Road freight in India on 21st Century – Marching ahead for a better future
How does Road freight in India work?
Road freight in India has been a dominating freight mode in India is constantly growing in its capacity and is bound to grow after Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has proposed to develop additional 60,000 kilometers of National Highways in the next five years. This would increase connectivity to ports, strategic highways and economic corridors.
What is Road freight?
The physical process of transporting goods by road using motor vehicles is known as road freight transport. In this case, the route is a lane or path between the starting and ending points. The cost of road maintenance is lower when compared to other modes of transportation such as sea and air. In some cases, road transport may be the only mode of transportation to and from rural areas where no other mode of transportation is available.
Road freight in Chennai is expanding and is providing excellent distribution and supply chain solutions. Partnering with other freight modes or with rail freight, road freight is giving international quality services in domestic scenario. The growth in this transport mode is indicating growth in the country’s economy and reportedly accounts for 65 per cent of freight transport of the entire Nation. The trucking industry which is the backbone of India’s economy however suffered a setback in the advent of the pandemic, thanks to the imposed lockdowns.
Since a minor inefficiency in transporting goods through roads could result in adverse effects, periodic appraisal of road freight transport sector is embarked. Such an appraisal explores diverse issues, spots blockers and checks possibilities of improving the same with the view of catalysing the country’s economic growth. Road freight in India is compared with the international road freight industry which gives ideas on improving services in India.
Cargo consolidation in India contributes immensely to India’s growth and has enormous untapped opportunities. Road transport contributes to globalization and developments in ecommerce. Owing to this, there are an increasing number of cargo vehicles on the roads in insufficient adequacy in road network capacity to match this trend. However road freight in Chennai is well supported by value added services such as freight forwarding agents, customs house agents, third party logistics and multimodal operators.
While digitalization improves efficiency in freight management, Warehousing in Chennai helps to tackle supply chain cost pressures in the industry. Increased investment, last mile connectivity and emerging technology are pushing ahead the logistics industry in India. Online freight platforms have increased which accommodate low barrier entries and less investment alongside with asset-based business models.
Reportedly, the Indian logistic market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 10.5 per cent by 2025 and warehousing is a key segment of logistics in India and in Chennai. Warehousing in India contributes immensely to storage of inbound and outbound goods which could store general merchandise or refrigerated goods. They not only store goods but also provide services like sorting, packing and processing. With evolution of retail industry, storage of perishable goods has become an inevitable requirement.
Not only do road freight in India transport goods from one destination to another, but also assists in loading and unloading and other clearance formalities. The remotest locations are reached in time and goods are delivered intact. Road cargo providers give full truck, partial truck options and tailored solutions and multimodal transportation.
On a concluding note, road freight in India confronts hurdles such a low average speed, under use of vehicles, pollution per unit of cargo transported and higher transit time. Besides infrastructure bottlenecks, road freights also face on road challenges that arise due to regulatory issues and is trying to get back to shape amidst all odds.
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