Seafood export industry in India has emerged as a sound stratum contributing to more than a quarter of the total agricultural produce from the country. Even so, this potential industry faces a lot of concerns which hinders its further growth, one among which is the shortcomings in the supply chain. Seafood being a perishable commodity, the speed with which it reaches its final consumers determines the success of the seafood marketing process. Here arises the need to exploit the not yet so well tapped rescue potential element, 'the Third Party Logistics'. 3PL or Third Party Logistics ascribes to the deploying of logistics activities, ranging from any specific task to broader activities attending to the whole supply chain to abate cost and to ameliorate services.
3PL service providers in Kerala state in India provide wide range of services such as freight forwarding, customs clearance & brokerage, warehousing & distribution, international inland transportation, multimodal transportation, stuffing and cargo consolidation, cargo insurance practices, export documentation, consultancy services, heavy lift forwarding, inventory control, transhipments, project logistics, value added logistic services, etc. Even though a wide array of services are being provided, the seafood sector generally makes use of very less services.
The study tries to analyse the services hired by the seafood export companies from the third party logistics service providers. Third party logistics service providers in Cochin area in Kerala state were chosen for the survey as seafood export companies and Third party logistics service providers are concentrated in this area. The most commonly hired 3PL agent is a clearing and forwarding agent (C & F). Customs clearing can be done by only those officials who own a Customs House Agent (CHA) license and here arises the need of clearing agents. They also book the shipping line to transport the cargo through the forwarders or directly, by contacting the shipping lines. Shipping bill helps Customs Authorities evaluate the consignment and let the shipper export the same and also enables government to collect trade statistics. This shipping bill can be prepared and uploaded by the clearing agents and then, formally issued by the customs. Other widely acquired services include stuffing of cargoes and transportation services. Prodigious utilization of Third Party Logistics is considered unthinkable by most seafood exporters as it is believed that the intermediaries involved would probably escalate the overall cost factor. Conducted study proved the limited utilization of the most promising sector which could have otherwise eased the burden by helping the exporter to concentrate on core and prime activity areas rather than dividing attention to all areas, of which, some are capable of being outsourced. If adequate attention is paid towards the seafood supply chain in export of seafood, India can heave its irregularity in competitiveness which could lead fisheries to be a major foreign currency contributing sector.