Leaping into the future

It’s time to look forward to a new Union Budget, one that will hopefully set the tone for the growth of the country. Some of the essential demands from the cargo and logistics sector have been awarding the industry status to the sector, implementation of GST, simplification of process and dwell time and guidelines to bring down the transportation costs. The sector has high hopes from the upcoming Budget.

With the aim to create one single platform, the Ministry of Civil Aviation has also released a report to develop an Air Cargo Community System (ACCS) to digitise the stakeholders’ interactions. Such steps go a long way to infuse confidence in industry players as well as convince stakeholders about the government’s commitment on removing bottlenecks.

On the maritime front, ports are coming up with latest technology to make the cargo clearance effortless, swift and efficient.

The Federation of Freight Forwarders Association in India (FFFAI) took up impending issues in its latest biennial convention; be it skill, technology and gender equalisation, and more, to bring in productivity in the trade.

On the technology front, this is also a time to build a proper system and increase the use of Information Technology (IT) in managing businesses. The accurate and complete application of IT can transform the existing challenges of the cargo industry to the advantages of the Indian trade. Adoption of IT will aid the movement of cargo in the Indian supply chain.

This is also a time to look at the intricacies of the sector. In this issue, we have focused on the significance of packaging while transporting dangerous goods from one point to another. CARGOTALK explores the results of inappropriate packaging and how it could affect health, safety, property and the environment.