(BS)
From owning rail rakes and laying slurry pipelines to building greenfield ports, Tata Steel — the country’s oldest steel producer — is leaving no stone unturned to lower its logistics cost and make more competitively priced products.
With a total investment of close to Rs 5,000 crore, the company has drawn up a plan to lower its logistics cost in a phased manner. “The immediate plan is to own eight to nine rail rakes. This will be done in the next one year through Tata Martrade International Logistics (TMILL), our subsidiary,” T V Narendran, chief executive officer and managing director, Tata Steel. TMILL is a joint venture of Tata Steel, NYK Holding (Europe) BV, and Germany-based IQ Martrade Holding und Managementgesellschaft mbH. “It is not just about lowering logistics cost, but also about assuring reliable supplies,” said Narendran.
“Poor consistency in logistics leads to more inventory, which reflects in inventory-carrying cost and working capital rather than the cost of transportation. So the logistics parameter has an impact over other cost areas. Therefore, the effort is to smoothen logistics for the business,” added Narendran.
