Krishnapatnam Port, India’s East Coast deep-water port, has announced this week that it is ready to go paperless by implementing the cloud-based platform called “e-Xpressway” for container operations, informs The Times of India.
The solution acts as a centralized docking station for all the participants of container handling process – vessel operator, container operator, freight forwarders, CFS, terminal operator, empty yards, etc. – to access and process the container documents on-line, thus eliminating inefficiencies in the process. Provided with an access to the cloud-based platform, each stakeholder can simply log in to e-Xpressway to complete its respective activity which afterwards will automatically be pushed to the next stakeholder involved.
The platform ensures transparency by showing the real-time status of the container documentation stages and their completion. It also enables QR code generation for easy scanning and processing the transactions at the terminal gate and thereby cutting the long queues.
With the help of e-Xpressway it will be possible to generate and process various forms, to gate the container in and out of the terminal as well as to approve them online for customs and to manage online forms for export or import boxes by road and by rail.
“A first-of-its-kind cloud-based electronic platform, e-Xpressway has been developed by Gateway Media, a knowledge management company… to speed up container terminal operations by digitising the end-to-end documentation processes related to containers,” Krishnapatnam Port said in a statement.
Jithendra Nimmagadda, COO of Krishnapatnam Port Container Terminal (KPCT) called the solution “a path breaking digital platform capable of changing the face of Indian maritime industry”. According to the port, several man-hours are spent nowadays in physically transmitting some 200 documents for shipment of a single container from origin to destination.
“With a whopping 33% of entire container processing time spent in co-ordination of paperwork, the system can completely eradicate the heavy dependence on traditional methods of transmission of documents. With increasing implementation of this system by the maritime industry, we can jointly transform the industry to make it more competitive, transparent and efficient,” said Jithendra Nimmagadda.