STUDY ON THE SERVICES OFFERED BY NON VESSEL OPERATING COMMON CARRIERS (NVOCC) IN CHENNAI

Abstract

Shipping is the lynchpin of the Indian economy. Without shipping, container trade, the bulk transport of raw materials, and the import/export of affordable food and manufactured goods would simply not be possible. Seaborne trade continues to expand, bringing benefits for consumers across the world as well as India through low and decreasing freight costs. Thanks to the growing efficiency of shipping as a mode of transport and increased economic liberalization, the prospects for the Indian industry’s further growth continue to be strong. In the current study, the researcher has done a competitor analysis of major shipping lines and their core competencies in the Chennai sector. The shipping lines such as MAERSK and APL are leading in exports & imports of containerized cargo from Chennai port to various ports of the world. The future growth of major shipping lines has also been predicted by the researcher. The services offered by the shipping lines have been analyzed through their NVOCCs by using survey method. Most of the shipping lines are offering competitive freight rates and less transit time for the export & import of containerized cargo. There is yet another core competency identified by the NVOCCs with regard to the selection of the shipping line, which is the online/internet services. NVOCCs would like to accomplish their operations/activities at their ease and hence give more importance to Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) based services.