India boosts shipment processing using RFID

Building upon the its recent improvements towards creating a foreign, investment-friendly country, the government is expanding on its shipping business.

The land placed perfectly between Africa, the Middle East and the rest of Asia, is highly active in the marine shipping industry. Among the most important ports in the Indian ocean is Kandla port, located in the Gujarat region.

DMICDC (Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Project), a project half-owned by the Indian government and partially by the Japanese government, seeks to speed up cargo registration and customs screening using RFID (Radio-frequency identification tags).

The project run by DMICDC and Japanese technology company, NEC managed to reduce port processing time by 10%, as well as customs screening by 25%.

Besides time-saving, the technology which scans RFID off shipment containers allows real-time tracking of inbound and outbound goods.

In an interview with Nikkei, DMICDC CEO, Alkesh Sharma, reported great success for the project in the Northwest region of the country, which he thinks will translate greatly in the nation’s South.

The concept is to be developed in five more ports in India, including Chennai and Kattupalli. Sharma also believes that the technology could be equally effective in land shipping, as well as river-carried cargo. 

This initiative to modernise the shipping industry shows India’s true dedication towards being a land available for international trade. In 2015, cargo shipped through india ports reached 1,052 million metric tonnes and is expected to reach 1,758 MMT by 2017.

With India’s shipping capacity already standing at 8.5 million tonnes of registered cargo – the 22nd largest port nation worldwide – it’s apparent that the government is aiming to join leading nations in the top 5 bracket.