Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Thursday, Aug 23, 2007
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Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Thursday, Aug 23, 2007 ePaper |
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Logistics
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Transport NYK Logistics chief lists bottlenecks to business
Call for unified toll fee to be decided by the Centre. Need to curb overloaded trucks, trucks of over 21-22 meters should be classified illegal. Increase in inland container depots facilities urged.
Our Bureau New Delhi, Aug. 22 The Chairman of NYK Logistics, Mr Hiroshi Maniwa, today listed several bottlenecks in the Indian transportation system, including State taxes, overloading, lack of punctuality, customs clearance delays and high rail transportation charges, which need to be addressed to make it easier for firms to function here. By doing so, he said the firms can reduce their inventory levels by 10-15 days, resulting in significant cost savings. Stressing on the need to complete the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (including the railway and highway links) as per schedule, he said, “At present, between Nhava Sheva and Delhi, the freight trains have an operational speed of 35 kilometre per hour (kmph). This is expected to go up to 75 kmph when the rail freight corridor is ready. Additionally, with freight corridor route planned to support double stack container movement, the efficiency should be up by four times.” Incidentally, ground level work for the Delhi-Mumbai rail freight corridor project, around which the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor is planned, is yet to start. Mr Maniwa was speaking at the India-Japan business seminar organised by the Government along with the Japan External trade Organisation and industry chambers such as FICCI, CII and Assocham. The highways that would support the DMIC should have six lanes (three on each side) instead of the existing four or two lanes, he suggested. He also sought a unified toll fee to be decided by the Centre. “Unlike Japan, in India every State stops the vehicles and charges certain taxes at its own level, overriding the Centre. This should be done away with,” he said. There is a need to curb overloaded trucks, he said, suggesting that trucks of over 21-22 meters should be classified illegal. Mr Maniwa said the container terminals at Nhava Sheva are at present being used at over 90 per cent capacity. “If capacities are not added fast then there would be over-utilisation leading to bottleneck.” Along with increase in port capacity, the road-based capacity (hinterland connectivity) should increase. Talking about inland container depots (ICDs) and container freight stations (CFS), he called for an increase in ICD facilities while expressing satisfaction at the CFS capacities present and under expansion near Mumbai. He also hoped that customs clearance procedures would become faster with electronic data interchange being established since the procedure takes about 3-5 days. “In the electronic exchange in Japan, even customers can access the Web and track their consignment, while the exchange in India is open only to the customs officials,” Mr Maniwa said.
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