The Federation of Freight Forwarders’ Associations in India (FFFAI) has decided to extend the date for Nomination to ‘FFFAI YIFF Awards’ to February 2, 202. The Award has launched with an objective to promote young Entrepreneurs/Forwarders/Logistics Professionals. FFFAI is inviting applications from the Members of FFFAI Association Members (within the age group between 18 and 32 years as on January 1, 2021) to participate in the ‘FIATA Young International Freight Forwarder of The Year Award’ The award demonstrates recognition by FFFAI, FIATA and its participating sponsors of the need to develop quality in the forwarding industry and to reward young talent with valuable training opportunities. To participate in the nomination process pertaining to the awards, the candidates should have two years full time experience in Freight Forwarding, should submit the dissertation on the topic stipulated by FIATA, and should fulfil the condition stipulated in the registration form. The dissertation is an opportunity for the candidate to demonstrate a range of skills and qualities that are needed to pursue a successful career in international forwarding and supply chain logistics. It would demonstrate the knowledge base of the contestants concerning the following aspects: Identifying a problem or business opportunity; gathering relevant information on a specific situation; identifying possible changes or enhancements for the benefit of the forwarder or the client; evaluating the information and drawing one’s own conclusions; deciding what action should be taken; making reasoned and costed recommendations; quality of innovation and initiative; description and valuation of the situation, discussion of problems, opportunities, faults, relevant issues, benefits, costs, etc. For more details on YOUNG INTERNATIONAL FREIGHT FORWARDER OF THE YEAR AWARD, Please visit https://fiata.org/what-we-do/training/yiffy-award.html The last date for filing nomination of …

A new Logistics center is proposed in Kochi. To be completed by June this year, the proposed project was discussed by industry minister P Rajeeve in Thiruvananthapuram with a private group. The meeting was held as part of the ‘Meet the Investor’ initiative, a series of meetings between the industry minister and investors to promote new ventures in the state. The course was introduced last year. A decision to accelerate the process of establishing the park for which a private corporation has already acquired the property had been made in the meeting, the minister informed while emphasizing that the group will disclose the exact location as the project is in the initial stages of construction. The upcoming park can be expected to extend its area in the second phase of the project, as per the minister. To be completed in a six-month time frame, the park will be looking into the possibility of a single-window clearing system, provide employment for at least 2,000 people, and will likely attract an investment of Rs 500 crore in the initial phase. The park’s alliance with several well-known brands would have a huge effect on the industry and economy. The park is projected to feature more companies.

o9 Solutions, a leading enterprise AI software platform provider for transforming planning and decision-making speed and quality in companies across industry verticals, announced that it has received equity investments totaling $295 million from General Atlantic, including BeyondNetZero, its climate investing venture, Generation Investment Management, a pure-play sustainability investment manager, and existing investor KKR. This significant investment will help o9 build on its momentum and accelerate growth for its AI-powered Integrated Business Planning platform it calls the “Digital Brain” across industry verticals and markets. It will also help o9 drive continued innovation in R&D, industry knowledge models and partner ecosystem development that will help companies implement o9’s game-changing platform faster and realize greater value. Today, leading companies across varied industry verticals that include retail, consumer and industrial products manufacturing, high-tech and semiconductor, life sciences, automotive, telecom, and oil and gas leverage o9’s Digital Brain platform for transforming their supply chain, commercial and integrated business planning capabilities. These companies are using o9’s Digital Brain platform to build a live, digital model of enterprise data and knowledge that helps them detect demand and supply risks and opportunities, forecast demand more accurately, and evaluate what-if scenarios all in real time. By matching demand and supply intelligently and driving greater alignment and collaboration between customers, internal stakeholders and suppliers across the integrated supply chain, clients can realize significant value from their commercial plans and decisions while making measurable positive impact to the environment.

During the quarter ended December 31, 2021, Snowman Logistics Ltd recorded a Revenue of INR 73.40 Crores against INR 60.18 Crores in Q3 FY20-21. EBITDA increased by 11% to INR 19.40 Crores from INR 17.45 Crores in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. PBT decreased to INR. 1.05 Crores from INR. 1.42 Crores in the corresponding quarter of the previous year and PAT decreased to INR 0.83 Crore in the current quarter from INR 1.42 Crores in the same period in the previous year. Speaking about the quarter performance, Sunil Nair, CEO, Snowman Logistics Ltd said, “Our new tech platform, SnowLink, for aggregation of transportation capacity in cold chain space has started delivering numbers, and in addition we have been able to retain business and garner additional volumes during the recent COVID wave by supporting our customers with solutions to manage their supply chain. In addition, we have received increased demand from our Pharma and e-commerce customers.” Prem Kishan Dass Gupta, Chairman, Snowman Logistics Ltd commented, “Our new e-commerce dedicated SnowServe facilities have become operational in Mumbai and Pune. The construction of our new facilities, under SnowPreserve, at Siliguri and Coimbatore were unfortunately delayed by about six months due to lack of labour as well as delays in supply of building materials because of COVID related restrictions. However, both facilities are now ready, and are expected to be fully utilised in the next financial year. Going ahead we are focusing on expanding towards dedicated warehouses for catering to specialised cargo that required temperature control apart from growing in our regular SnowPreserve vertical for handling multi temperature cargo.”

With the union government set to present the budget 2022-23 on Feb 1, 2022, the domestic rating agency ICRA shared its pre-budget expectations on ports, shipping, and logistics sector. The rating agency expects the government to increase budgetary support for flagship projects including Sagarmala and inland waterways, providing a boost to the execution pace and investments. Furthermore, enhancing the connectivity across India and speedy implementation of projects such as Bharatmala for the road logistics sector, dedicated freight corridor (DFC) for the railways, and Sagarmala for the waterways will be of prime focus to the center in the coming budget, ICRA believes. There has been traction in policy initiatives for the ports sector in the current fiscal with the operationalization of the Indian Major Ports Act, 2021 and notification of market-based tariffs under the Act, notification of the revised Model Concession Agreement for PPP projects, and passage of the Inland Vessel Act, 2021 in both houses of Parliament, ICRA said. While the slew of measures has been favorable for the sector and is expected to aid in attracting private sector investments, increased budgetary support from the center for such flagship projects will indefinitely boost the execution pace and investments, it stated.

Shipping lines repositioned a record 1.85 million containers in the country in 2021 as demand for exports surged and exporters continued to be hurt by an acute shortage of containers, according to lobbying body Container Shipping Lines Association (CSLA). Repositioning of containers is getting an empty container from a port of surplus to one where they are scarce. Shipping lines had to resort to this strategy as container shortage soared across the world as several container ships got stuck in ports amid the pandemic and various restrictions even as merchandise exports from India grew 105% year-on-year to $354 billion in 2021. “Several new services were introduced between India and various trades like the US, Europe, far East, West Africa and Latin America by carriers like MSC, Maersk, Hapag-Lloyd, CMA CGM, HMM, ZIM, Feedertech and others,” said CSLA official. “These helped in increasing the weekly capacity from Indian origins to these destinations by about 35,000 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent unit, or a 20-foot container) a week,” it said. “Annualised, this works out to an increase in the vessel capacity by about 1.80 million TEUs.”

In response to surging demand for air cargo capacity in the region, GEODIS, a global leading transport and logistics services provider, has significantly expanded its AirDirect own operated network with three more intra-Asia Pacific (APAC) flight routes. With a newly established hub in Kuala Lumpur, the logistics operator will dovetail the air services with its Road Network linking destinations throughout Southeast Asia. The multi-modal expansion builds on its strong momentum in creating diverse transportation options for customizing supply chain solutions for its customers. The expanded flight network, which bridges Hong Kong, Chennai, Sydney, and Shanghai to Kuala Lumpur, can carry an additional 320 tons of cargo weekly. This will significantly ease the strain on the supply chains, which saw load factors and yields reach historic highs in 2021 when cargo capacity struggled to meet the surge in e-commerce transactions. With demand for airfreight forecast to increase, particularly amidst ongoing delays and flight cancellations across Southeast Asia following the impact of the Omicron variant, GEODIS believes its extended AirDirect schedules will become a pivotal component in ensuring seamless, reliable, and efficient air transport services in the region.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released data for global air freight markets showing that full-year demand for air cargo increased by 6.9% in 2021, compared to 2019 (pre-covid levels) and 18.7% compared to 2020 following a strong performance in December 2021. This was the second biggest improvement in year-on-year demand since IATA started to monitor cargo performance in 1990 (behind 2010’s 20.6% gain), outpacing the 9.8% rise in global goods trade by 8.9 percentage points. “Air cargo had a stellar year in 2021. For many airlines, it provided a vital source of revenue as passenger demand remained in the doldrums due to COVID-19 travel restrictions. Growth opportunities, however, were lost due to the pressures of labor shortages and constraints across the logistics system. Overall, economic conditions do point towards a strong 2022,” said Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General. December saw a relief in supply chain issues that enabled an acceleration of cargo growth. “Some relief on supply chain constraints occurred naturally in December as volumes decreased after peak shipping activity ended in advance of the Christmas holiday. This freed capacity to accommodate front-loading of some Lunar New Year shipments to avoid potential disruptions to flight schedules during the Winter Olympic games. And overall December cargo performance was assisted by additional belly-hold capacity as airlines accommodated an expected year-end boost to travel. As shortages of labor and storage capacity remain, governments must keep a sharp focus on supply chain constraints to protect the economic recovery,” said Walsh.

The Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru (BLR Airport) recorded its highest-ever cargo tonnage, despite a turbulent pandemic environment. During the Calendar Year 2021 (CY 2021), BLR Airport processed an all-time high tonnage of 406,688 Metric Tonnes (MT) of cargo, recording a significant growth of 28.6% vs. 316,305MT in 2020. This is 7.2% more than the pre-COVID level tonnage of 379,348MT in 2019. International cargo recorded a 32.8% growth, 265,873MT processed, as compared to 200,209MT in 2020. Domestic cargo grew at 21.3%, 140,815 MT processed versus 116,096MT in 2020. The US and Europe continue to be the top trade lanes from BLR Airport. “The tremendous recovery in air cargo is a positive sign for the aviation sector that has been severely impacted by the pandemic,” said Hari Marar, MD & CEO, Bangalore International Airport Limited. “The key factors that contributed to the cargo growth at BLR Airport are our resilient ecosystem that ensured efficient operations round the clock; focus on supply chain efficiencies; conducive geographic location, aided with robust infrastructure and technology; right mix of commodities, and adequate airline capacities to key markets, globally,” Marar added. 13 airlines operate freighters to and from BLR Airport to various domestic and international destinations. Commodities driving the growth are perishables (both agricultural and poultry products), pharma, chemicals and textiles in the exports category, and electronics, heavy machineries, healthcare and life science products in the imports category. Notably, BLR Airport has emerged as the No.1 Airport in the country for perishable exports, accounting for 31.0% of India’s total perishable shipments during FY 2020-21.

Deputy Head of Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO) Jalil Eslami has said direct container shipping lines have been established between Iran’s southeastern port of Chabahar and two Western Indian ports of Nhava Sheva, and Kandla. According to Eslami, regular container service with a traffic schedule of 10 to 15 days is performed by the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) through these lines, the PMO portal reported. The official noted that PMO is going to offer the necessary tariff incentives and facilities on tolls and transportation costs to support the traders that use the lines. He pointed out that according to the schedule, the first container service through the mentioned route will enter Iran’s Shahid Beheshti port on February 16. Iran and India had previously launched shipping lines between Chabahar and the Indian ports of Mumbai, and Mundra. The first shipping route between the two countries was put into operation in 2017 between Iran’s Chabahar port and Mumbai.