutions and recommendations aimed at bringing necessary changes to the system.

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