The Ministry of Shipping is planning to develop a National Logistics Portal (Marine) to help exporters, importers and service providers. The Indian Ports Association has invited bids for design, development, integration, implementation, operation and maintenance of the National Logistics Portal (Marine) Version 1.0.
The Centre is now working towards developing a national maritime single window known as National Logistics Portal (NLP-Marine) encompassing complete end-to-end logistics solutions. The plan is to scale up the current Port Community System (PCS 1x) to create NLP-Marine through upgradation and strengthening of the platform.
The proposed NLP-Marine will act as a single platform to perform all core activities of the importer, exporter and customs broker such as domestic tracking of the shipment with notifications at each stage. Also, undertake customs clearance on their own, online transaction with custodians, remote electronic data interchange (EDI) system package for Bill of Entry and Shipping Bill checklist plus EDI file generation and document management system to store important documents securely on cloud storage.
It will facilitate real-time information of activities that are generally not in reach of the importer, exporter, customs broker, including vessel-related information, terminal gate and container freight station (CFS) gate transactions. It will also enable digital transaction for payments required for the clearance process of import and export like CFS charges, shipping line charges, transportation charges, etc.
It will promote paperless transactions as all stakeholders such as CFS and shipping lines can exchange digital documents over the platform. The platform also seeks to promote digital entrepreneurship by providing robust digital ecosystem on which multiple latch-on can be built.