Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) successfully carried out loading of a heavy lift export project cargo. This equipment consisted of sub-assemblies of barge loading machine for mine development and export facilities for Guinea, Africa. The loading was completed successfully in 36 hours. The consignment of 1115 MT had 132 packages of which the single heaviest piece (Main Boom-Shuttle boom assembly) had length of 62 metres and weighed 384 tons. This whole exercise also showed the support from JNPT towards the ‘Make in India’ initiative. This consignment was part of an international EPC contract of Shapoorji Pallonji & Company, and JM Baxi was the vessel agent.

The government has proposed allowing delivery of goods by drones, paving the way for commercial applications in the field. In Drone Policy 2.0, the government has proposed permitting their operations beyond the visual line of sight. “Commercial UAS (Unmanned Aerial System) operations will foster various new forms of air freight capabilities, such as creation of supply chain relay networks for delivery of payload, transport of temperature-sensitive commodities like bodily organs, emergency or just-in-time deliveries of life-saving medicines or safe blood for transfusion, and collection of patient specimens for delivery to laboratory for time-sensitive testing,” the document stated.

Inaugurating the first edition of Logix India 2019, Suresh Prabhu, Minister of State for Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation, Government of India, said that the commerce ministry was working on a draft for the national logistics policy aimed at promoting seamless movement of goods across the country, increasing the warehousing capacity, and reducing high transaction costs for traders. The Minister added that workshops will be organised to seek views on the draft. Prabhu reiterated that high logistics costs impact the competitiveness of domestic goods in international markets. He also said that the Ministry was undertaking several steps, including development of a national logistics portal, to boost both domestic and foreign trade. The main departments involved in the process are railways, shipping, road transport, civil aviation, and customs. He further added that improvement in logistics sector would help boost trade and economic development.

India has firmed up the contours of its ambitious multi-modal programme to reduce logistics costs and make the economy competitive. To pursue the further work on development of integrated multimodal transport infrastructure in the country, PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry has organised the Multimodal Transportation Conclave 2019 in the capital. Leena Nandan, IAS, Additional Secretary, Misnistry of Road Transport & Highways, Government of India says, “Currently we have excellent but perishable commodities that are produced in the Northeast and there is no reason why we should not be able to take it to the rest of the country or rest of the world. We believe that the Multimodal Logistics Park at Jogigopha can serve as a connecting point for all these products.”

The Centre for Entrepreneurship Development (CED), a Government of Gujarat organisation and JBS Academy (JBSAPL) have partnered for creating awareness on skill development activities for the budding youth of Dhrangadhra and Ahmedabad focussing on the youth desiring to have employment through skill development in logistics and other employable education sectors and also providing them gainful employment in the sector. With the financial support from CED, the Academy has conducted two Awareness Seminars at Dhrangadhra and Ahmedabad on 26th and 31st December 2018.

SpiceXpress has announced the launch of its dedicated freighter service between Guwahati and Hong Kong. To start with, SpiceXpress, the dedicated air cargo arm of SpiceJet, will operate a weekly flight between Guwahati and Hong Kong. The company has deployed its Boeing 737 freighter on the route with an approximate carrying capacity of 18 tonnes. SpiceXpress sees a huge potential for exports from North East India and plans to add connecting weekly flights each from Silchar and Imphal to Hong Kong thereby taking the total tally to three flights per week between the regions. Besides fresh fruits and vegetables, SpiceXpress also plans to start export of exotic tea and kiwi wines from Arunachal Pradesh.

As per the latest Lloyds Report, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) is the only Indian Container Port to be listed amongst the top 30 Container Ports globally. JNPT notched up five spots, to be 28th on the list, compared to its previous ranking. The good news of rising in the global ranking was shared by the Chairman at the quarterly interactive meeting with all stakeholders, organised at JNPT recently. This was the first stakeholder interactive meeting of the year 2019 and was attended by officials and representatives of Terminal Operators, CFSAI, CSLA, MANSA, INSA, AMTOI, Customs and various Shipping Lines. Another point of adulation at the meeting was, JNPT crossing the 5 million TEUs handling milestone, in 2018.

IndoSpace has forayed into Gujarat with the launch of its park in Bavla, near Ahmedabad. The cutting-edge industrial and logistics park on the Ahmedabad-Rajkot national highway is spread across 47 acres. It is located close to the industrial hubs of Sanand and Changodar, and has easy access to Kandla and Mundra ports. The facility will help IndoSpace move towards its goal to build a pipeline of 120 million sqft of modern logistics infrastructure to support the growth and modernisation of India’s supply chain. With GST and growth in e-commerce, India’s warehousing and light industrial manufacturing is demanding new capacity with large-scale, state-of-the-art infrastructure and locational advantages. Accordingly, IndoSpace is planning to build two more logistics parks in Gujarat. “The Bavla industrial park not only marks our foray into Gujarat, it also shows our clear determination to strengthen our leadership in the light industrial manufacturing space. We plan to invest Rs 650 crore in new parks across Gujarat. Upon completion, the projects are expected to generate employment for more than 10,000 people directly and indirectly,” said Rajesh Jaggi, Managing Partner, Real Estate, Everstone Group.

To check Goods & Services Tax (GST) evasion, the government is planning to integrate the GST e-way bill system with the National Highways Authority of India’s (NHAI’s) FASTag mechanism, from April. The revenue department has set up an officers’ committee to integrate the e-way bill, FASTag, and DMIC’s Logistics Data Bank (LDB) services, after consultation with transporters. “It has come to our notice that some transporters are doing multiple trips by generating a single e-way bill. Integration of the e-way bill with FASTag would help find the location of the vehicle and when and how many times it has crossed NHAI’s toll plazas,” an official told PTI, adding that the integrated system on an all-India basis was planned to be rolled out from April.

The government unveiled its much-awaited national air cargo policy at the Global Aviation Summit in Mumbai. The policy, aimed to bring down the cost of air logistics, seeks to make India one of the top five air freight markets by 2025, besides creating air transport shipment hubs at all major airports over the next six years. It states that international cargo comprises 60 per cent of the total air cargo tonnes handled in the country, logging a growth of 15.6 per cent in the previous fiscal, while domestic cargo grew by over eight per cent, which reflects the skewed modal mix, in which roads account for over 60 per cent of cargo transportation as compared to the global average of around 30 per cent. The policy will also encourage code sharing/inter-line agreements between foreign and Indian carriers.