Logistics Data Bank Passes 10 Crore RFID-Tracked Containers: Gate Lessons for CFS, ICD and Factory Yards

The milestone in figures

LDB 2.0, launched in September 2025, added tracking of export containers on the high seas and multimodal visibility by container, truck or trailer number and by railway forwarding note number, through the Unified Logistics Interface Platform (ULIP), along with a live heat map of container locations.

How container-level RFID tracking works

The government's 2016 release on Jawaharlal Nehru Port, the first port to implement LDB tagging (from 1 July 2016), describes the model in one sentence: an RFID tag is attached to each container, which is then tracked through RFID readers installed at different locations, covering its movement by rail or road up to the ICDs and CFSs, with the information from various agencies joined in a single window.

Strip away the scale and there are four parts:

1. A tag on the thing that moves. One tag per container, linked to the container number when it is fitted.
2. Readers at choke points. Gates, terminals, rail sidings and toll plazas: places every container has to pass.
3. Events, not snapshots. Each read becomes an event: this tag, at this place, at this time.
4. A platform that joins events up. Dwell time and transit time are simply the differences between events, which is why LDB can report them.

The releases do not say which tags or readers LDB uses, and we make no claim about that. What matters for a private yard is the model, not the vendor.

What LDB already gives you without any hardware

Before buying a single reader, use what the national system publishes. LDB's container tracking is available through a single-window platform at ldb.co.in, which is how stakeholders search containers today, at over 1.5 crore searches a month. The government's release says the platform provides analytics on dwell time, transit time, and port and terminal performance, enabling stakeholders, in the release's words, to monitor logistics operations and identify bottlenecks. LDB 2.0 added tracking of export containers after they leave Indian ports, and multimodal lookups by truck or trailer number and railway forwarding note through ULIP. None of this needs tags of your own; it is the baseline that your yard system should add to, not duplicate.

What a CFS, ICD or factory yard can copy

CWC has already applied the same idea inside container freight stations. A government release of November 2025 describes its Smart EXIM Warehouse System for CFSs, ICDs and general warehouses: gate automation integrated with port and rail systems that fetches vehicle and container details automatically, FASTag-based entry, automatic record generation, yard management with a digital twin that tracks containers and equipment, and inventory linked to the ERP and WMS. That is the read-point model at the scale of one facility.

For your own yard, start with three decisions.

1. What to tag

• Trucks and trailers you see every week: a windshield label on each regular truck, so the gate recognises it without a typed number.
• Your own equipment and returnable assets: pallets, bins, trolleys and handling equipment, with rugged tags fixed where they will not be knocked off.
• Not the containers already carrying LDB tags. Those tags belong to LDB's system. Plan your yard around tags you issue, and look containers up on LDB's platform or through your terminal and line systems.

2. Where to read

3. What to do with the reads

Each read should create an event in your terminal operating system, WMS or ERP, matched to the truck's appointment and the container number captured at the gate. Exceptions (an unknown tag, a plate that does not match, a truck with no tag) go to a supervisor's screen instead of stopping the lane. Our RFID middleware and integration guide covers how reads become records, and our warehouse gate guide works through a gate-in step by step.

Your yard: hardware from the catalogue, with prices

Tags are sold at a minimum order of 500 pcs and readers from 1 unit. Read ranges are listed figures and depend on the tag, mounting and site. Every UHF reader model used in India needs WPC Equipment Type Approval; the IF9A, IHZ4 and CX1500N models are BIS-registered and WPC type-approved, as listed on our certifications page. More options are under vehicle tags and windshield stickers, UHF RFID tags and integrated readers.

E-seals and tracking tags are different jobs

Export containers stuffed and sealed at the factory carry RFID e-seals: one-time bolt seals whose number is tied to the shipping documents and which show whether the container was opened after sealing. A tracking tag is different: it is reusable, it carries an ID rather than proof of integrity, and its value comes from the reads it produces as it moves. A yard often handles both, at the same gate. Our guide to RFID e-seals for export containers covers the customs rules and the reader you need for seals.

Start with one gate

A national system like LDB was built in phases, starting with one port. A yard should start the same way:

1. Pick the gate with the worst queue. That is where an automatic read saves the most time and where the before-and-after numbers will be clearest.
2. Tag your regular trucks first. Issue windshield labels to the transporters who visit every week and link each label to the vehicle number once, at issue.
3. Log reads alongside the manual register for two weeks. Compare the two daily: every vehicle in the register should appear in the read log, and the gaps tell you where the antenna or the trigger needs work.
4. Turn on dwell-time reporting. Once gate-in and gate-out reads are reliable, the time between them is your turnaround time, by transporter and by shift.
5. Then add read points. The weighbridge, the stuffing dock and the yard blocks follow, each one adding an event to the same visit.

What drives the cost of a yard system

The tags and readers above are the visible part of the bill. The rest depends on your site:

• The number of read points. Every gate lane, weighbridge and dock door is a reader or an antenna, plus a pole or mount, power and network.
• Cabling and civil work. Long antenna cables lose signal, so readers usually sit near the lane; trenching and poles can cost more than the electronics.
• Software and integration. Mapping reads to trucks, containers and appointments in your terminal or warehouse system can be the largest single task.
• Tags for your own fleet and assets. Windshield labels for regular trucks are a one-time cost per vehicle; pallet and asset tags scale with the pool.

Our RFID project cost and ROI guide shows how to budget, and the RFID logistics and supply chain system page shows the complete setup. For a yard or gate project, ask for a quote with a site plan and the number of vehicles a day.

Sources

All fetched on 22 October 2026.

• PIB, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, 14 August 2026: Logistics Data Bank tracks 10 crore EXIM containers, provides visibility across logistics chain
• PIB, Ministry of Shipping, 4 July 2016: Jawaharlal Nehru Port becomes first port in country to implement logistics data tagging of containers
• PIB, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, 20 September 2025: Union Minister launches Logistics Data Bank (LDB) 2.0
• PIB, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, 18 November 2025: Digital upgrades to food storage and logistics, including CWC's Smart EXIM Warehouse System