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Our Bureau

Chennai , July 15

THE Shipping Ministry is moving an amendment to the Multi-modal Transport and Goods Act, 1993, to ensure that unregistered multi-modal transport operators (MTOs) will not be allowed to operate, according to Mr D.T. Joseph, Union Shipping Secretary. "We also want to bring in penal provision to deter unregistered operators," he said.

The MTOs need to present their registration and validity to custodians, financial institutions and banks. "We need to liberalise and allow any internationally accepted document to be used along with the multi-modal transport document. We will also amend the Act to ensure that a multi-modal transaction was not getting divided into uni-modal transport segment to avoid the responsibilities under the Act. We want to make the Act applicable to import leg too," Mr Joseph said.

The Ministry is also considering a proposal to introduce a Shipping Trade Practices Bill for transparency among intermediaries, including custom house agents (CHAs) and freight forwarders, he said at a meeting here.

Speaking at the 17th biennial convention of the Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations of India , Mr Joseph said that there are some intermediaries who do not come under any regulation. There is no transparency and there is unproductive transaction for which the trade is charged. Sometimes, the increase is not justified, and the trade does not know why there is an increase. Sometimes, the trade could not understand why so much of additional charges are levied, he said.

"I do hope that we will work to ensure quality, update our technology, introduce transparency and work through consultation and consensus so that the trade and trade intermediaries together flourish and augment their yields," he said.

Mr Joseph advised the CHAs and freight forwarders to realise the changes taking place around them and recognise the customer needs. "Redefine your role from a cargo delivery agent to an e-logistics manager. You are a vital link in the supply chain management. You must upgrade yourselves to meet the demands of e-commerce through e-logistics," he said.

According to Mr Joseph, the Centre is considering putting up a dedicated rail corridor for creating a separate rail network between Delhi and transhipment gateways through double-stack container block trains.

The Japanese Prime Minister has also shown interest in this, he added.

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