Indian startup EVage has raised $28 million from a US-based venture capital firm RedBlue Capital. The startup which develops electric delivery vans for e-commerce and logistics companies including Amazon is the first startup to create an electric van in India from the ground up. The Indian EV market has been on a shooting stage, Amazon aims to have 10,000 electric vehicles for deliveries by 2025 while Walmart’s Flipkart aims to have 25,000 EVs by 2030. “The electric vehicle market in India will boom with this shift in the movement of goods, and electrifying this segment will be a big opportunity. Compared with the West, India, and markets like Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America have unique demands in terms of the price and capacity of the vehicle, road conditions and weather.” said Olaf Sakkers, General Partner, RedBlue Capital. Sakkers also added that one can see EVage as more of Rivian and Arrival for developing markets.

UPS has added a new freighter flight between Billund in Denmark and its European air hub in Cologne as it looks to meet growing e-commerce demand. The new daily B737F flight means that Danish businesses in the Jutland peninsula, including Vejle, Herning and Horsens will benefit from later pick-up cut off times with packages spending less time in transit. “With collection up to two hours later in place such as Vejle, companies can take advantage of reduced transit time for packages being exported internationally, and potentially increase time in production for goods,” UPS said. Michiel van Veen, managing director, UPS Nordics, added: “We are continuing to develop our European network to meet the growing e-commerce demand for the region. “The launch of the Billund flight will present opportunities for businesses of all sizes in Denmark to expand into global markets faster, thanks to a new connection to our global air network.”

Saudi Arabian Airlines is hoping to add a new freighter service between Europe and the US but has met some resistance from US carriers over the plans. In late December, the carrier applied to the US Department of Transportation for a limited exemption for seventh freedom rights to operate all-cargo flights between Liege, New York JFK and Chicago O’Hare. However, US carriers responded that they do not have seventh freedom rights to operate flights to Saudi Arabia and also questioned whether the flights are in the public interest. In response, Saudi Arabian said it would consult with the country’s government about the possibility of providing reciprocal seventh-freedom rights to US all-cargo carriers. The carrier also argued that the flights would be in the public’s interest. Saudi Arabian Airlines believes that this limited exemption is requested in order to serve the public interest by helping to alleviate the supply chain delays caused by the increased volume of air cargo between Europe and the US due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

ECS Group’s Cargo Digital Factory and Wiremind Cargo are coordinating their digital expertise under a new technology-focused and autonomous company:CargoTech. With the launch of CargoTech, ECS Group’s inhouse solution developer, Cargo Digital Factory, and the French software and data-science company, Wiremind Cargo will focus their efforts on intelligently digitalising the air cargo industry. CargoTech also supports one of the four pillars of ECS Group’s new Augmented GSA concept, comprising Commercial, Technology, Sustainability, and New Abilities. Based in Paris, France, Cargo Digital Factory and Wiremind’s newly established dedicated cargo business unit will collaborate to digitalise as many air cargo processes as possible. Existing Cargo Digital Factory products such as its APOLLO BI & Reporting System, PATHFINDER Track & Trace solution, and QUANTUM pricing support system, and Wiremind Cargo’s shipment volume evaluation & flight planning system SKYPALLET, form the basis of CargoTech’s product portfolio. The two divisions will jointly innovate and design additional digital solutions to expand the standard product portfolio, as well as tailor individual products for all actors of the cargo supply chain: airlines, GHAs, GSAs, and freight forwarders. Cedric Millet, ECS Group Chief Strategy & Digital Officer, explains. “Under the CargoTech umbrella, we will enhance and develop digital products both for the benefit of our existing ECS Group customers, as well as for all other airlines in the world. Our solutions are modular, and customers can subscribe to one or several products as required.” “Our intensified collaboration with Cargo Digital Factory will enable us to deliver more quickly on our vision of becoming a leading provider of end-to-end software solutions to the air cargo market,” Nathanaël de Tarade, board member at Wiremind and CEO of Wiremind Cargo, says. “Not …

Jeena & Co., is geared towards enhancing its 3PL and warehousing offerings in 2022, with the focus on building efficient supply chains. Leveraging their legacy positioning and the access to 7 key warehouses across metros like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangaluru, Chennai and Kolkata, Jeena & Co. aim to expand their 3PL service offerings to a plethora of sectors, including healthcare, FMCG, E-commerce, and Automobile manufacturing, among others. The pandemic threw a series of challenges at the logistic and supply chain sectors, forcing the rapid, tech enabled transformation that has led to smarter, more efficient supply chains. Speaking about the vision for their 3PL offerings and the need for modern warehousing, Mr Hector Patel, Board Member, Jeena & Co. said, “Since the advent of the global pandemic, a lot has changed across sectors, including the way logistics and supply chains function. Our new strategy towards 3PL is designed to align with the dynamic need of businesses across the world, starting with our current clients. We are looking forward to enhancing our ability to meet the long term growth plans, and evolving customer needs, while striving to promote greater transparency and seamless operations across the supply chain networks, by leveraging both technology innovations and our deep domain expertise that stems from over 120 years of experience in the business.”

With the opening of a new logistics center in Taulov, Denmark, DB Schenker is once again on the track for growth. The new facility operates with 87 gates over an area of 90,000 m2 and complies with the most stringent environmental and sustainability standards. Integrated into DB Schenker’s European network, the site connects 430 land transport locations in Europe with a state-of-the-art system that is designed to accommodate the growing demand for cross-border shipments. From here, all kind of goods are delivered to more than 38 European countries every day. All distribution trucks run on HVO 100 Biodiesel, a 100% biofuel that reduces CO2 emissions by at least 90% and NOx-emissions by approximately 30%. “It’s a big milestone for us to participate in the expansion of our DB Schenker network in Europe,” says Henrik Dam Larsen, DB Schenker CEO in Denmark. “With this important step, DB Schenker has created capacity for growth in the key distribution sector and is thus now ready to develop other aspects of the business exponentially. We are starting an exciting journey this year, with a new logistics center and more new services, and we are also welcoming new customers and colleagues.”

In view of the rising COVID concerns, Messe Muenchen India, the organizers of air cargo INDIA have announced the postponement of the biennial trade show and conference for the air cargo fraternity. The new dates for the much-awaited industry event are May 31 – June 2, 2022 and will be held at the Grand Hyatt, Mumbai. This decision was taken by Messe Muenchen India owing to the current COVID restrictions and was made in close consultation with all the exhibitors, sponsors, industry associations and partners. “We would like to thank all partners for their continued support & cooperation in making this difficult and time sensitive decision. We are pleased that together we could have a general consensus and arrive at the new dates without affecting the plans of all involved and intended outcomes.” said Bhupinder Singh, CEO, Messe Muenchen India Pvt. Ltd. “TIACA supports the decision of Air Cargo India to postpone until May considering the current situation in India and we look forward to participating fully at that time with many international delegates. We also look forward to welcoming delegates to the joint TIACA / Messe München event in San Francisco, scheduled for the end of March.” said Glyn Hughes, Director General, TIACA With the 2022 edition of air cargo INDIA, the focus is on future trends, sustainability, latest innovations in the air cargo industry.

On the back of rising customer demand for green transportation and technical cap, the container shipping giant A.P Moller Maersk prepone decarbonization plans by a decade. The company now plans to achieve net zero-emission in its’ business by 2040. With the sea responsible for transporting about 90% of world commerce, global shipping accounts for 3% of the world’s CO2 emissions, and the sector is underneath rising scrutiny to become greener and cleaner. “When we set the target back in 2018, it was truly a moon-shot target, where truth be told we didn’t have a lot of very specific plans,” said Henriette Hallberg Thygesen, Chief Executive of Fleet and Strategic Brands, Maersk. But since then, several technological advances on the vessel aspect in tandem with growing demand for carbon-neutral supply chains from large corporates such as Amazon and IKEA have been observed. Maersk set a 2030 interim target for a 50% reduction in emissions per transported container, and a 70% cut in absolute emissions from fully controlled terminals.

Welspun One Logistics Parks (WOLP), announced that it has acquired 40 acres of land, located on the Malur-Hosur road, to set up a large-scale warehousing facility. With a development potential of ~1 million square feet and a total project cost of INR 300 Cr, the facility will service the Bengaluru Metropolitan region’s (BMR’s) industrial and warehousing demand for space. Bengaluru has historically been a warehousing supply starved market with limited institutional developer presence in the Grade A space; however, demand has witnessed a significant uptick on the back of the post COVID E-Commerce boom. As per research estimates by various International Property Consultants (IPCs), demand for both warehousing and industrial space in Bengaluru is expected to be ~15-20 million square feet over the next 3 years. This acquisition comes at an opportune time giving WOLP an early mover advantage while helping the firm capitalize on the shifting customer preference towards Grade A warehouses. Talking about the strategic expansion, B.K. Goenka, Chairman, Welspun Group commented, “South India has always been an important market for us, and this is a crucial first step towards building a presence in the region by developing logistics infrastructure. WOLP has made significant progress in supporting the county’s warehousing network in a short span of time – from our flagship Park in Bhiwandi, Maharashtra to the more recent acquisitions in Farukhnagar, Haryana and Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. Our current acquisition will deepen our Fund Portfolio as well as strengthen our vision of being a pan India warehousing player.”

Ethiopian Cargo & Logistics Services, has launched a new feature that enables customers to make online reservations for their cargo. The platform enables customers check flight schedules, space availability, loadability of freight and make real-time booking of their shipment in single and convenient way on cargobooking.ethiopianairlines.com. Ethiopian Cargo & Logistics Services is rolling out the online booking subsequent to its introduction of the mobile application to heighten its customer’s experience. The Mobile App which is available for Android and IOS, brings convenience to customers with a real-time update through a range of self-service features. On the Mobile App, customers can check flight schedule, submit enquiry, receive notifications when the shipment is ready, book charter flights and track shipments. Ethiopian Airlines GCEO, Tewolde GebreMariam, said “We are pleased to offer our customers with convenience in their experience of air cargo booking. We are committed to start walking the long walk of taking out paper from entire air cargo process by digitalizing the logistics value chain. Taking out paper from logistics value chain is not only convenient and hassle free service for customers but also it delivers more efficient operational excellence and achieves long term sustainability goals. Our online booking platform will be crucial in empowering direct cargo customers and forwarders with reliable access to our cargo capacity inventory. Besides, our cargo division has proved to the world that it is a genuine partner in times of dire need by delivering lifesaving PPE’s (personal Protective Equipment) and hundreds of millions various vaccines to all major continents of the world.” Ethiopian provides its customers with fully automated cargo service using the latest technologies for data, information and market intelligence with 100% e-AWB from …