July 31: Nepali importers have suggested that the Electronic Cargo Tracking System (ECTS) being used for transshipment of goods via India is not necessary along the railway route.

They also complained that the effectiveness of ECTS, that has been implemented on transshipments of goods imported from Kolkata Port in India, has not been reviewed till date.    

The Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies itself is unclear about the impact of the ECTS even after a year and a half since it came into operation. The ministry earlier had been informed to review the impact of ECTS on transshipment of goods within the first three month of its introduction.

ECTS was implemented as a pilot project to facilitate the transshipment of goods for overseas trade at the seaports of India.

However, the importers claim additional ECTS is unnecessary along the railway route as it is already being used on containers transported by the trains.

At present, a tracking device based on GPS is connected to the container coming from Kolkata port till Birgunj dry port.

This system was adopted from February 15, 2019 to remove the paperwork at Kolkata Port.

The ECTS was implemented to ensure that containers coming from third countries were not misused in India.

Even though it is said that the container can be monitored through this device, the service provider has not provided tracking facility to most of the concerned importers.