Essentially, the chamber spokesman said, a freight village is a European concept which comprises an area of land that is devoted to a number of transport and logistics facilities, activities and services, which are not just located in the same area but also coordinated to encourage maximum synergy and efficiency.

Central to a freight village is an intermodal terminal that is connected to major freight corridors and a nearby seaport. This enables flexible, quick movement of containeried and de-containeried cargo between wharf, warehouse and ultimate destination by both road and rail.

The juxtaposition of the intermodal terminal with facilities such as container storage (full and empty) and handling areas, and warehouses that are linked to rail, is intended to significantly reduce cargo handling costs and time, and reduce the use of roads for container transportation.

The second distinguishing feature of a freight village is shared access to other facilities, equipment and common user services. A centralied management and ownership structure is the third distinguishing feature of a freight village.

This is similar to the strategic management role of a port authority/corporation. Centralied management has the responsibility for planning the long-term investment and growth of the freight village as well as the short-term maintenance of the village infrastructure.

The Chamber says a well thought out application of these concepts to India could bring in immense user benefits at much lower resource costs to the economy. Within the Asia Pacific region there are well-established logistics centres and distriparks that share many of the features of the freight village.

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