Shipping Ministry launches marine logistics portal to smoothen sea trade

The single-window platform aims to bring all trade stakeholders together and reduce logistics cost with real-time mapping and provisioning

The Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways on Friday launched the national logistics portal–marine (NLP-M), which is a single-window platform aimed at bringing all trade stakeholders together and reducing the cost of logistics through real-time mapping and provisioning.

“NLP will be a single window for all trade processes of the logistics sector spread across the country covering all modes of transport in the waterways, roadways, and airways along with an E-marketplace to provide a seamless end-to-end logistic service coverage,” the ministry said.

The platform aims to minimise regulatory complexities by centralising all necessary documentation, compliance certifications, and formal procedures necessary for the EXIM trade. The commerce ministry had also launched a similar single window portal for establishing businesses in 2021.

The NLP-M is based on four core tenets — carrier, cargo, banking and finance, and regulatory bodies and Participating Government Agencies (PGAs). The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said digitisation in trade can help eliminate many logistics obstacles.

The portal will now replace the port community system (PCS) being used by ports for logistics mapping. NLP-M has been developed by Portall Infosystems, with Ernst & Young as the project management consulting firm.

Union minister for ports shipping and waterways Sarbananda Sonowal said that the platform is a step forward towards achieving the goals envisaged in the PM Gati-Shakti National Master Plan, which aims to synergise logistics and eliminate duplication of efforts.