Empowering The End Customer

Be it meeting the ever changing expectations of customers or offering him the best service possible, the panel coincided on the fact that customer is in the driver’s seat and success of any business lies surely in empowering his customer.

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Discussion in the session revolved around the customer for offering him the best experience either in terms of cost, service efficiency, transparency using technology or customer support.

T Venkataraman, MD, Goodrich Maritime Pvt Ltd: Please advise on the most competitive, viable and efficient options for transporting goods, using your own experience to benefit the shipper?

Ms Vinita Venkatesh, Director, Navayuga Container Terminal Pvt Ltd: One of the ways for a seaport to increase its volumes is by offering lower cost and more efficient transit to customers and make him more competitive in global markets. But it has to be a concerted effort by the port, shipping line, freight forwarder and the CHA all together. For instance, ICD Sanathnagar traditionally used to move cargo through JNPT at a distance of 858km instead of Krishnapatnam Port which is at a distance of 75km with mainlines connecting China and Korea. One rake of CONCOR on the Sanathnagar-JNPT lane makes one trip per week due to highly congested rail corridor. If the same rake is deployed on the SanathnagarKrishnapatnam Port route it can make two-and-half trips per week. Thus CONCOR is able to earn more on this route. For shipping line Krishnapatnam Port offers lower rail freight by Rs.2000 per box, while the freight rate is higher by $15-20 making it a win-win situation. The end customer on an import saves 12.7 days at Krishnapatnam Port as compared to JNPT. Further, Pennon Shipping is deploying a 400teu vessel from Krishnapatnam to Chattogram Port.