World class facilities at Allcargo’s Dadri ICD

Dadri ICD redefines inland container services With its strategic location in north India’s industrial landscape and world-class facilities, Allcargo’s inland container depot at Dadri offers customers the best in logistics services

Dadri, a part of Uttar Pradesh and about 50km from Delhi, is an inland port of strategic importance to north India’s industrial base. Home to several container depots, the Dadri port site is spread across 110 hectares and is by far the largest such facility in Asia.

Strategic asset

The site is of critical significance to cargo movement in India as it connects the northern hinterland to key ports such as Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust near Mumbai, Mundra on the west coast and Kolkata on the east coast. It is close to major north Indian industrial areas such as Noida, Sahibabad, Ghaziabad, Meerut, Moradabad and Muzzafarnagar. Dadri is also the starting point of the Dedicated Freight Corridor that links North and West India by rail, which elevates its strategic significance even more.

To offer customers the convenience of using Dadri as a base, Allcargo opened its Inland Container Depot (ICD) at Dadri in 2011, offering LCL consolidation services for export and import cargo. Spread across a sprawling 11 acre, the Dadri ICD is the jewel in Allcargo’s network of seven container depots spread across the country. Other sites are Nhava Sheva near Mumbai, Mundra in Gujarat, Pithampur in Indore, Chennai, Kolkata and Hyderabad — a chain that together forms India’s largest and widest CFS/ICD network, and is backed by Allcargo’s years of expertise and a worldwide network.

Nitin Behl, Sr. General Manager, Allcargo ICD Dadri, explains why Dadri is important for the Indian economy: ”Industries on the outskirts of Delhi and in Uttar Pradesh earlier faced severe inconvenience as there was restriction of movement in and out of Delhi. Dadri is a boon for these industries — it is out of Delhi city limits and vehicles don’t have to wait for permission. Our customers save significantly on time and cost.”

Customer first

Allcargo’s Dadri ICD caters to big names in the north Indian industrial space — LG, Panasonic, Havells India, Lloyd’s Electronics, Videocon Industries, Damco India, Kuhne-Nagel, Export Freight, Haldiram, Jubilant Organosys are a few of these. ”Our biggest import cargo includes white goods, electronics, metal scrap, automotive spare parts, newsprint, etc. Exports are primarily garments, handicraft, brassware, art-ware, wooden furniture and home furnishing,” says Mr Behl.

At Dadri, Allcargo has invested heavily to ensure that the ICD matches global standards and offers customers state-of-the art facilities. The well-lit, well-paved yard hosts a 5,000 square metre warehouse. The ICD offers modern equipment such as reach stackers that can stack containers five-high and 3-tonne forklifts that handle palletised and open yard cargo for smooth and seamless transfer from rail to road and vice versa. The yard also contains an electronic weighbridge that can weigh cargo of up to 100 metric tonnes.

Best-in-class

The yard also has an exclusive 5,000 square feet space for handling of import LCL cargo, with approved bonding facility. The ICD also offers space for reefer containers with charging points and uninterrupted power supply. The Dadri ICD is ISO 9002:2015, OHSAS, AEO and CTPAT compliant, offering 24×7 security with a trained security force and CCTV monitoring. ”All our facilities and services are as per Avvashya’s global standards,” says Mr Behl. Going forward, the Dadri ICD plans to introduce RFID-tracking for containers. Energy conservation measures such as motion sensor-based lighting in the yard are also on the cards.

The site’s location and service portfolio are factors integral to its success. ”We started with about 18,000 TEUs business in the first year of operations. Now we do about 50,000 TEUs,” says Mr Behl. (TEU is a twenty-foot equivalent unit, a measure of container size.) The business is also well-plugged into the larger Allcargo organisation as it cross-sells other Allcargo services to offer customers the convenience of a single integrated logistics partner. ”We have created stickiness through cross-selling our other services. We take pride in introducing our other verticals to customers and ensure that Allcargo participates in end-to-end services,” says Mr Behl. He also says the team works hard to nurture client relationships, to monitor key performance indicators (KPI) and to inculcate transparency with customers.

As a key partner to many of India’s prominent industry players, the Dadri ICD offers the best of logistics experiences and is an example of how integrated end-to-end logistics services offer competitive advantages to customers.