To identify specific interventions that are required to streamline logistics in the country, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and the World Bank have together initiated to conduct a workshop. The objective is to integrate Indian products into global value chains. The decision was taken at a meeting between Suresh Prabhu, Commerce Minister with a World Bank team. Prabhu briefed the World Bank team about the work being done by the Commerce Ministry for developing a National Integrated Logistic Policy (NILP). He said the policy will focus on increasing the capacity of storage and warehousing and other value-added services. “Multi-modal logistics parks, integrating various transportation modes, are also being developed right up to the district level,” he said.

With industrial output and consumption-driven sectors recovering in H2 FY2018 from the initial lull post GST implementation, the freight demand in the country has also reported healthy pickup during the second half of the previous fiscal. ICRA maintains a stable outlook for the Indian logistics industry, expecting it to grow at 8-10 per cent over the medium term. Shamsher Dewan, Vice President & Sector Head – Corporate Ratings, ICRA, says, “From an aggregate revenue growth of only 4.6 per cent in Q2 FY2018, the sample’s growth gained pace to 10.8 per cent in Q4 FY2018, as freight volumes picked up. ICRA estimates that there have been savings as high as 18-20 per cent in the truck turnaround time post the implementation of GST, supported by elimination of inter-state check posts.” The demand growth would continue to be buoyed by pickup in industrial activity and consumption-led sectors, while increasing preference for outsourcing logistics activities would provide further impetus to organised players. Additionally, supply-side factors like improvement in logistics infrastructure and emergence of logistics start-ups would offer further impetus to growth. “The implementation of E-way bill from April 2018 has also been received positively by the transporter community, with operational efficiencies and time savings realised on account of the same. Companies are also interacting with supply chain management companies in order to explore opportunities to redesign their warehousing network,” adds Dewan.

Essar Vizag Terminal has dedicated to the nation its newly-commissioned 24 MTPA Vizag iron ore handling complex, to be inaugurated by Nitin Gadkari, Minister for Road Transport & Highways, Shipping and Water Resources, Government of India. With an investment of Rs 830 crore, the expansion strengthens the nation’s vision of Sagarmala and coastal cargo movement. “The Vizag iron ore handling complex is a facility that is truly a national asset. We are committed to realising the government’s vision of port-led development,” says Prashant Ruia, Director, Essar. The complex will have the fastest vessel turnaround time for iron ore among Indian ports. It can now berth Super Capesize vessels up to 200,000 DWT, with a depth of 20 metres, on the outer harbour of Vizag Port. Special emphasis was given to make the iron ore handling complex environment-friendly. Focus on global best practices in mechanisation and sustainable environment protection has significantly reduced dust emission and spillage, thus improving the carbon footprint and working conditions of the port. EVTL has also strengthened the entire 9.5-km conveyor network and upgraded to PLC automation.

The Federation of Freight Forwarders’ Associations in India (FFFAI) highly commends the Government of India for its firmness to implement the GST. It has positively impacted the manufacturing, ex-im trade and logistics industry. However, there are some areas of concern that require to be addressed. “After completion of one year of GST we can say that it has matured to a great extent in terms of filing of returns. However, for the services sector, export services have not been defined adequately. Issues pertaining to taxes on goods are more or less resolved and are being settled in the regular GST Council meetings. Our sincere request to the Council is to redefine the export services so that there is no scope of ambiguity and hassles to service providers,” says S Ramakrishna, Vice Chairman, FFFAI. He also maintains that the concept of GSTR-I, 2 and 3 should have been continued so that auto reconciliation through the system could have happened. Ramakrishna pushes for doing away with human intervention, which is, in fact, the intention and vision of the present government at the Centre. It is also pertinent to mention that the technology support from GSTN, which is the backbone to successfully implement and carry out the tax revolution in India, has to be well-structured and streamlined. “As the Finance Secretary of India, Hasmukh Adhia assured in his very recent statement, we are looking forward to the next GST Council meeting for some pragmatic decision on services sector, GSTN and other issues,” Ramakrishna concludes.

FarEye has announced the launch of its delivery experience suite ‘Delight’ that helps enable businesses increase their delivery happiness score. The product provides a seamless and personalised experience to the customers. FarEye Delight provides superior delivery experience to the customers and increases the first attempt success rate for businesses. It is already in use by enterprises like Blue Dart, Amway, Future Group, Zalora, Noon and many others. Kushal Nahata, CEO & Co-founder, FarEye, says, “Delivery happiness score is a metric to measure the overall effectiveness of your deliveries. While more companies understand that providing a great customer experience is necessary for business growth, many have a long way to go, bringing all the parts together to make it a reality. The bottom line is that companies struggle to get a cohesive, holistic, outside-in view of their customers’ experience and that is where FarEye Delight bridges the gap.”

FIATA leaders along with the FIATA World Congress 2018 (FWC-2018) organising team attended the FIATA RAP (Region Asia Pacific) conference recently at Busan in South Korea. As a part of their series of promotional campaign across the world, the team FIATA and FFFAI, which is hosting FWC-2018 from September 26-29, at Pullman, Aerocity in New Delhi, interacted with the conference delegates to highlight significance and chief features of the mega show this year. Amit Kamat, Honorary Secretary – FFFAI and Congress Coordinator, FWC-2018, elaborated on the theme ‘The Future Starts Here’ and importance of this international logistics conference taking place in India for the first time. With factual details he emphasised on the growing story of brand India as far as its economy, trade & commerce, opportunities for logistics industry, industry-friendly policies and tourism are concerned. Also present on this occasion were Babar Badat, President, FIATA, Stanley Lim, Past President and Chairman, Congress Committee FIATA, Elena Primitzhofer, Congress Coordinator, FIATA and other dignitaries.

Kinship Agency has exported the Dornier-228 Light Utility Aircraft to Seychelles on June 22. The fabrication of the aircraft was done by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and the export formalities were managed by Kinship Agency, Kanpur. Commenting on the successful operation, Ravi Dayal, Managing Director, Kinship Agency, said, “The entire Kanpur Commissionerate and Customs Department extended full cooperation to be the part of this assignment. This aircraft is well-equipped for transportation (both defense and civil), rescue operation, special mission, border patrolling, etc. With trilateral agreement between India and France – Seychelles already in place, this aircraft may allow India to control and safe guard its sea route for overseas trade. It may also safeguard India’s strategic interest in the key Indian Ocean country amid China’s growing interest in the region.”  France had licensed HAL to manufacture some 125 Dornier-228 Light Utility Aircraft with French technology. The aircrafts are ready to export and all export formalities are being done by Kinship Agency, as per its agreement with the Government of India.

Eicher Trucks & Buses has introduced two new heavy-duty trucks, taking its vision of modernising commercial transportation further. Riding on the success of its Pro 6000 series, the company launched two new technologically superior trucks – Eicher Pro 6049 and Eicher Pro 6041 in the 49 tonnes and 41 tonnes categories respectively. The new tractor trailer – Eicher Pro 6049 has been designed to deliver optimum performance and peak power at 250 HP keeping customer profitability in mind. It manifests the prowess of the Eicher Pro 6000 series and offers a refined trucking experience with the superior VEDX BS IV SCR engine, newly designed ergonomics and robust Eicher aggregates for best in-class fuel efficiency. Eicher Pro 6041 is India’s first 41 tonnage rigid haulage truck and offers a payload advantage of 3.5 tonnes over a 37-tonnage truck. The vehicle is powered by VEDX8 engine, which is the biggest and the most fuel-efficient engine available in the category. The product is a revolutionary breakthrough in the trucking industry, to meet growing demand in high value applications.

The partnership will enable IKEA to efficiently manage home deliveries of IKEA products (Do-It-Yourself) sold from its first ever India store to customer homes across Telangana. GATI-KWE through its unmatched know-how and technology sailed through an intense competitive process to qualify as the logistics service provider that meets IKEA’s global standards. The overall scope of partnership is a combination of contract logistics, last-mile distribution and reverse logistics. A vital facet of the solution is the use of environment-friendly fleet which will deliver the products to IKEA customers. This not only helps IKEA and GATI-KWE on their sustainability goals, but the initiative also stands to prove the viability of smart green solutions in the Indian logistics sector. Patrik Antoni, Deputy Country Manager, IKEA India said, “To meet the Indian customers’ service expectations home delivery will be an important component of our offer. We will be installing charging pods at our IKEA store in Hyderabad to encourage both our employees and customers to switch to electric vehicles. The initiative concerns our own vehicles at our stores and offices, but also includes our partners who take care of our home deliveries.”

DHL reveals 28 key trends in the fourth edition of the Logistics Trend Radar that could impact the logistics industry in the next five to ten years. The report focuses on four key elements, in which future of logistics depends. They are customer-centricity, sustainability, technology and people. The Logistics Trend Radar is developed through the analysis of mega- and microtrends as well as direct input from a large partner eco-system including research institutes, tech players, start-ups and customers. The findings are then aggregated and reflected on the Logistics Trend Radar which acts as a dynamic and strategic foresight tool that tracks the evolution of trends spotted in earlier editions and identifies promising new trends with every update.