Spread of coronavirus had a major impact on global shipping which has led to supply chain disruption for Indian export sector as well. Realizing the challenges faced by exporters due to acute shortage of containers, FIEO has taken a lead and developed a trade facilitation portal www.easeoflogistics.com to bring exporters and logistics service providers (LSPs) on a single platform. This was stated by Dr A Sakhtivel, President FIEO during the launch ceremony of the portal held at the ‘Samapan Samaroh of Vanijya Saptah’ on 27th September, 2021 at Niryat Bhawan, New Delhi. The portal was inaugurated by Shri Piyush Goyal, Hon’ble Union Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs & Public Distribution and Textiles Minister in the august presence of Shri Amit Yadav, Director General, DGFT and other Senior Officials from the Govt.
The president said that over 1800 exporters and over 300 service providers onboarded the portal during the soft launch. To ensure an effective response rate to exporters demand, FIEO has also obtained support from all the leading logistics associations including Container Shipping Lines (CSLA), Freight Forwarders (FFFAI) and Multimodal Transport Operators (AMTOI). Dr Sakthivel said that the portal offers a value proposition to all stakeholders. Exporters can post details of their container requirements directly to service providers for providing their best quotes, enabling exporters to chat, negotiate and finalize business. He expressed optimism that with wider visibility of demand, there will be better price discovery for exporters and their container fulfilment probability shall improve through this portal. On the other hand, with advance visibility of demands, the logistics service provider LSPs shall be in a better position to do equipment planning and container repositioning besides getting access to demands of pan India exporters giving them wider business outreach. FIEO President shared that all Export Promotion Councils have also welcomed this move and are advising their member exporters to also post their demand on FIEO’s portal.
