Supply chain visibility platform project44 received an investment totaling $420 million from a syndicate led by Thoma Bravo, TPG and Goldman Sachs Asset Management. project44 had raised $202 million equity in May 2021 (at an approximate valuation of $1.2 billion), and has an annual run rate of $100+ million, 1,000+ team members, 1,000+ customers, and 1+ billion packages tracked annually. “Today, project44 is helping companies solve supply chain challenges ranging from inflationary pressure and lockdowns to unpredictable weather and bottlenecks at ports,” says Jett McCandless, Founder & CEO, project44. “Our growth over the past year speaks to these macroeconomic tailwinds and the competitive edge we can provide to our customers. With ongoing support from our investors, we can offer even more value to our customers and solidify our position as the global network that powers the future of the supply chain.”

QuickShift has launched its second fulfillment center in Bengaluru to cater to the surging demand, owing to the rapid growth in online transactions across marketplaces and brand portals. The sprawling 65,000 sq. ft. facility will give thrust to the company’s commitment of providing excellent services such as warehouse fulfillment, logistics, order management and last-mile delivery in the burgeoning markets of South India. “The growth in e-commerce and online transactions fuelled by the pandemic, has created a huge demand in Bengaluru. Now, this facility will help to ease and smoothen delivery services in this thriving market and will ensure the product reaches the right place, right hands, hassle-free with 100% accuracy. Same-day delivery today has made a tremendous impact on online businesses and we believe that by reducing the amount of time between making an order and receiving it, can greatly enhance customer satisfaction levels and experiences,” said Anshul Goenka, Founder and CEO, Quickshift Catering to a large number of D2C brands, QuickShift has already set up fulfillment centers in major metropolises like Bengaluru, Delhi-NCR and Mumbai. At this new center, all individual units would be completely scan-based to ensure tracking across the facility. Quickshift is investing in a new ‘Warehouse Management Software’ to ensure pre-assignment of storage locations and reduce order processing TATs. It aims to achieve order accuracy of 99.9% with this deployment. The new fulfillment center also has arrangements to store products needing ambient conditions viz cosmetics, perfumes, skincare products apart from the regular general merchandise like clothing, footwear, and electronics.

India’s first end-to-end online logistics platform in the long haul segment, ShipNext Solutions, has raised INR 4.5 Crores in its pre-series A round. Kerala-based Group Meeran, the promoters of the Eastern Group of Companies, led the round. ShipNext’s Machine Learning (ML)-based AI apps called ‘WeTruck’ and ‘WeTruck Partner’ automate the entire booking process for customers and operations for the service provider, ensuring seamless and transparent communication and service delivery. This tech-enabled match-making is ShipNext’s key focus area which leverages a state-of-the-art ML and AI-based system to assist customers with predictive modeling. From order placement to proof-of-delivery (POD) verification, invoicing, generating lorry receipt and real-time payments, WeTruck is the first app to offer the complete online procedure in the long haul segment. Clive Jose, Founder, and CEO, ShipNext Solutions, said, “At ShipNext, technology is central to how we leverage data to balance demand and supply. In logistics, often, customers find it challenging to obtain the correct pricing for their shipment and have apprehensions regarding multiple touchpoints and lack of transparency. To alleviate these concerns, we have set up a business model and a machine learning-based app that will offer the highest level of transparency to our customers and fleet owners. To simplify and minimize the learning curve on our app, we have introduced a chat-based model similar to WhatsApp that most of our users are familiar with and can easily understand. This investment is an endorsement in ShipNext’s platform as well as our vision to empower customers and partners with the only end-to-end paperless logistics app that ensures a completely online model of business.”

The spread of new variant Omicron, has disrupted the global supply chains causing the container prices to spike by 10-15% in January at all major ports of India. As per shipping companies, the Chennai port in the first week of January witnessed a rise of $2,100 (Rs 1,55,316) for a 20-foot dry container from about $1,880 in December. The average price of a 20-ft dry container in Mundra climbed to $1,950 in the first week of January from $1,763 in December. While the Nhava Sheva in Navi Mumbai rose to $1,900 against $1,775 in December. As per market officials, the price of a 40-ft dry container at Chennai Mundra and Nhava Sheva rose to $5,100, $4,900, and $4,850, respectively, from $4,780, $4,650, and $4,600, respectively, in December. Several factors including the widespread restocking by retailers in China ahead of the Lunar New Year starting February 1 and the country’s rising Covid-19 cases have accounted for the rise of container rates. “Container turnaround times at major ports in China are once again on the rise due to bottlenecks ports are facing because of rising Covid cases and logistical bottlenecks,” an official from Container xChange said.

IT hardware firm Lenovo has signed up to use the “carbon neutral” freighter service offered by DB Schenker and Lufthansa Cargo. The tie up will see the computer company transport cargo, including include laptops, notebooks, and PCs, on Lufthansa Cargo’s Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) powered B777 freighter flight between Shanghai and Frankfurt. The partners have calculated that by using the flights, Lenovo will save around 20 tons of conventional kerosene per flight and, thus, 62 tons of greenhouse gases weekly. In addition, the around 16 tons CO2 resulting from the production and transport of the SAF are offset by compensatory measures. Ashwin Bhat, chief commercial officer, Lufthansa Cargo, said: “Our joint effort with DB Schenker to avoid CO2 emissions is continuously growing stronger. An increasing number of customers realise that we need to work together across industries to achieve our shared goal.” Gareth Davies, head of global logistics at Lenovo, added: “Sustainability is critical to our business and mission of delivering smarter technology for all. We are proud that we are further enhancing our solutions through this collaboration with DB Schenker and Lufthansa Cargo.”

Maersk became the pioneer of offering ‘Assured transit times’ with its rail solutions to customers. The forward-looking solutions developed are expected to aid the rising demand for sectors such as eCommerce through dedicated services. eCommerce, which has traditionally run on road transit, is expected to move towards rail even more in the near future as it gives assured transit for time-sensitive cargo. “Being committed to connecting and simplifying our customers’ supply chains meant we had to go beyond solutions that are on the menu card. We wanted to create exciting offerings that would delight our customers, especially in the tough pandemic situation that we have been operating in”, said Vikash Agarwal, Managing Director, Maersk South Asia. He added, “Having flagged off 13 new services successfully over the year, Maersk is truly proud to have designed and implemented what customers needed. And it doesn’t end there – with the new environment-friendly rail services, in 2021 we reduced carbon footprint that is equivalent to the emissions from a car being driven for around 60,000 km.” Maersk witnessed 43% growth in the movement of containerised export cargo on rail in 2021 and 23% growth on rail for import and export combined. Maersk plans to develop further on the foundation of the rail solutions in 2022. “Rail has always been considered as a second alternative to road transport despite being safer and faster. Last year we have created 273 new corridors with rail as the backbone and connected our customers on this highly efficient mode of logistics all the way to their hubs of convenience. Having carried more than 50,000 containers (twenty feet equivalent units / TEUs) over and above the previous year and …

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released data for global air cargo markets showing slower growth in November 2021. Supply chain disruptions and capacity constraints impacted demand, despite economic conditions remaining favorable for the sector. As comparisons between 2021 and 2020 monthly results are distorted by the extraordinary impact of COVID-19, unless otherwise noted, all comparisons below are to November 2019 which followed a normal demand pattern. • Global demand, measured in cargo tonne-kilometres (CTKs*), was up 3.7% compared to November 2019 (4.2% for international operations). This was significantly lower than the 8.2% growth seen in October 2021 (9.2% for international operations) and in previous months. * Capacity was 7.6% below November 2019 (-7.9% for international operations). This was relatively unchanged from October. Capacity remains constrained with bottlenecks at key hubs. • Economic conditions continue to support air cargo growth, however supply chain disruptions are slowing growth. “Air cargo growth was halved in November compared to October because of supply chain disruptions. All economic indicators pointed towards continued strong demand, but the pressures of labor shortages and constraints across the logistics system unexpectedly resulted in lost growth opportunities. Manufacturers, for example, were unable to get vital goods to where they were needed, including PPE. Governments must act quickly to relieve pressure on global supply chains before it permanently dents the shape of the economic recovery from COVID-19,” said Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General.

Envirotainer, the global market leader in secure cold chain solutions for air transportation of pharmaceuticals, announced that Delta Cargo has approved the Envirotainer Releye® RLP for usage on their fleet of aircrafts. With this approval, Delta Cargo can now transport the Releye® RLP on their wide-reaching global network, increasing the capacity to meet the ever-growing need for temperature-controlled, high-quality, connected ULD solutions. The Releye provides outstanding environmental performance, delivering up to 90% reduction in CO2 emissions compared to available passive solutions, based on life-cycle analysis. The Releye® RLP uses rechargeable batteries to power its electric heating and compressor cooling system and can power its system for over 170 hours on a single charge. With its unique feature set, the Releye® RLP sets a new standard for secure cold chain solutions bringing a temperature-controlled air freight container to market with a new footprint, industry-leading autonomy and fully integrated live monitoring. “The introduction of the Releye® RLP, in combination with our CEIV certified pharma network, provides our customers with more choice when looking for reliable container options to support the growing demand for pharma and vaccine shipments” said Jannie Davel, Managing Director Cargo Commercial at Delta Cargo.

Hero Electric, India’s leading e-scooter company, announced on Monday that it is going to join forces with a last-mile delivery solutions provider, Turtle Mobility and will deliver over 1,000 electric scooters by the end of 2022. The alliance is another step towards Hero Electric’s efforts to further the electronic (EV) transition in India, with special attention to the last mile delivery segment. The company is looking forward to converting 35% of its sales from the B2B segment. “We constantly strive to quicken the pace of transition to e-mobility and push forward the same through B2B partnerships to strengthen the EV ecosystem across India. This partnership is another step to boost the rapidly growing logistics and delivery industry and steer our commitment to carbon-free mobility by electrifying the segment.” said Sohinder Gill, CEO, Hero Electric.

The bureau of civil aviation security (BCAS) has granted Kolhapur airport permission to carry out belly cargo transportation. In the case of the belly cargo system, passenger flights can also carry goods. The demand for transportation of light goods was being made from the associations of commerce and industries from Kolhapur and nearby districts. “We have around 916-meter airstrip, which will be expanded in coming months. In a few months, night landing will also be allowed at the Airport. The approval for belly cargo is just a start. The airport will now connect with more destinations where the cargo shipment will take place. Grapes from Sangli, industrial goods from Kolhapur, fruits from Konkan will be taken to long-distance places.” said Guardian minister Satej Patil.