EASE OF DOING BUSINESS
– A FAR CRY?
There are still certain archaic procedures dragging along that act as friction against the very spirit of ease of doing business
Despite all round improvements in shipping procedures, documentation, movement etc, there are still some areas that have remained unattended and had tenaciously held on to drag down other procedures with it. The recent NISAA conference highlighted a few of these.
”We do not have a single documentation protocol,” says Sachin Bhanushali, CEO, Gateway Rail Freight Ltd. He was pointing at gaps in the logistics sector and regulatory framework. There is not a single documentation for transportation of cargo to the hinterland. The current manual of transportation is not only complicated but also full of gaps in liability transfer regime.
Pendency in the movement of containers – be it export or import – has remained an intractable problem over the decades. The pendency was sometimes as long as 25 to 40 days in many of the ICDs and CFSs in the NCR region. And at times it stretched to over 40 days.
The pendencies aggravated due to seasonal cycles of monsoon, public holidays etc. In summer, the railways run summer specials for passenger trains at the expense of freight trains. Audrey Dolhen, MD, CMA CGM Agencies (India) Pvt Ltd said that there was a need for better coordination between various operators to overcome pendencies and better management of available resources. Though there was improvement in Customs documentation procedures, there are still areas where the procedures were “archaic”, Dolhen said. Even today, hard copies of the Customs cleared shipping Bills need to be couriered to Mumbai Customs. Hard copies of EGM also need to be sent to the port, even though soft copies are transmitted across.
Handling of Dangerous Cargo (DG Cargo) is still an issue. The recent incident involving the dangerous cargo at the ICD Tuglakabad, highlighted once again the frailty in the system in handling such cargo. Seema Kapur, GM, Jubilant Life Sciences Ltd said that when it came to handling DG Cargo by sea and air there were clear IATA and IMO guidelines.
However, when it came to carriage by road there were no guidelines. There was no well laid out documented procedure for handling dangerous cargo in the event of a mishap. The truck driver was unable to do anything in such contingencies. There were no trained personnel available for domestic movement either. The situation was same at ICDs and ports. The Customs too tended to be dependent on the knowledge of the owner of the cargo to handle any misadventure.
Dolhen claimed that 15 non-hazardous commodities were considered hazardous in the Railway books, which led to considerable confusion. The lack of fair knowledge on dangerous cargo was highlighted over an import shipment which took place a few years ago. The Railways once declared an import Garment on Hangers container as dangerous and a penalty was imposed on the line. The baffled line was told that this apparently inexplicable declaration was because coat hangers were made of a chemical element which was considered dangerous in their books. It was only after the matter was escalated to a higher level that the penalty was retracted by the Railways.
The road movement today is beset with uncertainties. There is no way of tracking containers which move by road. The consignor was entirely dependent on his contact with the truck driver, till the container reached the port. As a result, shippers are unable to plan their intended vessel. Even today the basis of payment to a truck driver is based on the signature he obtains on the lorry receipt from the consignee.
Dolhen felt that there should be pan-India integration of Customs for better coordination. There was a need for better coordination among various ministries. In India logistics is handled by at least seven ministries. In this regard the National Integrated Logistic Policy was a welcome move.
Yards for stacking empty containers continue to pose problems for shippers and shipping lines alike, Capt Kaura said. Stagnation of water in the yard area damages the containers and cargo. Ideally each ICD should have an empty yard where empties could be stored and examined, he felt. Proper repair facilities should be available. Repairs take a long time. All these added to the logistics cost.
Several giant strides have been made in the logistics sector which has improved the LPI rankings. However, has all this really brought down the logistic costs, K Sathianathan, MD, Distribution Logistics Infrastructure, astutely observed.
