Nippon Express India Co., Ltd. (“NE India”; Krishna Murthy, President), a subsidiary of Nippon Express Co., Ltd. (Kenji Watanabe, President), has obtained a customs clearance license for the Talegaon Inland Container Depot (ICD) near the city of Pune in the western Indian state of Maharashtra and, in conjunction with this, NE India has established a new Customs Clearance Section at its Pune Office that began customs clearance operations this month.

The second-largest city in Maharashtra, Pune is located approximately 160km southeast of Mumbai and is seeing rapid economic growth driven by the manufacturing and IT industries. Numerous Japanese companies have moved into the Chakan Industrial Area and others of the dozen or so industrial parks nearby, and the area features a particularly heavy concentration of automotive companies operating in western India.

It has been common practice for marine cargo bound for the Pune area to be transported by truck after clearing customs at Nhava Sheva, a port on the outskirts of Mumbai, but the perpetual congestion there means that import customs clearance for items such as chemical products, high-value goods, and second-hand equipment requiring careful inspection may take a month or more.

With the new customs clearance license, however, cargo can be transferred via bonded transport to the Talegaon ICD immediately after arrival at Nhava Sheva, and customs clearance procedures then completed at the ICD. Bypassing the customs clearance congestion at Nhava Sheva makes it possible to reduce lead time substantially and thus cut storage fees and other costs.

NE India pledges to continue providing smooth, meticulous and high-quality transport services to keep pace with India’s ongoing growth.