Govt agencies partner with transportation players to increase agri exports

Last month when Maersk, the global integrated logistics company, delivered its first end-to-end shipment of freshly produced green chillies from Varanasi to Jebel Ali, United Arab Emirates (UAE) within nine days, it was among the initial efforts by the company to get agriculture exporters to use its services. Maersk, in fact, is working closely with Agricultural and Processed Food Exports Development Authority (APEDA) to enable trade opportunities through land and sea routes. This is a part of government efforts to work with transportation players in order to meet the target of $60 billion in agriculture exports by 2024. “We are preparing a scheme where agri product exports even via airways are being looked into apart from ocean transportation for faster movement of agri cargo overseas,” an official at APEDA told Business Standard on condition of anonymity.