‘DPD WILL MAKE US THE BEST IN THE WORLD’

He is the man in-charge of the biggest custom house in the country, generating whopping Rs 46,000 crore annual revenue. DR JOHN JOSEPH, Chief Commissioner of Customs, Mumbai Customs Zone II (NhavaSheva) speaks on his vision to make Jawaharlal Nehru Port a

JN Port is the biggest container handling port in India and ranked 31st among the world. What kind of growth you envisage in this financial year

Jawaharlal Nehru Custom House (JNCH) is the biggest custom house in the country in terms of container handled, documents filed and revenue generated. We contributed a net revenue of Rs 46,087.51 crores (US$7.2 billion) in 20152016. The CBEC has set net target revenue at Rs 49,000 crore for 201617; it constitutes 21.3 per cent of the entire target set for customs duty in India.

We have realised the revenue of Rs 32.898.20 crores by November 2016, witnessing a growth of 10 per cent as compared to the previous year. We are quite confident of that the target revenue of JNCH will exceed this year as the measures/steps taken in ease of doing business will boost the growth of commerce.

Though we have just 50 per cent manpower compared to the actual requirement (1,200 as against the required 2,537), we have ensured that facilitation at JNCH is a continuous process. We have taken several initiatives such as single window system, document management system aimed at storage of importexport data electronically and the physical movement of paper is now eliminated.

You have always spoken about cargo congestion as the biggest challenge for JNCH. How are you dealing with it?

Our focus is to boost container trade and now the Direct Port Delivery (DPD) facility is being provided to reputed importers and exporters having the status of Authorized Economic Operator (AEO). The facility of DPD is available 24x7 at JNCH.

Out of the 9 million TEUs coming into country, 4.48 million comes to JN Port. We are handling around 50 per cent of the national container traffic. The sheer volume of work is a tremendous challenge and we have to use new technology to deal with it.

JN Port is developed on a model of Container Freight Station (CFS) as the area of the terminal is small. We have 33 CFS’s around the terminal periphery. We have significantly brought down the number of days to clear goods and DPD is the only solution to bring it further down.

But isn’t DPD optional?

Under DPD, no examination of cargo is conducted and the de livery of containers is cleared directly from the Port without any need for the same to move to any CFS. We are using riskbased examination system that has all details of the importer, items etc and the camera at the gate captures container number, seal number and documents are matched. This facility results in substantial reduction of time and the cost of clearance of cargo.

We have now taken the issue of DPD to all AEO clients. I have personally written to CEO’s of over 500 companies, including Mr Mukesh Ambani and Mr Venugopal N Dhoot to opt for DPD. It makes sense for all, as it reduces transaction cost drastically. For listed companies, we will soon make DPD mandatory.

Is it true that you are facing resistance for full implementation of DPD?

This is bound to happen as the Container Freight Stations would have to innovate as the Cargo, which is currently brought to their place from the Port, will go directly to the Clients warehouse. Given the fact that the companies to have their own storage facilities would involve large costs, these CFSs can offer their clients Warehouse facility. It will be a good, logical business model. We have to change with changing times.

With no physical intervention, you think DPD is full-proof?

The key here is intelligence and we have heavily invested in it in terms of manpower. Whenever there is suspicion, we hold the right to intervene, take the container to CFS and check. JNCH already has two container scanners and more scanners are getting installed. More and more containers are getting scanned and this reduces physical intervention. We are watchful and have solved many fraud cases. We are promoting whistleblowers and there is an excellent reward system (20 per cent of the duty of collected goods) and that too, tax free!

With the help of good intelligence and technology, we would bring down the clearance rate at JN Port to 23 days, just like Singapore Port. This is our dream and we are working towards it.

Any other initiative which has brought in a positive change in the movement of cargo?

For facilitating DPD and RMS cargo a DPD/RMS Facilitation Centre was opened at JNCH main building increasing ease of doing business as the registration and out of charge facility can be availed at JNCH itself rather than going to the various CFSs which are mostly spread at a distance of 4050 Kms from the port.

This has generated imminent appreciation from the trade and more than 900 bills of entry are cleared daily from this facility instead of from the CFss.

The other stakeholders viz. Customs Brokers, importers are also lending a helping hand by voluntarily filing advance bills of entry and early registration, initiatives put forth by JNCH.