Emerging sea freight in India |
Posted: August 25, 2021 |
Sea freight in Chennai plays an important role in Indian logistics since the city is the second largest sea port in the country and third oldest among the twelve prominent sea ports in the country. Owing to this feature, the city gained a reputation to be the ‘Gateway to Southern India.’ Besides, this prominence also enhances the economy of the State as well and enables export of iron ores, leather, cotton textiles and import of grain, raw cotton, machines, iron and steel. Prominent participants in sea freight in India include importers, exporters, banks, insurance companies, freight forwarders, shipping company, Customs House Agent (CHA), customs authorities, port authorities and intermodal transport providers. Importer is a buyer who identifies demand for a product in a destination and imports product accordingly. The importer could import for self use or could be established importer importing goods based on past imports. Some are registered exporters importing on government export promotion schemes. Exporter could both procure products from manufacturers and export goods. A manufacturer could also directly export own products. Service exporters export services like software. Deemed exporter exports goods that do not leave the country and receives payment in Indian currency. Banks provide loans, letters of credit and documentary collection, Whereas insurance company covers the risks of loss or damage of goods and delays that occur due to natural disasters, theft and so on. Freight forwarder is an agent of importers and exporters and negotiates for better and profitable routes and rates besides handling formalities and paper work. Shipping company owns the carrier which transports goods from one place to another in sea freight in India. Customs House Agent assists in customs clearance from cargo and customs authorities while port authorities clear goods that enter the country through the port. Cargo consolidation in Chennai and in other parts of the country is facilitated by intermodal transport providers who combine rail and road transport to move goods from factories or warehouses to ports which load goods at origin port so that they can move to the port of destination. Inexperience is an important hurdle or obstruction in cargo consolidation in India, which also creates confusion in warehousing in India as well as customs brokerage in Chennai. Customs brokerage in India suffers a lot when an experienced agent fills incorrect and incomplete information, lacks knowledge in exchange rates, packaging rules and restriction of certain products. When agents are not well informed about payment details and could not establish relations with customs authorities, the problems are bound to aggravate. Sea freight in Chennai is a cost effective method to transport goods to long distance or transport heavy goods like vehicles, furniture and other equipments. Sea freight is cost effective compared to air freight in Chennai. Besides heavy shipments sea freights are comfortable to small shipments as well. With the rise of maritime safety, sea freight has dropped accident rates. The ocean carriers have also enhanced their designs so that hazardous and dangerous materials are handled appropriately, besides being eco-friendly with minimized carbon foot prints.
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