JNPT to start direct port delivery transport

Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) has announced plans to roll out Direct Port Delivery (DPD) transport service from May 1, enabling faster and cost-effective movement of containers.

With this move, the industry can save logistics cost between ₹9,000 and ₹20,000 per container and the delivery time will be cut down to 48 hours from seven days now.

Logistics companies

JNPT has appointed four logistics companies to handle container movement on five transport routes at fixed rates. In this system, containers off loaded from the vessels would no longer be moved to Container Freight Station (CFS) yards, where more time is taken for dispatch. In March 2017, JNPT had started a tender process and after technical and financial bids, four out of 12 logistics companies were selected for the DPD transport facility.

The selected bidders include JWC Logistics Park Pvt. Ltd., (for two routes), Vora Transfreight Services, Royal Translines Pvt. Ltd. and Ekta Enterprises.JNPT has also allocated the transport routes — route 1 towards Gujarat, route 2 towards Goa and Bengaluru, route 3 towards Nashik, Aurangabad, Nagpur, Indore and Hyderabad, route 4 towards Ahmednagar and route 5 is a local region near Mumbai.

The first meeting of four successful bidders for the five routes was held at JNPT on Thursday, where Neeraj Bansal, the chairman-in-charge, asked them to gear up for the nationwide roll-out from May 1 this year.

The DPD facility had been made available at JNPT for more than a year, but this time it would be implemented in a more structured manner for any one opting for DPD service. “Currently, the DPD ratio at JNPT is 38% and we want to take it to 70% shortly,” Mr. Bansal said.