Raising the bar of warehousing in India, Rhenus Logistics has opened a new mega warehouse at Gurugram in North India. The 350,000 square feet state-of-the-art facility will enable Rhenus to provide more scalable storage options and solutions, strengthening its integrated logistics services and solutions offerings for customers across the country. “With 69 offices in India and more than 1,600 employees nationwide, Rhenus India is committed to be the first choice for an integrated logistics solution and service provider. We partner with our customers to be the single point-of-contact for the entire supply chain, trusted with our advantage in terms of our trained manpower, consistent systems and processes. The strategically-located new warehouse affirms our commitment to our customers, as we step up on our offerings, and raise the bar for warehouses here,” said Vivek Arya, Managing Director, Rhenus Logistics India.

With the recommencement of exports to Bangladesh through Bengal’s Petrapole land port, 100 local trucks got permission to go into the neighbouring country. The trade will be allowed for 12 hours daily. All Bangladesh-bound vehicles stranded in and around the Petrapole check post, around 80-km from Calcutta, will be cleared by June 14. The local administration has also asked traders to be ready with another pool of 50 drivers outside the ICP area for any exigency. Bilateral trade through this land port, the largest facility on the Indo-Bangla border, was stopped on May 2 after two days of operation, following protests by locals who were afraid that truck drivers and labourers might spread the coronavirus infection. According to FIEO, “A large number of trucks are stranded near the border due to the lockdown. We have agreed to follow the instructions given by the administration.”

Federation of Freight Forwarders Association in India (FFFAI) has recently organised a webinar with M. Ajit Kumar, Chairman, CBIC to discuss the initiatives required for maintaining critical supply chain in India during the Covid-19 pandemic. Sharing the struggles faced by customs brokers community during the Covid-19 times, A.V. Vijaykumar, Chairman, FFFAI, says, “The customs officials and customs brokers both were in the frontline to make sure that wheels of economy did not stop due to the stagnation of import and export handling during lockdown.” Acknowledging the effort taken by customs brokers in this crisis, Kumar says “It requires lot of courage to work in these times; even in the initial days when there was no permission to move, customs house agents took the pain to help us in the crucial function of clearing essential goods supply which was required by the country that time.” Talking about the future plans, Kumar commits, “By the end of December 2020 we will ensure the faceless assessment of cargo pan India. We will try to see that there will be no physical contact required between any importer, exporter, custom house or custom broker.”

The Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs (CBIC) has announced the first phase of ‘all-India roll out of faceless assessment’. With the objective of speedy clearance, transparency in decision making and ease of doing business, the board decided to implement the next generation reforms in the customs clearance process under ‘Turant’ customs. The Board has decided to begin faceless assessment in phases beginning with Customs stations which already have the experience of the pilot programs. Therefore, the first phase would begin from June 8, 2020 at Bengaluru and Chennai for items of imports primarily covered by Chapters 84 and 85 of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975. The phased rollout plan envisages that Faceless Assessment shall be the norm pan India by December 31, 2020.

A US-based online payment platform for the cargo industry, PayCargo has entered into a partnership with IBS Software to broaden its digital payment network and enable carriers and ground handling companies to digitalise and simplify their payment systems with a substantial reduction in manual efforts. The move will be particularly helpful to PayCargo in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic in view of the growing necessity for work-from-home culture and a soaring demand for reliable online freight payment platform solution. For IBS Software, a leading SaaS provider of core IT platforms for the air freight industry, the partnership is part of its ongoing initiatives to enable rapid adoption of digitalization for its customers, including many of the world’s largest airlines and cargo ground handlers.

Amidst acute shortage of trucks in lockdown, Maersk has announced that it has ramped up rail services for manufacturers to help them move their cargo to ports for export. The company’s solution includes moving goods straight from the exporters’ manufacturing facilities on rail to the required port or moving the cargo first to the closest Inland Container Depot by road and then loading it on to rail. The advantages of moving cargo on rail have been more than just overcoming the unavailability of road transport. From the perspective of the customers, they get most of their logistics needs fulfilled at the one-stop-shop that Maersk is offering by combining ocean and landside transportation and offering integrated logistics solutions.

DBS Bank India in partnership with TCIL has introduced the DBS RAPID (Real Time APIs by DBS) solution for truck drivers, thereby enabling them to receive payments instantly. Given the large volumes of transactions, and round-the-clock nature of the operations, the bank proposed setting up a UPI-based real-time payments solution which is available 24x7x365. With this solution, TCIL truck drivers receive an instant credit into their bank account, which they can then swipe at terminals or withdraw cash using ATMs. Through DBS Bank India’s custom API solution, TCIL will now be able to save 45 lakh hours annually. DBS RAPID (Real-time APIs by DBS) and UPI payments, provides a seamless integration with the company’s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. The solution has been set up under the aegis of National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).

Considering the challenges faced by trade due to pandemic, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has extended the 24×7 customs clearance facility at all airports and seaports till June 2020 in order to facilitate faster clearance of consignments. “Chief Commissioners are therefore requested to make proper arrangement for the same and deploy sufficient number of officers on 24×7 basis at sea ports, air cargo stations, Inland Container Depot (ICDs), Container Freight Station (CFSs), to name a few falling in their jurisdiction,” says CBIC. In February, CBIC had said 24×7 Customs clearance facility will be available at all sea ports and airports till May 2020 to address any congestion or delay or surge on of the prevailing conditions due to outbreak of COVID-19.

The warehousing sector, which was mainly concentrated in tier I cities – especially the major eight metros, had started shifting to tier 2 locations after certain policy initiatives. “Due to interstate lockdown, supply chains of multiple sectors, both in production as well as stock piling have frozen,” says, Chandranath Dey, Head – Industrial Operations, JLL India. “Restrictions on airfreight have also reduced movement of critical components of production for various industries globally. These restrictions have also limited transactions in the growth oriented e-commerce sector. Post lockdown, a change in consumer behaviour is expected towards e-commerce and e-payments. Urban logistics or in-city warehousing will gain traction due to higher penetration of groceries e-commerce,” he adds.

FFFAI in association with FIATA has recently organised a webinar to give a global perspective on the consequences of Covid-19 pandemic on the logistics industry. Keynote speakers of this international webinar were AV Vijaykumar, Chairman, FFFAI and Basil Pieterson, President, FIATA. Commenting on the present crisis and challenges owing to Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown Vijaykumar, says, “We will, as have been our approach and past experiences, overcome with no damage. But the reality of the possible damage could inflict on the human life and the human race changed the complexion of handling the pandemic on a global scale.” Pieterson applauds the inclusion of freight forwarding within many nation’s definitions of essential services. “However, more needs to be done. Greater consistency in global responses, together with the implementation of facilitative measures, are required to ensure the continuance of well functioning supply chains to move essential goods to where they are most needed throughout this crisis and beyond,” he adds.