Explaining the role of freight forwarder, Huned Gandhi, Managing Director Air & Sea Logistics Indian Subcontinent, Dachser, says, “One must remember that the logistics industry is an intense service driven sector, it demands a personal touch, understanding and adaptability to totally new and unexpected situations arising from the complexity of global supply chains and a human intervention in managing these complexities plays a key role in managing, designing and optimising the supply chains. This expertise stems from years of experience, deep understanding of global markets, and customising cost-effective solutions for meeting the specific requirements of the customers and industries. Thus, the need for reliable logistics partners / freight forwarders will always remain and cannot be eliminated.”

Explaining what air cargo has done to India, Cyrus Katgar, President, ACFI, says, Air cargo is the speed to market and speed is so important for businesses like pharmaceuticals. COVID-19 could be the biggest flop if air cargo was not around. The pharmaceutical industry and air cargo has been great for everybody during the pandemic and thousands of lives have been saved. On a regular basis, air cargo is supporting pharmaceuticals industry by carrying vaccines, cancer medicines, etc. Airlines have created ‘envirotainer’ for temperature-controlled cargo. They are only meant for the pharmaceuticals industry.

The global pandemic has severely affected businesses around the world. The maritime industry too has experienced a major downturn. Shahab Al Jassmi, Commercial Director of Ports and Terminals – DP World, UAE Region, said, “It is important for the maritime community to come together and formulate means to eliminate threats to the business. Over the last few months, we have realised the importance of having strategic foresight. Such unprecedented situations test the calibre of all businesses. For us at DP World, UAE Region safeguarding business continuity, while protecting our employees from the risk of the virus was a top priority. Additionally, our sustained investments in digital technology and automation made operations highly resilient.” Speaking about the roadblocks in business due to the global crisis Jassmi revealed key strategies DP World, UAE Region employs to overcome these challenges. He also shed light on the significance of embracing digital models of business to enhance the supply chain. Since the onset of COVID-19, DP World, UAE Region has been committed to facilitating an uninterrupted flow of medical supplies and essential goods. To ensure trade flow amid a deteriorating market, the company also introduced key digital initiatives with a focus on prudent cost management, better productivity, asset utilisation and automation processes. Their initiatives such as Jebel Ali Free Zone (Jafza) Customer Support, in addition to other measures like flexible monthly rental payments, deferred payments and choice of leasing warehouses on a short-term basis, have complemented the government’s strategy, boosting the maritime sector in the UAE and the Middle East region. Jassmi expressed his views at CEO Forum focusing on challenges and future opportunities for ports and shipping in the Gulf Cooperation Council

Further enhanced its pharma handling capabilities in Singapore, dnata has launched cool dollies in its operations. The company’s new, high-tech containers are specially designed to serve the pharmaceutical industry with a closed temperature-controlled system for seamless delivery of temperature-sensitive goods between cargo warehouses and aircraft. Dirk Goovaerts, dnata’s Regional CEO for Asia Pacific, said, “It has become increasingly crucial for both airlines and freight forwarders to be supported by a reliable, certified handler that can protect their pharma shipments and ensure the products remain in perfect condition until they reach the end customer. “We constantly invest in our people, facilities, equipment and processes to provide world-class services to our customers. Our latest investment in cool dollies underlines our commitment to ensuring the highest quality of supply chain management when handling temperature-sensitive cargo. We continue to enhance our operations to deliver the promises our customers make, every day.” dnata’s announcement to introduce another innovative solution to the Singapore market has been widely welcomed and supported by its partners and stakeholders, including the government and the airport operator. dnata’s new equipment allows the company to transport temperature-sensitive cargo to the highest international standards. Providing temperature-controlled storage from -18°C up to +25°C, the cool dollies mitigate risk of temperature deviations and contamination. They have a closed structure with alarms on opening and closing, as well as alerts if temperatures fluctuate above acceptable ranges. As they are fitted with solar panels, the cool dollies are both environmentally friendly and autonomous. The units are also hygienic and easy to clean, which is an important consideration for pharma cargo. The company operates a state-of-the-art 1,400m² pharma and perishable handling centre at Changi Airport, which is capable …

Amid the problem of container shortages that exporters are facing, several trade bodies have urged the Centre to set up a regulator to deal with the rising freight charges. Engineering Export Promotion Council of India (EEPC) claimed that shipping lines are demanding high freight charges as inward traffic from different countries, particularly from China, has declined for which the exporters are required to pay a higher amount for outbound consignments. “Imports from China have fallen and the liners have increased freight rates. No shipping company likes to sail empty after delivery of export consignments,” Sanjay Budhia, Chairman, CII National Committee on Exports and Imports told PTI. He adds, “All the exporters across the country are facing this problem. This is leading to a situation where cargo is lying at ports. We urged the government to set up a shipping regulator to control the freight rates. Exports have started to pick up despite the coronavirus crisis.” After contracting for six months in a row, the country’s exports grew by 5.27 per cent to USD 27.4 billion in September. The shipping companies have raised freight rates due to falling imports from China as liners do not have much cargo while they are returning, an official of the engineering exporters’ body said. “This is making Indian exports uncompetitive in the global markets,” an EEPC official said.

Commenting on the possibility of digitalisation taking the lead and replacing freight forwarders, Ashish Asaf, Managing Director & CEO, SA Consultants & Forwarders, believes, “Digitisation shall bring in more transparency and efficiency between the stakeholders but not eliminate any stakeholder at least for few more years. It brings in more regulatory checks on the flow of commodities and tariffs by governments and tariff regulators by way of analysing the data available. Digitalisation is a reality today and an unavoidable evil. But human intervention can never be wiped out or substituted in the business of freight forwarding or custom clearance. Apart from quoting rates and closing deals, it is the essence of consensus of human minds at play which governs a contract between parties.”

According to Sharad Kumar Saraf, President, FIEO, non-availability of containers for the export sector is posing a serious concern for meeting delivery commitments of foreign buyers. He said , “From the last couple of months, in spite of offering space for three to four weeks ahead, shipping lines are shutting out the containers abruptly giving reasons that the vessels are full. The sea freights have also started increasing gradually since July and all the shipping lines have increased the freights by 20 per cent to 40 per cent depending on the destinations. There is a need for a regulatory agency for the shipping sector and we expect that the proposed National Logistics Efficiency Advancement Predictability and Safety (NLEAPS) Act would be formulated and implemented soon to protect the exim sector from such sudden and abrupt changes.” Saraf further stated that exports have started picking up and our merchandise exports turned positive for the first time in the last seven months registering a growth of about 5.3 per cent in the month of September 2020. Therefore, this important component of export logistics needs immediate attention else our exporters would not be able to capitalize on the new opportunities. FIEO Chief also advocated that the government order to pay terminal handling charges to ports directly may be implemented across ports as it will bring down logistics costs for the export sector and make them more competitive.

With cargo at Indian ports witnessing Y-o-Y decline of nine per cent each in July and August, after severe contraction of ~22% in Q1 FY2021 due to the impact of Covid-19 pandemic, the Indian Port sector is witnessing deceleration in cargo decline in Q2 FY2021. The recovery has been relatively better at non major ports. The recovery trend is driven by easing of containment measures and uptick in economic activity. The major cargo segments impacted are POL, coal and containers; while fertilizers and iron ore have bucked the trend. Regarding the developments, Sai Krishna, Assistant Vice President and Associate-Head, Corporate Ratings, ICRA says, “The deceleration in cargo contraction is a favourable trend, but recovery in certain segments like POL, which was expected to be faster with easing of lockdown, has not materialized in line with expectation due to continued subdued demand. Further, the recovery in segments like coking coal and containers may be prolonged compared to other segments. Also, the recovery trend in certain segments like thermal coal has been volatile at non-major ports. Hence, the sustainability of recovery trend remains a concern at present and the sector is not out of the woods. ICRA reiterates its expectation that while general cargo throughput may witness ~6-8% contraction for full year 2020-21, the container segment may witness a decline of 12-15% during the same period.” While, the cargo performance has been subdued, there has been traction on reform front with passage of Major Port Bill 2020 in September 2020, after witnessing long delays since its initial introduction in 2016. Commenting on the same, K. Ravichandran, Senior Vice President and Group Head, Corporate Ratings, ICRA adds: “The passage of the bill is …

According to a joint report by Binswanger Commercial Real Estate Services and ANAROCK Group focusing on ‘Indian Industrial & Logistics – Gearing Up a Global Manufacturing Hub’, high-intensity focus on making India a global manufacturing hub has caused warehousing clusters to expand rapidly beyond the top cities and into tier 2 and 3 cities. The report says that demand for small and multi-location warehouses is expected to rise significantly. Most of these emerging clusters are aligned with the industrial and freight corridors being developed in the country. The emerging tier 2 and 3 warehousing clusters include Ludhiana, Ambala, Lucknow, Siliguri, Guwahati, Bhubaneshwar, Vishakhapatnam, Vijaywada, Coimbatore, Kochi, Nagpur, Indore, Jaipur and Dholera. Shobhit Agarwal, MD & CEO, ANAROCK Capital says, “The rising demand for Grade-A warehousing properties across the country is a key trend. Our data indicates that there is more than 110 mn sq. ft. of Grade-A warehousing stock available across the country – most of it in the top 8 cities. 3PL (third-party logistics) and e-commerce are the largest occupiers of warehousing space. There is a massive opportunity for Grade-A warehousing development in the smaller cities amidst rising demand.” The report highlights that nearly US$ 7 billion worth platforms have been created for the warehousing sector since 2015. Over US$ 2 billion in PE investments have been infused in the industrial and logistics sector between 2017 and Q1 2020. Investors are upbeat on this sector and are working closely with developers to identify warehousing investment opportunities.

Carrying essential pharma supplies to the CIS countries via Uzbekistan Airways, Beehive Logistics (India) has send more than 1,36,078 kg of pharma supplies in the first week of October from Uzbekistan Airways’ Boeing 767 aircraft. The company has achieved a target of 2,54,012 kg of pharma supplies in record time in September 2020 also. Beehive Logistics also flew the first cargo flight to Tashkent on April 21, 2020 carrying more than 27,000 kg of essential supplies to the Central Asia region. Dr Naveen Rao, Group Chairman, Sentro Group, states, “The COVID-19 pandemic is a whole new world where service to humanity and supporting our partners is our prime objective. We will continue to work hard towards this goal.” Anish Khatri, GM (Uzbekistan Airways – GSA Beehive Logistics), says, “During this on-going pandemic, essential pharma supplies are very crucial for any nation to provide other medicines on time. Due to lockdowns in almost every nation from time to time, keeping stock of medicines has become even more important. We are just working hard to fulfil these gaps for CIS Countries by running regular cargo flights.” Beehive Logistics is planning to expand its services and to press more charter flights in supplying other goods also. Beehive Logistics, a part of Sentro Group representing Cargo Uzbekistan Airways as GSSA in India is operating host of cargo charter flights carrying essential pharma supplies to CIS countries.