Maersk Line is a container shipping company operating globally. The Danish-based company has been providing services to Nepali traders for the last two decades. Franck Dedenis, managing director India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka Cluster at Maersk Line, is currently on a visit to Nepal. The Kathmandu Post caught up with Dedenis for an interview. Excerpts:

Maersk Line is one of the world’s largest shipping companies. How is your business in Nepal?

Nepal is a relatively small market compared to many other countries. It’s not worthwhile to compare the market size. Basically, we have been serving the Nepali market for over two decades. We want to go further along with facilitating the country in smooth trade.

What is the volume of Maersk Line’s business in Nepal? What are your expansion plans?

The motive of my current visit is to diversify our business. Our target now is to offer three types of extended services. The first one is to explore the possibility of using Visakhapatnam Port as an alternative to Kolkata Port. For the purpose, we conducted a trade meet last Sunday in which 80 traders participated. We found most of them to be positive about opening the new port.

Our second objective is to extend Bill of Lading service from Kolkata Port to the Inla-nd Container Depot (ICD) in Birgunj. Bill of Lading is a document related to the contract with transporters. Currently, Maersk Line has been providing the service to Kolkata Port only. We are planning to extend the service up to the ICD in Birgunj.

Our third objective is to increase accessibility and transparency to our customers. We are ready to offer 24-hour complete online services to Nepali traders. This includes e-delivery and onli-ne invoicing services. Regar-ding transparency, shipping costs, invoicing and tracking of traders’ cargoes can be made open to them online.

Nepal is a landlocked country with poor logistics infrastructure. What are the operational issues that shipping companies face while doing business here?

Traders have been facing tedious documentation processing, lack of reliable service, absence of transparency and high transit and transport costs. As a shipping liner providing limited services as of now, we don’t really face such problems. However, Nepal has to improve customs clearing procedures. Also, the country’s banks should be

allowed to open letters of credit to alternative shipping routes like Visakhapatnam. Provided these facilities are in place, we are ready to offer services through Visakhapatnam-Birgunj ICD at any time.

What do you think should be done to improve Nepal’s foreign trade?

Poor logistics infrastructure is the main bottleneck in the supply chain which should be addressed properly. There is a need for an alternative ICD besides the one in Birgunj. Railway connectivity is necessary at it reduces costs compared to roadway movement of cargo. On top of everything, digitalisation and procedural reform could help resolve many issues related to trade and transit.

Nepali traders have criticized shipping companies for lack of cooperation with regard to the high detention charges they had to pay during the trade embargo last year. What’s your say on this?

We had extended free time to our customers besides waiving the detention charge later on. We had even asked our customers just to empty the wagon at the Birgunj ICD while we had managed to take the empty containers back to Kolkata Port ourselves. For a long-term solution, the Nepali side has to think mainly about how to make the supply chain effective instead of requesting a waiver of the detention char-ge. To make shipping cost-effective, reliable and efficient means are all that can bring relief in the long run.

Nepal is ranked 124th among 160 countries in the Logistics Perform-ance Index (LPI) of 2016 published by the World Bank. In what areas does Nepal need to improve?

Many dimensions are considered when developing the LPI. Digitalisation and process reform are the key issues apart from other physical infrastructures. Nepal can do a lot to improve the LPI. The better the logistics infrastructure, the better it will be.