The release of India’s Draft National Logistics Policy in December 2020 signaled a significant shift in the country’s approach to modernizing its supply chains, with a strong emphasis on digital integration and transparency. A core feature of the policy was the advancement of open freight data initiatives, aimed at streamlining containerized cargo movements and enhancing visibility across critical logistics corridors. For logistics service providers, the policy provided both the framework and impetus to adopt technologies that enabled real-time geolocation tracking of shipments, particularly through the integration of the Port Community System (PCS). This integration offered a structured pathway for exporters—especially in high-volume sectors such as textiles and automotive parts—to meet emerging standards for supply-chain transparency while improving operational efficiency and compliance with national trade facilitation measures. The early adoption of these digital tools positioned companies to gain competitive advantages in global markets that increasingly demanded verifiable, end-to-end supply-chain visibility.
To align with the objectives of the Draft National Logistics Policy, logistics service providers and exporters were encouraged to integrate the PCS APIs directly into their existing transport management systems (TMS). This integration process began with securing API access credentials through India’s PCS operator, which typically required the submission of corporate identification documents, system architecture details, and declarations of intended API usage. Once access was granted, technical teams configured their TMS platforms to call the PCS APIs at key shipment milestones, such as container gate-in at inland container depots, railhead departures, and port terminal arrivals. The PCS APIs provided standardized data packets containing container identifiers, timestamped geolocation data, carrier information, and clearance status updates, which the TMS platforms ingested and mapped against internal shipment records. This allowed for seamless synchronization of freight movement data between private systems and the national logistics data backbone. Logistics providers also collaborated with IT vendors and PCS technical support teams to ensure that API connections met security and data integrity requirements, including the use of encrypted communication protocols and periodic auditing of data exchange logs. The integration process often involved phased rollouts, starting with pilot lanes and scaling up to cover additional routes and cargo types as system reliability and user confidence grew.
A critical outcome of this integration was the ability of exporters to generate public dashboards that visualized real-time freight flows from factory floors to port terminals. The development of these dashboards began with the design of data models that linked internal shipment identifiers to PCS geolocation updates, ensuring that all movements were traceable from origin to export clearance. Exporters then worked with business intelligence and data visualization specialists to create dashboard interfaces that aggregated and displayed freight movement data at varying levels of granularity. These dashboards typically included maps showing the current location of containers, tables detailing shipment status by consignee or destination port, and performance indicators such as average transit times and customs clearance durations. To ensure credibility and stakeholder trust, exporters published these dashboards on corporate websites or secured client portals, with regular updates driven by live data feeds from the PCS APIs. The dashboards not only served as transparency tools for buyers, regulators, and supply-chain partners, but also as internal management resources for identifying bottlenecks, assessing carrier performance, and planning corrective actions. In some cases, exporters integrated these dashboards with supplier and customer collaboration platforms, enabling real-time sharing of freight status information and proactive resolution of logistics disruptions.
The implementation of the Draft National Logistics Policy’s transparency provisions highlighted the transformative potential of open freight data for India’s supply chains. By leveraging PCS API integration and public dashboard reporting, logistics service providers and exporters enhanced their ability to demonstrate compliance, support efficient cargo movements, and meet the expectations of increasingly data-conscious international customers. This digital transformation also contributed to broader national goals of reducing logistics costs, improving port competitiveness, and positioning India as a hub for resilient, technology-enabled trade networks. As the policy framework evolved toward formal adoption and operationalization, early movers in the logistics and export sectors set important precedents for how supply-chain transparency could be achieved through the strategic use of open data, cross-system integration, and public reporting mechanisms.