Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust’s (JNPT) newly launched centralised parking plaza (CPP) for container tractor-trailers is a move aimed at boosting Direct Port Entry and helping save cost and time for export containers. The CPP also offers Customs facilitation.
The parking plaza is spread across 45 hectares and has parking space for 1,538 tractor-trailers at a time. It has been built exclusively to integrate the parking of tractor-trailers carrying factory stuffed export containers at one location instead of at multiple locations earlier. This will help integrate document processing by the Customs.
It will be managed using a real-time parking management system. It has WiFi provision within the premises. The CPP has a dormitory for truck drivers to stay in, canteen for truck drivers, toilets and area for vehicle repair and maintenance. There will be guards and staff at each entry gate and lane to guide the tractor-trailers for entry formalities to ensure that they don’t have to wait in queue for entry.
The plaza will also have a management information system (MIS), where details of the tractor-trailers, including the name of the driver, contact number, truck number, container number, size of the container, shipping bill numbers, etc will be recorded. Once the data entry is completed at the entry gates, a parking number will be allotted to the tractor-trailer based on its characteristics such as destination terminal, type of cargo and size of the container.
Moreover, all the information collected will be linked with the parking number and a unique id with date, time and stamp will be allocated and stored in the central server. The Customs official will then inspect and give clearance to the container, and the tractor-trailer will be allotted a parking bay. Once the Let Export Order (LEO) is issued, the tractor-trailer will be free to leave the CPP through respective exit gates.
