Explain Inland Container Depots [CDs]

Inland Container Depots [CDs]

An inland container depot is an organization offering a total package of activities to handle container and general cargo flows between road, rail, and waterways, resulting in maximum service for inland transportation at minimum costs.

ICDs provide the following services:

a)      Handling of containers from road, rail, and barges (light freight-boa, a seagoing vessel) to a temporary storage area or container yards.

b)      Intermediate storage between various transportation modes. Special containers and/or cargo may require additional provisions such as refrigeration, special areas for dangerous cargo, etc.

c)      Receipt and delivery of containers and general cargo. This may include activities such as weighing, inspection of scales, inspection of possible damages, inspection of safety stickers, verifying container information, verifying codes, etc.

d)      Sometimes the cargo cannot be directly delivered to the customer’s door. In this case there can be cargo consolidation, i.e. redistribution of cargo in the containers depending upon the direction of the dispatch of the cargo.

e)      Facilities may include container cleaning service, pre-trip trials of new containers, checking the proper functioning of refrigeration equipment, regular maintenance and repair service of containers, material handling equipment for containers, etc. In other words, ICDs should be self-sufficient units.

f)       Customer clearance activities at inland terminal can help to decrease the dwell-time of the containers in the deep-sea ports. These activities include whether the containers are filled to their maximum capacity or not (LCL), checking of the container seals, proper assessment and the valuation of the cargo and so on. Such a function has proved to be time and cost saving.

g)      A company may decide to provide certain physical distribution services which are situated close to the ICDs. For example, garments can be ironed and packed, price tags/labels can be affixed to consumer goods, liquids which are to be packed in bulk can be bottled and sealed properly, etc. This means a variety of activities related to finished goods can be carried out close to ICDs wherever such services are capable of being provided. On their port, ICDs may help companies by providing sophisticated refrigeration plants and warehousing facilities for export of vegetables,   and fish.