Avvashya CCI Logistics (ACCI), a subsidiary company of Allcargo Logistics is likely to invest almost Rs.60 crore in the next two years to build an auto engineering part warehouse in Guwahati. The warehouse will be partially HD (heavy duty) racked warehouse, auto specific with shelving and block storage for odd dimensional cargo. The warehouse, located at DPS road, Gorchuk on NH 27 Amingaon, Guwahati, on the highway from Kolkata towards Assam, has an advantage of being a gateway to the whole of Northeast. Spread across three lakh sq ft, the warehouse will provide end-to-end management for aftermarket spare parts to service the Northeast sector, which includes last mile delivery. Explaining the rationale behind the move, Adarsh Hegde, Joint Managing Director, Allcargo Logistics, said, “The Northeast region in India has huge potential and is emerging as one of the strategic geographical markets. Our foray into the Northeast completes our pan India presence and enhances our journey to provide the best of facilities in logistics across the country.” In the first phase, the facility will be spread across one lakh sq. feet and provide employment to around 100 employees. In the second phase, the company plans to expand to three lakh sq. ft and employ more than 250 employees. A large part of the investment will be used towards automation in the state-of-the-art facility designed to meet global standards. “The new facility launch is part of our business expansion strategy, thereby strengthening our leadership position and meeting our Prime Ministers mission to generate higher employment in this region,” Hedge added.

Jetex Oceanair customs has cleared 25 tonnes of explosive cargo, consisting of 1500 pkgs, in a chartered light, TU-204C aircraft. “The cargo for Almaty has been handled from CCU Airport for the first time and perhaps is the single largest uplift of class I DG cargo in India,” informs Jaideep Raha, Managing Director, Jetex Oceanair. The explosives were packed into the special thermally insulated, water-proof and crush-proof boxes, shipped from Mumbai. Raha said, “The boxes were very carefully looked in an operation that begun on May 26 night and carried on till late next morning. The area around the aircraft was cordoned off and utmost security measures were taken to avoid any untoward incident.”

Delhi Customs Clearing Agents Association (DCCAA) recently held a roadshow in Delhi to promote ‘FIATA World Congress 2018 (FWC-2018)’ and interact with leading customs brokers, freight forwarders and logistics company representatives that are expected to participate in the mega event. FWC-2018 is scheduled to take place from September 26-29 at Pullman & Novotel New Delhi Aerocity.

Deutsche Post DHL Group (DPDHL) has unveiled an innovation road transportation solution, DHL SmarTrucking, to provide a comprehensive trucking panacea across an extensive linehaul express road network in India. DHL SmarTrucking is the company’s first official move to accelerate the development of technology-enabled logistics solutions around the world, under its newly formed board department, Corporate Incubations. The company has also appointed Neeraj Bansal, as CEO of DHL SmarTrucking, who will be responsible for leading the company’s growth in India. “India is an incredibly important market for Deutsche Post DHL Group. Presently, road freight comprises the majority of the total freight movement and is the largest transportation segment in India,” says Juergen Gerdes, Board Member for Corporate Incubations, Deutsche Post DHL Group. “With greater efficiency from DHL SmarTrucking, we expect to transport 100,000 tonnes of cargo and cover a distance of approximately four million kilometers across India daily.”

The government has done away with licensing requirement for ships chartered by citizens of India or a company incorporated in India or a cooperative society registered in India for transportation of EXIM containers for transshipment purposes. Welcoming the decision, Maersk has said that it will bring greater competition to the feeder market. Julian Bevis, Senior Director, Group Relations, Maersk South Asia, said, “The announcement made by the Ministry of Shipping to relax the Indian cabotage law enables global shipping lines to carry EXIM containers along India’s coast. This will bring greater competition to the feeder market which in turn would benefit local importers and exporters. Indian ports would also benefit as this positive change would allow them to compete for container traffic currently handled in adjacent regional hub ports. Maersk acknowledges the effort made by the Indian government to bring a constructive end to an issue that has been the subject of discussion for many years in India. We believe, that the change is a clear evidence of India’s resolve to bring reform to its logistics sector and thereby, enhance its ease of doing business and cost competitiveness ratings.”

Safmarine will be delivering 80 Cryogenic tanks for Cryolor Asia Pacific from India to Charleston, USA, by December, 2018. The company will be working on a behemoth project for Cryolor Asia Pacific. Low availability of low bed trucks along with the height of rail over bridges has been a constant challenge in the smooth flow of OOG shipments via the Kattupalli port in Chennai. To overcome this, Safmarine undertook a feasibility study to determine the best possible route to facilitate smooth flow of the OOG shipment. The detailed study enabled the team of experts at Safmarine to successfully overcome the infrastructure hindrances posed by rail over bridges to transport OOG shipments from the port. Safmarine also sourced requisite low bed trucks for this movement. Bimal Kanal, Managing Director, Safmarine India, said, “With an advantageous shorter transit time our customers can look forward to new levels of improvement in their entire supply chain.”

Kale Logistics Solutions has collaborated with Cybage to leverage their technology and business acumen respectively, to explore markets and grow business across the warehouse, transportation and allied verticals. The focus will be on exploring markets for providing IT solutions to warehousing, transportation and allied functions. Vineet Malhotra, Director, Kale Logistics Solutions said, “We are sure that our and Cybage’s precision and hard-working ethos will help us in fulfilling our mutual business goals.” Amit Gajwani, EVP, Cybage, commented, “We believe that with this collaboration, Cybage will strengthen its competitive positioning and grow its opportunity base. Our current growth prospects are at the highest peak and bringing Kale Logistics Solutions into our ecosystem will expand our impact.”

Kuehne + Nagel has launched its new global warehouse management system (WMS) KN SwiftLOG. The scalable platform has a global reach and is powered by market-leading JDA Warehouse Management. Gianfranco Sgro, Member – Managing Board, Kuehne + Nagel International AG, says, “Consumer and business requirements are rapidly changing. Anticipating these trends, we constantly adapt the physical and logical organisation of our fulfilment centres and enhance our management warehouse systems. New key variables are process digitalisation, change in order profile, opportunistic inventory allocation and speed. Our customers will benefit from a state-of-the-art platform in the market, which is currently the most important single investment in contract logistics at Kuehne + Nagel.” KN SwiftLOG will become the global standard of Kuehne + Nagel, upgrading more than 400 fulfilment centres across the world.

Cloud innovation has been a debated topic for the logistics industry for some time. The segment helps in accelerating growth in business. Enumerating the concept on cloud technology for the logistics industry, Kapil Mahajan, CIO, Safexpress, says, “Cloud is a key catalyst for Industry 4.0; it’s no longer a question of whether logistics companies will transform themselves into digital-first businesses; rather, it’s more a question of how, and how soon.” “At Safexpress, technology-led innovation is at the core of our business growth strategy. We’re currently using Oracle Fusion Financials Cloud and Oracle Management Cloud. We wanted to move to a cloud ERP model for increased flexibility, stability and agility and with Oracle, we’ve done just that. In fact, we were the first across the industry to implement Oracle’s GST compliant Fusion financials in India. By taking away the time and effort required to manage software upgrades and associated infrastructure, it has enabled us to concentrate more on our core platform and create more value for the business,” he informs.

APM Terminals Pipavav has developed an online version of Form 13 (gate-in permits issued by terminals) required for each import/export container. Known as e-form 13, it will save close to three million kilometers of road trips and their associated carbon emissions each year. For customer this translates into time savings and fuel cost savings. With many of these kilometers often covered by couriers on motorbikes this also means significantly less risk of fatal road traffic accidents. The new paperless system will also save millions of sheets of waste paper per year and speed up the processing. Previously at APM Terminals Pipavav, shipping lines would collect multiple documents to issue completed Form 13 for each import/export container. The truck arrived at the pre-gate waiting area and handed over the documents required to obtain Form 13 to Gate In the container. The Customs House Agent then took the documents on a 14 km round trip to the shipping line’s office to submit the documentation, while wait for a manual Form 13. Once the trucker had Form 13, the details had to be entered in Terminal Operating System by a pre-gate clerk, after which they could enter the terminal.