Rawat says that as the Indian economy grows, there will be increased cargo movement requiring strengthened transport links and increased transport capacity. Freight villages could attract foreign investment and be incorporated into proposed rail freight corridors. Changes to land acquisition laws would also facilitate acquiring land for freight villages. However, implementing freight villages faces challenges, particularly a lack of coordination between central and state regulators. There is also a risk of oversupply if many players open logistics centers. Reducing interstate check posts could cut transportation costs by 30% and support freight village development. Strategic location is important for freight villages since they incorporate logistics center functions. An air freight village needs to be near an airport to consolidate air cargo. A

1. COVERSTORY14 CARGOTALK AUGUST 2015
Rawat says, “As the Indian economy
grows over the medium term, there
will be a huge movement of cargo
necessitating the strengthening
of intermodal transport links and
augmenting transport capacity.
Moreover, there is a higher chance
of inviting FDI into freight villages
from countries like Germany,
which are leaders in logistics.
Also, the concept of freight villages
can be incorporated into freight
corridors (East & West) proposed
for the Indian Railways. Finally,
the changes recommended in
the Land Acquisition Act will
make it easier to acquire land for
this purpose.”
The Challenges
Despite the important role of
freight villages in generating syner-
gies, promoting regional intermodal
transportation and urban distribution,
there are challenges besetting their
implementation. The biggest, per-
haps, would be the lack of coordina-
tion and cooperation between the
Central and State regulators.
Karthi Baskar, Deputy
Managing Director, Kintetsu
World Express (India) explains,
“Establishing freight villages would
entail the risk of over-supply, since
many players would want to
open logistics centres within
their jurisdictions.”
Horizontal cooperation in
freight and logistics typically
pays little attention to the impedi-
ments towards closer relationships
between firms.
Shreyas Malkan, Founder
& CEO, Passionforlogistics.com
opines, “It is important to reduce
carbon footprints by eliminating
interstate check posts and toll
points in order to cut down trans-
portation costs by nearly 30 per cent.
If this is acted upon, then the logistics
industry would be willing to support
efforts to set up a freight village.”
Importance of a Strategic
Location
A strategic location is important
for a freight village, since it
incorporates various functions of
a logistics centre.
Stressing on the point,
Pradeep Panicker, Chief
Commercial Officer, DIAL says, “An
air freight village needs to be
located at or very near the airport.
It would primarily act as a consolida-
tion point for air cargo, coming
from various facilities and hubs,
to be exported to different
destinations worldwide.”
Nazir Ansari, Senior VP –
SCM, Leeway Logistics says,
“A typical freight village should
be at or near the crossroads of two
or more major highways and rail
connection points. It should be
well integrated within the facility
and it should have extensive
intermodal functionality. Also, it
should also be located close to
a major metropolitan area that would
serve as a market.”
Investment and
Ownership
In most countries, freight
villages are owned by the
private sector. These villages are
developed by large-scale operators
and ASSOCHAM has proposed
similar mode of ownership.
Manish Puri, Managing
Director, India Infrastructure &
Logistics, highlights, “Since common
facilities (specifically land) are
needed in freight villages, the best
solution would be to create a mix
of public and private players.
The Government should ideally
remain responsible for providing the
land and base infrastructure such
as roads and power, and then
let private developers build
various facilities.”
Should a freight
village be integrated or
non-integrated?
An integrated freight village
would cater to the needs of air, rail,
inland waterways and coastal
shipping. Experts believe that India
needs a combination of integrated
and non-integrated freight villages,
Freightvillagescanbeapartoffreightcorridors
DS Rawat
Secretary General
ASSOCHAM
Karthi Baskar
Deputy Managing Director
Kintetsu World Express (India)
Pradeep Panicker
Chief Commercial Officer (Aero)
DIAL
Shreyas Malkan
Founder & CEO
Passionforlogistics.com
Contd. from page 1
Contd. on page 16