With an aim to improve last-mile container visibility, the NICDC Logistics Data Services (NLDS), a joint venture between the Government of India, represented by the National Industrial Corridor Development and Implementation Trust, and NEC Corporation, a leader in the integration of IT and network technologies, have today announced the extension of its Logistics Data Bank (LDB) services at 9 major Special Economic Zones (SEZ) across India.
The Major SEZs of India include Visakhapatnam, SEEPZ Mumbai, Surat, MEPZ Chennai, Cochin, Kandla, Noida, Mangalore and Dahez SEZ.
With the commencement of container tracking services at these locations, exporters and importers will be able to get near real-time location information on container movement from ports to SEZs.
“The need for more accurate end-to-end container visibility was apparent when exporters and importers experienced significant delays in container movement. With end-to-end container tracking, users can now easily identify the bottlenecks and ease their operations. Last mile container visibility stands in-line with NLDS’ objective of improving the export and import (EXIM) trade and reducing the logistics cost,”
~ Ichiro Oshima, CEO, NLDS, commenting on the occasion.
This idea for NLDS’ service extension was first proposed during NLDSL’s Logistics Data Bank (LDB)’s Open House Session held in January last year under the chairmanship of Dr Guruprasad Mohapatra, Secretary, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade.
During the session, stakeholders in the EXIM industry requested to install RFID readers at industrial zones, manufacturing hubs and SEZs, which would enable them to receive timely updates on last-mile cargo and improve supply chain efficiency.
NLDS had proposed to install RFID readers through various consultations and discussions with key stakeholders from industry and the Ministry of Commerce & Industry. Prior the commencement of these RFID systems, NLDSL approached individual SEZs separately to conduct site surveys.
The site surveys have been conducted for the nine (9) SEZs between January and February 2021 and the process of installation of RFID readers was recently completed.
“Technology has been playing a crucial role in revamping major businesses and sentiments of the industry. Such trade facilitator initiatives during turbulent times will help the manufacturing, warehousing and trading sectors at SEZs to reduce their logistics cost and improve tracking of their container movement.”
~ A Bipin Menon, Development Commissioner, Noida Special Economic Zone, highlighting the importance of the LDB project stating that
“We are in conversations with multiple SEZs across the country to explore the possibilities of installation of RFID readers for providing better and end to end visibility for exporters and importers,” said Surajit Sarkar, COO, NLDS.
The container tracking solution by NLDS and its analytics report have significantly benefited various stakeholders in supply chain operations. It has considerably reduced the ports dwell time and overall transportation time for export and import of shipments.
“Reducing overall logistics cost and providing end to end visibility is the need of the hour for the Indian Logistics Industry. In a major strategic push, we have extended LDB services to 9 major SEZs of India. With the nation embarking on digital transformation, LDB will play an instrumental role in further improving the efficiency of the sector by integrating across multiple platforms,”
~ Abhishek Chaudhary, VP-Corporate Affairs, NICDC and Director, NLDS
