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There are several principals adopted to  forecast a container terminal  traffic . This has to be done by carefully as today containerization is a growing mode of traffic . Some of the things to be considered as follows :-

1)---  Percentage of any trade which may become containerized must be determined on the specific commercial and economic grounds for each case .

2)---  There are no fixed list of commodities as containerisable goods . But wider range of goods is being shipped in Containers every year .

3)---  Provisions must be made for substantial proportion of the movements of empty boxes .

4)---  The average weight of cargo per TEU must be calculated on experience . This varies from 5 to 18 tons which vary commodity wise .

5)---   The percentage traffic of import and export containers must be forecasted . This again needs study in to the export prospects of the selected port region , import needs , stuffing , destuffing facilities , road access etc . This is important and when i…

A Documentary Credit has four principal parties , namely ;

---------Applicant  (Opener)

---------Issuing Bank  (Opening Bank)

---------Advising Bank

---------Beneficiary

Applicant :-  Applicant is normally a buyer of the goods who has to make payment to the beneficiary . A L/C is initiated and issued at his request and on the basis of his instructions .

Issuing Bank  :-  Issuing Bank is one which issues the credit i.e. it is the bank which creates a Letter of Credit and undertakes to make payments .

Advising Bank :-  Advising Bank advises the credit to the beneficiary thereby assuring the genuineness of the credit . It is normally situated in the country / place of beneficiary .

Beneficiary :-  Beneficiary is normally a seller of the goods , who has to receive payment from the applicant . A credit is issued in the favour  to enable him or his agent to obtain payments on surrender of stipulated documents and comply with the terms and conditions of the L/C . If L/C is transferable one and …

Today the container traffic trend is such as to accumulate the boxes at a relay terminal and which are distributed later on . The specialized container vessels have become larger and more sophisticated , while the cost of building a modern container terminal is very high . So the practice have become to unload  the full vessel at a well equipped modern port and then distributed to the same region ports using feeder vessels .

In order to correctly accommodate the forecast to these developments the planner will have to make detailed discussion with various prominent operating shipping lines . Even the shipping lines changes their policies suddenly from calling there mother vessels at all ports to introducing a feeder service by using a relay port . So modern container terminal planner has a tough and complicated task before him to foresee all such developments and to plane a terminal which will not be underutilized and also not having less facilities .

The equipment factor is discussed…

Containers carrying import cargo are received at the ICD by ail from the gateway ports . Whenever there is a CFS which is not linked by rail , the containers first arrive a the rail head and are  then taken by road to the CFS where they can be destuffed . This happens at ICD where containers are taken by road to the CFS .

At the port of entry the Shipping Line presents the Import General Manifest to the Custom authorities . The Customs authorities at the port after checking send the originals of the import general manifest & transhipment permits to the concerned ICD/CFS . The port railway authorities also issue the Inland Waybill for the container railed to the ICD's .

On the arrival of the rail flats at the ICD the containers are offloaded & placed in the import container yard .The Inland Waybill issued by the Port Authorities are consigned to Customs of the ICD where the containers are offloaded .

The Inland waybill released by the Customs is surrendered by the Shipping…

Regional Co-operation in Multimodal Transport Organization :-

Regional Co-operation among developing countries is useful in several respects for promoting multimodal transport organizations -

1)   It will lead to harmonization of Government Policies and co-ordination of transport undertaking resulting in reduction of investment burden on each country .

2)   It will enable indigenous multimodal transport operators to increase their participation in the trades and improve the economics of operation by pooling of resources .

3)   Shippers organizations will be able to strengthen their position when they hold consultation with multimodal transport operators .

4)   Land locked developing countries serving as overload transit routes will be able to conclude transit agreements through their co-operation .

5)   Harmonization of regional customs regulations will facilitate the smooth flow of transport across borders , particularly of multimodal transport .

6)   Co-operation and consultation am…

The first Container Convention was produced in 1956 in Geneva for members of the Economic Commission for Europe and was extended in 1972 in Geneva to worldwide application . The new Convention is administrated by the Customs Co-operation council .

Its purpose is to facilitate the use of Containers in International Traffic . The contracting parties grant free temporary admission to containers subject to re-exportation when they are ;

-----  imported loaded to be re-exported empty or loaded

-----  imported empty to be re-exported loaded .

Containers have to be approved in compliance with technical conditions concerning construction and closing systems , including ;

-----  external marking with owner's name and address , tare and identification ;

-----  they have to be capable to simple and effective sealing ;

-----  it must not be possible to introduce or remove any goods without breaking the seal or leaving traces of tampering .

-----  there must be no spaces in which goods might …

In every International Trade transaction certain questions must be answered :-

--- Who will arrange and pay for the carriage of the goods from one point to another?

--- Who will bear the risk if these operations can not carried out ?

--- Who will bear the risk of loss or damage to the goods in transit ?

All of these questions are concerned with actually getting the goods from the sellers to the buyer . It is possible to imagine any number of ways of dividing up the costs , risk and between the two parties . That is exactly what trade terms do . They are shorthand expressions that set out the rights and obligations of each party when it comes to transporting the goods .

In order to truly useful , trade terms should have universal application and should make explicit the obligation of both parties . This is the aim of Incoterms .

Documents play an important part in trade transaction . The seller's obligation to obtain various documents and deliver them to the buyer is stipulated un…

Fright Forwarding is one of the oldest professions , dating back probably to the origin of world trade and commerce . Originally a freight forwarder was a commission agent performing on behalf of the exporter/importer routine functions like loading/unloading of goods , storage of goods , arranging local transport , procuring payments for his customer , etc .

Today Fright forwarder plays an important role in International Trade and Transport . The service that a freight forwarder renders may often range from routine an rudimentary function like booking of space or customs clearance to a comprehensive package of service or covering total transport and distribution process .

There is no internationally accepted definition of the term Freight Forwarder . They are known as different names in different countries such as " Customs House Agent "  ,   "Clearing Agent" , "Customs Broker" , "Shipping and Forwarding Agent" and so on .

It has been widely rec…

Shipper's declaration for Transport of Dangerous Goods ,in short known as SDT will be filled & signed by the shipper and handed over to Freight Forwarder/Carrier along with forwarding instructions , wherever the transport of dangerous goods is involved . This document provides detailed information , including information  regarding the classification of dangerous goods according to thee regulations concerning the transport of such goods .

The documents contains the following information : -

a)   Shipper's Name an Address ;

b)   Name of Forwarder ;

c)   Mark the numbers , numbers and kinds of packages - technical name of substance .

d)   Gross and Net Weight and quantity ;

e)   Classification or characteristics ;

f)   Remarks ;

g)   Place and date of issue ;

h)   Shipper's stamp and signature ;

The above document is prescribed by FIATA ( International Federation of Fright Forwarders Associations )

However , in the case of shipment by Air the declaration has to be in t…

International Regulations

Basically , the provisions of all International Regulations with regard to carriage of dangerous goods as well as the recommendations of the United Nations Committee are more or less the same . There are different regulations for carriage of such goods by Road , Rail , Sea and Air .

Regulations under which the transportation of dangerous goods is governed are :-

Accord Dangereux Routier

In short known as ADR is applicable in the case of carriage of dangerous goods by Road .

Regdement International Dangerrux :-

In short known as RID is applicable for carriage of dangerous goods by Rail .

International Maritime Dangerous Goods Code :-

In short known as IMDG Code is applicable for carriage of Goods by Sea .

The International Maritime Organization ( IMO ) has framed the International Maritime Dangerous Goods ( IMDG ) Code to assist compliance with the general requirements of the International Convention for safety for life at sea ( SOLAS ) regarding the dangerous goo…

The Carrier's right , duties , responsibilities and  liabilities for carriage of such goods are governed and determined by applicable National Laws of such country in addition to various international conventions and regulations as amended from time to time , which are as follows .

A) For Carriage by Road :-

CMR Convention ( Convention de Merchandises Per Route )

B) For Carriage by Rail :-

1) CIM Convention  ( Convention Internationale Concernant le Transport des Merchandises Per Chemius de Fer ) This convention has , however renamed as essentially a European Convention .
2) COTIF (Latest Convention on Rail Transport )
3) The Economic Commission of Europe (ECE) Convention on Civil Liabilities for damage caused by Road , Rail and Inland Waterways , applies for claims ( other than claims arising out of any contract of carriage ) for damage caused during the carriage of dangerous goods by road , rail and inland waterways .

C)  For carriage by Sea :-

The Hague Rules , The Hague Visby R…