Ramcy Castelino

Ramcy Castelino general manager for South Asia,
INTTRA

Castelino

INTTRA, the online cargo-booking portal, has seen volume through its site rise dramatically all over the world, but near the head of the list is India. Only China and Brazil produce more overseas bookings than India for New Jersey-based INTTRA. The company has nearly 4,000 registered customers and 5,500 users in India, and this year expects to pass the 1 million-container mark for the South Asia region. In many ways, INTTRA, which started operations in 2001, is at the intersection of ocean shipping and IT growth in the subcontinent. So Namaste spoke with Castelino about why growth has been so explosive in a country where ocean container shipping still has so much to prove.

Namaste: INTTRA has made some serious inroads into India in the last couple years. What makes India such an attractive market for your product?

Castelino: INTTRA entered the India market in 2004 and has seen strong growth. From 155,000 containers processed in 2006, volumes tripled to 525,000 in 2007. We anticipate that we will process in excess of 900,000 containers in 2008.
   The Indian economy has been growing at an average of 8 percent and export growth has been in excess of 15 percent, and this momentum is expected to continue. Volume growth prospects and the fact that the Indian customer is tech savvy and easily adapts to technological changes is what makes India an attractive market for INTTRA.

Namaste: What seems to be driving customers in India, or those abroad looking to book slots on services through India, to turn to an online portal for help?

Castelino: First, our carrier partners have seen the value of electronic commerce and they encourage their customers to migrate from manual to electronic communications to enjoy the benefits of adopting e-commerce.
   Second, with INTTRA being a common platform, customers have access to more than 20 leading carriers, with whom they can do bookings or send shipping instructions, using common templates. Customers can also do business with non-INTTRA carriers, by using Universal Carrier Access (another of INTTRA's products).

Namaste: Port capacity in India is severely hampered by lack of terminal space, poor road and rail connectivity, and shallow draft. Do you see these hindrances as putting an artificial cap on the ceiling of INTTRA in India? Why or why not, and if not, explain how INTTRA will grow in spite of those obstacles.

Castelino: These are some of the challenges for the shipping industry in general. The government of India is aware of these challenges and actions have been initiated to overcome these.
   If we look at the port capacity, (Jawaharlal Nehru Port), the largest port, is already working on plans for a fourth terminal. JNP has also drawn a blueprint to increase the port capacity to 10 million TEUs by 2016 (from about 5 million today). There is a new terminal coming up in Kerala, with a future capacity of 3 million TEUs. And there are expansion plans for Chennai, Mundra, etc.
   In terms of rail connectivity, there are constraints as currently the rail tracks are common for passenger as well as container traffic and of course the passenger trains take precedence, which can delay movement of containerized traffic. Moreover there is a shortage of railcars. However, the dedicated rail freight corridor between Delhi and Mumbai and entry of private players in operating and running trains will help significantly.
   Similarly the golden quadrilateral (a highway project linking Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta and Chennai) and widening of the highways has improved the road traffic.
   Indian export volume was estimated at about 2.3 million containers (3.5 million TEUs) in 2007, of which INTTRA handled 525,000 containers, and we have enough existing volume to penetrate. Moreover, if the volumes increase at the rate of 15 percent every year as projected, Indian export volumes will double in the next five years. As the market matures, we may not be able to double volumes every year, but we are very excited about the potential of the India market.

Namaste: In my time here, I’ve noticed a weird dichotomy. While India serves as the technology development and support backroom to the world, the technology in use in India seems archaic or absent altogether. Would you say this is the case as it relates to supply chain activities, and INTTRA’s business in particular, and how does INTTRA fit into that equation?

Castelino: Broadly, businesses in India can be classified into two categories: large Indian corporations and the MNC companies who embrace technological processes; and a very large, medium and small enterprise segment where technology adoption could be a little slower. Also, in terms of technology infrastructure, cities and metros have good Internet connectivity, whereas there is a lot of business in smaller cities, where Internet speed and connectivity is still a challenge.
   Though shipping is global business, business is still done the traditional way. There are several partners to a transaction, from the shipper, customs, cargo handling agents and forwarders, shipping lines, ports, transporters, consignees, etc. Though each of these may spend a considerable amount of money in developing internal ERP systems, which bring efficiencies to their organization, very little is done in terms of connecting with their partners.
   INTTRA is EDI linked to carriers and provides a platform for customers to communicate with carriers and their partners and also to provide visibility to their partners. INTTRA is also working to develop alliance partners like ports, software vendors, etc., which will enable flow of information seamlessly among partners.

Namaste:Are Indian shippers, in general, ready to migrate the types of processes INTTRA handles to the online world, instead of the world of handwritten receipts in triplicate?

Castelino: INTTRA products are very easy to use and need no IT knowledge. Also we offer different solutions, to cater to different type of customers. For example, I Link is an EDI connection between the customer and INTTRA and caters to customers who have strong internal IT systems. I ACT is a Web-based solution and is used by customers who have good Internet connectivity. I Desktop is an offline solution, which is used by customers who have slow Internet connectivity.

Namaste: What specific categories of shippers and goods are you finding that are particularly taking advantage of INTTRA’s services? And what geographic regions have been most prolific in terms of generating bookings?

Castelino: It is generally customers who deal with multiple carriers who use the INTTRA platform extensively.
   We have in excess of 4,000 customers who are scattered through the length and breadth of the country. We have customers from metros like Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi and also from locations like Ludhiana, Coimbatore, Karur and Tirupur.

Namaste: How are INTTRA’s chief competitors — GT Nexus and CargoSmart — placed in India and would their entry or development in the subcontinent help or hurt INTTRA’s growth? What about the booking portal industry as a whole?

Castelino: Our competitors are very small players in India. INTTRA is owned and backed by carriers and their development will have marginal impact at best. Their development could hasten the process of e-commerce adoption and the portal industry as a whole will see more growth.