The Government of India explores a proposal to extend tax and other incentives to draw large players to set up shipping lines in India and provide aid to the exporters grappling with global container shortage and exorbitant freight costs. Likely to be announced in the upcoming Budget for 2022-23, subject to the finance ministry’s concurrence, the different initiatives are currently undergoing deliberation from ministries of commerce and shipping. It is learned that some officials are studying the attractive Ireland model of taxation for shipping firms. On finalization of a proposal, the ministries will seek the approval of the finance ministry. In the past year and a half, the Indian shipping industry in the wake of the pandemic has mirrored the global trend resulting in doubling the Shipping costs of Indian exporters to most destinations. The state-run Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) that caters for less than 5% of the roughly USD100-billion domestic market, has barely been able to keep the cost curve in orderly evolution. In light of this, the government has now put the SCI on the block for sale.

India stood at the overall trade deficit of USD 64.4 billion for the October-December quarter – a substantially higher mark as compared to USD 44.1 billion in July-September quarter. But all is not gloomy as EXIM activity hit an all time high in December with an impressive elevation from November. Merchandise exports increased by 38.1% (Y-O-Y) and 12% (over November) and the merchandise exports increased by 37% (Y-O-Y) and 24.1% (over November). These statistics – though keeping the trade deficit at elevated – decreased the gap between exports and imports to USD 21.91 billion in December. “We believe this sets the stage for the current account deficit to widen to 3.4% of GDP in October-December quarter.” said Nomura For a full financial year, Nomura estimates the trade deficits to hover around 1.6% of GDP, which is a good news since a current account deficit within 2% of GDP is generally seen as sustainable. If experts are to be believed, the aforesaid numbers of EXIM activity have been a result of high commodity prices and a strong demand, which in turn, kept the trade activity up-heaved. But they also warn against the high deficit percentage and the risks of sticky deficits, which should not be taken lightly.

SpiceXpress has confirmed acquiring electric cargo airplanes developed by US-based Bye Aerospace, in collaboration with India’s Pifore Group. The total investment is being estimated to be INR 300 to INR 500 million. The alliance is a pilot project to promote zero-emission freighters and also a closed airfield as emission free airport with an electric plane fleet and other zero-emission products. Pifore Group is engaged in provision of engineering, construction and technical services for private as well as public & government agencies/companies in India. They have signed an MoU with Bye Aerospace to deliver five electric cargo airplanes, which will be leased by SpiceXpress by 2024 and an additional five airplanes to be leased by 2026. Earlier this year, Spice Jet had transferred its logistics business to its subsidiary SpiceXpress and Logistics. SpiceXpress is a cargo specialist and is currently in the process of being hived off its parent company.

Continental Carriers Pvt Ltd Chennai Ocean Team handled Break Bulk Project and shipped cargo of 195 Pkgs/366 Tons/908 CBM, Pol Chennai Pod Chittagong, on 25th December’ 2021. CCPL team obtained special permissions on X’mas holiday to complete the clearance activities. Continental Carriers (P) Limited is committed to finding innovative solutions and partnering with customer’s enabling them to find faster and better solutions to meet their requirements

The latest report by the Indian Foundation of Transport Research & Training (IFTRT) says, there has been a 15%-20% extra arrival of fresh fruits and vegetables into APMCs. “Factory output and exports have also remained brisk helping truckers to post robust revenue for last two quarters,” said SP Singh, senior fellow & coordinator, IFTRT. The migration to CNG is also being seen as a factor in helping transporters improve their margins. “There have been large scale migration of 10-15.5 tonne medium and light commercial vehicles from diesel fuel to CNG which has further helped the fleet owners of this category make more money per tonne/km,” said Singh. The report said that the flat diesel price throughout December and the buoyancy in the overall economy in agri-food business, trade commerce, and industry including exports have allowed the increase in truck rentals.

Shipping accounts for two to three per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions so manufacturers and retailers are no longer just considering what appears in national targets. Even though individual governments are not on the hook for these supply chain emissions, some of Australia’s largest companies are getting ready. BHP is the world’s largest charterer of ships, which means marine emissions are a problem for future profits and reputation. Rio Tinto is in the same boat as iron ore makes up a third of Australian exports. They have lined up a small number of LNG-fuelled bulk carriers as an immediate solution to lower emissions. Some say green ammonia made with hydrogen, using a water electrolysis process powered by solar and wind energy, could become the marine fuel of choice one day. Nuclear power could also be a clean but more expensive and currently illegal source of electricity for producing hydrogen and ammonia through electrolysis. Australia will still be shipping almost $100 billion a year in coal and gas by 2050, according to federal government modelling.

The industrial and logistics sector was the most sought-after and investments rose to a five-year high of USD1.1 billion. This was also more than a five-fold increase from 2020. The sector has been drawing strong operator and investor interest due to increased demand from e-commerce and 3PL players post pandemic. This growth momentum is likely to continue in 2022, as major global investors and developers continue to expand their footprint in proximity to high consumption areas across Tier I and II cities. 2021 has been one of the best years for the industrial & logistics sectors, accounting for about half of the total investments at about USD2 billion.

Colombo International Container Terminals (CICT) ended 2021 on a high note by achieving the milestone of 3 million teus within a year for the first time. The company’s throughput for the full year was expected to reach approximately 3.1 million teus by December 31 representing a healthy increase of around 11 percent over 2020. Notably, CICT achieved its first one million teus milestone in just eight months, from January to August 2015 and ended that year with 1.56 million teus. The company handled two million teus in a single year for the first time in 2016. It recorded incremental increases in annual throughput thereafter, handling 2.38 million teus in 2017, 2.67 million teus in 2018, 2.9 million teus in 2019 and 2.89 million teus in 2020. The Company, which manages the Colombo South Terminal, commenced construction of the terminal in December 2011 and began port operations in 2013. The volume handled by the terminal has grown five-fold since then. “We are delighted to have played the role expected of us with flying colours in our first decade as an integral part of the Port of Colombo,” CICT CEO Jack Huang said. “We have been a significant contributor to the port’s throughput by attracting vessels which would otherwise have bypassed Colombo because of the absence of a deep-water terminal. CICT is also proud to have led the way in promoting eco-friendly operations and innovations in service.”

Swiss shipping and logistics giant MSC has made an offer of €5.7bn (US$6.4bn) to acquire 100% of Bolloré Africa Logistics comprising all of the Bolloré Group’s transport and logistics activities in Africa where it is the market leader. The French company has granted MSC exclusivity until March 31, 2022, to submit a put option further to an additional due diligence phase and contractual negotiations. The Bolloré Group’s decision to exercise this put option and the signature of the relevant agreements may only take place after the competent employee representative bodies have been informed and consulted and certain internal reorganisation operations have been carried out within the Bolloré Group. Completion of the sale would require the approval of regulatory and competition authorities, as well as of certain counterparties of Bolloré Africa Logistics. Bolloré Africa Logistics is present in 42 ports and operates in 16 container terminal concessions including in the Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, Togo and Guinea-Conakry.

US Federal Government funding will help Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) roll out its $1.2bn cargo expansion programme. PHL’s cargo expansion programme, which was announced in June, will see the airport increase its air cargo facility footprint by 136 acres and almost triple its cargo building square footage from 600,000 to 1.4m. Congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlon (PA-05) said, “PHL’s vision for the use of these funds through a robust cargo expansion means new opportunities for individuals across our region.” The cargo development programme will not only help PHL obtain a bigger portion of air cargo that comes into the Greater Philadelphia area, it could also have an annual economic impact of $870 million for the region and create as many as 6,000 permanent jobs and approximately 5,000 construction jobs annually over the course of the project.