New Delhi : The promoters of everythingaboutwater.com has launched a new vertical B2B portal in transportation business, everythingabouttransport.com.the portal is floated in partnership with three transport companies. A new company has been formed in the name of EA Transport, in which Net Holding International, the promoter of everythingaboutwater, holds majority stake while the rest is jointly held by three transport companies: EITA India, Central Transport of India and Century Transport.While talking to The Financial Express, Mr Jagdeep Verma, chief operating officer of EA Transport said that the portal will provide a business platform to everybody involved in transport. The portal will offer storefronts to the companies to display their services and will facilitate business transactions and information exchange on Internet. The company has decided to support the B2B portal with a brick and mortar infrastructure behind it to generate and bring business to the Internet platform and provide personal customer service. "We have decided to combine the efficiencies of both brick and click and decided to set up physical customer service centres,'' said Mr Verma. The company has already established small offices amidst transport markets in five cities-Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Siliguri and Guwahati and planning to expand its network to other cities including Mumbai very soon, he added.
Mr Verma also said that the portal will cover all aspects of transport including road, rail, sea and air. However, it is only road which has been made functional currently. Rail, sea and air will be included one by one in every two months time in future in the same order.
The portal will provide facilities like online shipment booking, reverse auctions for shipments by transporters, multimode route options, vehicle and transporter authentication, consignment tracking and other professional services online such as clearing agents, export-import consultants. The portal will also offer specialised membership services such as transporters verification, customised news, automated tendering etc.
The company will also provide consulting services to transport companies for improvements in their business processes. Besides, it has plans to offer call centre facilities for courier and transport companies.
According to Mr Verma, the company has already invested around Rs 50 lakh and the investment will go up to total Rs 1 crore in next few months. However, the business is expected to make break even in 18 months of its commercial operations, he added.
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