Increase in number of business parcels booked in Chennai led to postal department getting despatch hub
Sorting assistants handle the business parcels at the newly established hub in Ekkaduthangal. -DC
Chennai: To meet the demand due to the increasing number of business parcels booked in Chennai, the postal department established an exclusive despatch hub earlier this year in Ekkaduthangal. “There was a similar facility in Egmore but due to inadequate space, we had to shift to Ekkaduthangal. Extending over 3,500 square feet, it was set up in May this year,” an official with the business development wing, postal HQ, said.
An official with India Posts said the Ekkaduthangal hub is one of the 87 parcel hubs (L1) established throughout the country. In Tamil Nadu, there are 18 L2 parcel hubs that help receive and transmit business parcels. “The newly-established facility has a capacity to handle about 70,000 parcels every day and there are specialised personnel to take care of it,” says Mr T. Murthy, chief postmaster general (Tamil Nadu circle).
The sorting hub works in two shifts - from 06.30 hours to 14.30 hours and the other, from 14.00 hours to 22.00 hours. Each shift is supervised by one head sorting assistant and 5 sorting assistants working under him.The details of parcel bags are fed into computer systems to enable tracking options. Then begins the process of sorting, as per the pin code. “We place utmost importance on the sorting process and, indeed, this consumes much of the time. Based on the location that a particular parcel is intended for, they are bagged together,” said the head, sorting assistant (morning shift).
After sorting, there is a despatch van that ferries the bagged parcels to Egmore and Central railway stations. The entire process is completed within a day so as to prevent any backlog.With the likes of Amazon and Flipkart yet to establish their warehouses in Chennai, a sorting assistant said, “We are gearing up to handle large volumes, because it is only a matter of time before these e-commerce companies set up their own warehouses here.”
As per the findings of a joint study by consultancy firm PwC and industry body Assocham, the size of the e-retail industry is poised to touch $ 20 billion by 2020 and e-commerce firms are expected to invest nearly $ 2 billion in the next 6 years on supporting infrastructure, logistics and warehousing.
( Source : dc correspondent )
Next Story
