Kolkata is an important link not only to the immediate domestic hinterland but to far east and north east India. And the session focussed on the role of efficient logistics system to bring down transit cost for shippers
Speakers for the Business Session 1 were Vinit Kumar, IRSEE, Chairman, Kolkata Port Trust; Ashish K Gupta, MD, TM International Logistics; Prakash Tulsiani, COO & Executive Director(Operations), Allcargo Logistics; Debashis Dutta, Chairman, FIATA World Congress 2018; Syed Abdul Rahman, IRTS, Sr. GM (C &O), Eastern Region, CONCOR; and the discussion was moderated by R. Ramprasad. Setting the tone for the discussions to proceed, Ramprasad highlighted developments in dry ports, ICD and CFS serving the region, the impact of DPD on CFS, major infrastructure projects coming up in the region, among others.
Vinit Kumar: Kolkata being a riverine port has inherent draft issues and operates using lock gate system. The advantage of the port is that it is located very close to the hinterland it servers. Some of the container trade focussed initiatives are to reduce turnaround time to bring down cost to the trade. Being located in the city the port has restrictions on movement of cargo trucks, so RO-RO service is being introduced to ease the flow of cargo. The BISN jetty is being developed close to the port. On Howrah side, a new jetty is coming up at Sankrail. Ro-Ro service will be operational from Kolkata to Howrah in two months. Currently around 12 documents are required for EXIM which will be replaced with just one with a software system. There are also plans for increasing the number of berths for containers. Rake availability at Kolkata Port is better for moving coal and limestone. A long-term solution to ease congestion at Haldia is either to have a second lock gate or to do away with the lock gate system.
Nepal trade has two components: container movement from Kolkata and bulk movement from Haldia. Certain concessions have been provided to Nepal traders, but there is need for better sharing of information and transparency. There is an impression among Nepal trade that the port is charging excess which needs to be sorted out through interaction. There is need for more terminals in Nepal, so that there can be more frequency of rail movement. Infrastructure at Ashuganj Port inneeds to develop, which is a very logical route to North Eastern India.
Ashish Kumar Gupta: The region feeds the infrastructure requirement of the entire country with the supply of raw materials such as steel and aluminium, but it lags in infrastructure. Steel and other infrastructure industries invest to build plants but not enough thought and investments are channelized for logistics even within their own manufacturing process. Logistics is always an afterthought. Manufacturers need to invest in efficient logistic system such as faster turnaround of rakes and efficient material handling mechanism.
Another major overhead for industries is transaction cost and the cost of complexities which are difficult to calculate for a user. India lacks in strong IT backbone connecting entire freight industry. There is no freight exchange and online platform for containers. There is need for someone to act as a consolidator in the market. There are very few companies who provide endto- end cargo delivery. Logistics service providers need to invest in inter-modal operators, inter-modal connectivity, and IT technology. There is also imbalance in cargo handling capacity of ports and railway infrastructure investment is needed at the right time to debottleneck cargo movement.
Debashis Dutta: Traffic movement from the port into the city is allowed only in the night. An elevated road has to be developed from Khidirpur to Matia Buruj for free movement of city traffic, and this will make the port road available for 24X7 cargo movement. Nepal cargo has migrated to Visakhapatnam Port due to better services offered there and everyone in Kolkata should strive to get back the lost business. SAIL has brought limestone to Kolkata for its Durgapur unit. Similar bulk cargo movement should be encouraged to improve the bulk cargo scenario at Kolkata Port. The port should act as a nodal body, and all other service providers should work as a team and aggressively sell their services to users.
Prakash Tulsiani: Shipper would agree to pay little more if the service by the logistics partner is reliable and timely. In the post-GST scenario, a lot of demand will come for contract logistics, which includes end-to-end service. Currently Allcargo is the only service provide which has presence in all the ports that handle 80 per cent of India’s container volume. Large companies always look at someone who can ensure seamless and reliable cargo movement for them, so that they could focus on their core activities. In the post-GST market condition those companies who had in-house logistics and warehousing solutions are now outsourcing it to experts in logistics. Kolkata being the gateway to north east India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan and even Myanmar, will require more logistics capacity and infrastructure. More than new ports, roads, warehouses, etc, it is time to look for smart solutions that can be achieved by integrating endto- end logistics. Use of IT networks and platforms can greatly help to find smart solutions. Logistics efficiency as a whole can be achieved only when all stakeholders in the supply chain become efficient. For example, ports should focus on the activity for which it is designed for that is ship-to-shore operation. Port should not be engaged in activities that can be done outside.
Indian ports, especially the major ports are not designed for clearing of cargo within its premises. Major Ports are located inside major metropolitan cities, and are surrounded by major human habitat. Ports should focus on bringing efficiency to terminal operation, and should allow CFS to support being the second part in the logistics chain. Moreover, movement of people at the terminal is a safety and compliance issue. While DPD is a welcome move but cargo inspection and other activities should be done at the CFS. Innovations like automation of gate and green channel system should be introduced at Kolkata Port which allows seamless movement of compliant vehicles. Kolkata Port has taken initiative to improve road condition around it, including near the CFS but there are instances of unauthorised vehicle parking which choke the transit road. Monitoring of roads, automation of gate process, and following best practises at other ports will help the logistics service providers in the region to deliver a seamless logistics experience. It is important for logistics service provider to look at Petrapole-Benapole and make Kolkata the gateway to grow further.
Syed Abdul Rahman: In today’s world information is equally important as time, and could help to improve cost efficiency. CONCOR is implementing KYCL to track containers 24X7. Real time tracking of containers helps shippers to better plan their logistics. CONCOR has introduced integrated platform with the ease of an interactive dash board which provides information on end-to-end solution, and related services. CONCOR has been adding capacity to ease congestion, and with the help of Kolkata Port, the company has introduced an alternate terminal at the port for Nepal bound cargo, and is in the process of adding other loading terminals at the port. One the major cost overheads in Kolkata is movement of cargo from one yard to other. There are capacity constrain at Birgunj ICD. There is need for addition of capacity in Nepal, and CONCOR will come up with two new ICDs, and works on the rail terminal at Jogbani is under progress and likely to be commissioned in 5-6 months, and these infrastructure would be able to meet the demand from Nepal.
The trade with Bangladesh would be served with a container train service to Bangabandhu West, about 150km from Dhaka. The logistics cost for trade with Bangladesh is more about time. For example, transport by road faces a detention of 20-25 day at the border, and waterways also suffers from delays. If Bangladesh continues with its support of providing adequate infrastructure, rail movement could significantly bring down transit time. Links and nodes play key role in logistics network, while in other parts nodes (terminals) have greater role, but in eastern India link (road and rail) is more important.
On the sidelines of Business Session 1, Debashis Dutta, Chairman, FIATA World Congress 2018 apprised the house about the upcoming FIATA World Congress. He said the FIATA World Congress is the mother event of the logistics sector of the world, and India will be the host for the first time. The summit will take place at New Delhi on 26-29th September 2018, and the theme for this year is ‘The Future Starts Here’. With the felicitation of speakers the session came to a closure.
