The Logistics Data Bank’s (LDB) services will soon be extended to all major ports in India. The LDB project’s objective is to ensure greater efficiency in the country’s logistics sector through the use of information technology.
Discussions between the Government and the Indian Ports Association (IPA) in this regard have begun, according to official sources. The IPA is the apex body for India’s major ports under the shipping ministry’s supervisory control. Until now, the LDB project covered only the country’s western logistics corridor.
As part of the LDB project, each container is attached to a Radio Frequency Identification Tag (RFID) tag and tracked through RFID readers. This, in turn, helps importers and exporters to track their goods in transit. So far, about 4.93 million containers (2.34 million import containers and 2.59 million export containers) have been tagged and de-tagged under the project.
‘To boost foreign trade’
The LDB project was unveiled in July 2016 as an important ‘ease of doing business’ initiative to boost the country’s foreign trade and bring about greater transparency. It helps reduce the overall lead time of container movement, besides bringing down transaction costs that consignees and shippers incur.
The project is implemented through a Special Purpose Vehicle called Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation Logistics Data Services Ltd. (DLDSL) — jointly (50:50) owned by the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) Trust and Japanese IT services major NEC Corporation.
As part of an initiative to expand the project to ports in South India, a team from DLDSL toured container port terminals in Chidambaranar, Krishnapatnam and Katupalli and held discussions with stakeholders there. Meanwhile, the LDB System has been integrated with the Freight Operations Information System of railways, sources said, adding that the move will help users track in-transit rail container movement.
According to the shipping ministry, the LDB project covers “the entire movement through rail or road till the Inland Container Depot and Container Freight Station.” The service integrates information available with the agencies across the supply chain to provide detailed, real-time information within a single window, it said. The DLDSL so far provides “container tracking services to around 70% of the container traffic in India.” The services include providing users the ‘average delivery time’ as well as notifications through SMS and email. The LDB project also provides other services such as ‘congestion and bottleneck analysis’ as well as ‘performance bench-marking’ that aids the users to pinpoint supply chain inefficiencies, and in turn help improve the system.
