CaroTrans has announced a new direct weekly LCL service from Atlanta to Nhava Sheva, India. This service is aimed to address increased demand from the U.S. Southeast and Gulf regions. The service offers 38 days transit times from the Gulf and 33 days from Southeast. At destination, shipments are securely handled and deconsolidated by Globelink WW India (CaroTrans’ dedicated partner) which provides full India market penetration serviced from 15+ inland container depots. “Flexible, direct LCL services provide logistics service providers with secure, consistent transportation options to serve the varying needs of their customers. We’re committed to delivering reliable U.S.-India trade LCL services,” said Greg Howard, CaroTrans, CEO.

Earlier in September, Emirates SkyCargo deployed three dedicated freighter flights, two from Thiruvananthapuram and one from Kochi, transporting more than 288 tonnes of perishables to the Middle East especially for the Onam celebrations in the region. The perishables included all kinds of vegetables, different varieties of fruits including bananas and banana leaves. The majority of the shipment was headed to Dubai; the perishables also reached other destinations in the Gulf region including Bahrain, Doha, Kuwait, Dammam, Muscat and Jeddah. Emirates SkyCargo has witnessed a steady growth in the export of cargo from Kerala over the years. In 2015-16, the carrier helped export over 29,000 tonnes of cargo, a growth of 8.7 per cent from 2014-15.

Transindia Logistics, part of Allcargo Logistics has bagged the contract to manage and operate Central Warehousing Corporation’s (CWC) Container Freight Station (CFS) in Mundra, Gujarat. The CFS facility is located in close proximity to an existing CFS operated by Allcargo. With 40 acres of sprawling space, Transindia is poised to transform the way operations are conducted in Mundra. Adarsh Hegde, Joint Managing Director, Allcargo Logistics, said, “Our growth strategy for CFS business lead to the acquisition of Transindia Logistics a few years ago. We are glad to expand our operations with our second facility in Mundra, which is set to transform the business scenario. Coupled with the highest safety and security standards, our customers can expect speedy turnaround, expertise in handling business operations in the western region of India hereon.”

Air India SATS Airport Services (AISATS) commenced trial operations of India’s first integrated on-airport perishable cargo handling centre, ‘AISATS COOLPORT’, at the Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru (KIAB). The state-of-the-art, 11,000 sq. meter facility will meet the ever-increasing demands and handling requirements of temperature-sensitive cargo and will further enhance the state of Karnataka’s status as the pharmaceutical and perishables hub of India. The facility, with a handling capacity of 40,000 tonnes per annum, will cater to an extensive range of perishable commodities such as pharmaceutical products, fruits, vegetables, poultry, sea food and flowers. It is customised to offer the most comprehensive cold storage solutions with 17 dedicated cold rooms with adjustable temperatures ranging from – 25OC to + 25OC. It is designed as a one stop shop to facilitate the import and export processes of the air cargo industry. The integrated facility will house a state-of-the-art drug controller lab as well as a plant quarantine inspection and certification office. It will be supplemented by temperature controlled queue lanes for unitised shipments and cool trollies to ensure integrity of the cool chain from AISATS COOLPORT to the aircraft and vice versa.

To ensure more satisfying delivery experiences for the customers and effective order management, Flipkart launched its new warehouse in Lucknow. This latest addition will take the company’s warehouse count in the country to 18 with a total storage space of 6.2 million cubic feet. The warehouse will stock products across electronics, household and lifestyle categories and will ensure better fulfilment of same day delivery and next day delivery shipments within the Uttar Pradesh. The new warehouse has a 50,000 cubic feet storage space and a ground space of 55,000 square feet that houses the fulfilment centre and mother hub and it can store up to three lakh products.

By adding more than 100 cities to its pan India coverage, to meet festive rush, Rivigo has announced a significant expansion of its part-truck load capability – Rivigo Zoom. With Rivigo Zoom, Bangalore to Guwahati can now be connected with a four-day transit; Delhi to Guwahati in less than three days; and Delhi to Bangalore in less than three days as well. The expansion coincides with the company acquiring 1200 trucks from Ashok Leyland to take its fleet size to 2700 by the year end. Deepak Garg, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Rivigo said, “We are confident that these improved transit times, and the broader network will enable significant enhancement in our customers’ market share through higher customer delight and zero lost orders in the upcoming festival season.”

Emirates SkyCargo has also been awarded the certification of compliance under the EU Good Distribution Practice guidelines (GDP) for medicinal products for human use by Bureau Veritas following an audit conducted by the certification agency’s team from Germany. The certification validates the carrier’s adherence to the strict guidelines on the transport and handling of pharmaceutical products and covers all Emirates SkyCargo handling activities for pharmaceutical products at its hub in Dubai. Emirates SkyCargo is the first cargo airline in the world that has obtained GDP certification for its hub operations covering two airports and the 24/7 bonded trucking service that connects cargo between them. The carrier also operates the largest GDP certified area in the world offering a total area of 8,600 square metres of combined handling space dedicated for pharmaceutical products at Dubai International Airport and Dubai World Central.

Emirates SkyPharma, Emirates SkyCargo’s new purpose-built facility dedicated exclusively to the timely and secure transport of temperature sensitive pharmaceutical shipments at Dubai International Airport (DXB) was officially inaugurated on September 18, 2016 by his Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive, Emirates Airline and Group. The new purpose built Emirates SkyPharma facility, part of the new 11,000 square metre extension of Emirates SkyCentral terminal at Dubai International Airport, offers 4,000 square metres of space dedicated to pharmaceutical cargo. It also features temperature controlled zones (2-8 degree Celsius and 15-25 degree Celsius), 88 temperature controlled individual positions in the automated ULD (aircraft pallet) handling system and 5 temperature controlled acceptance and delivery truck docks. The new Emirates SkyPharma facility at Dubai International airport works in conjunction with Emirates SkyCentral DWC, the carrier’s freighter hub in Dubai World Central which offers 4,600 square metres of dedicated area for pharmaceutical cargo.

Air Cargo Forum (ACF) 2016 is scheduled from October 26-28, 2016 in Paris. Talking about the significance of the biennial event, Sanjiv Edward, Chairman, The International Air Cargo Association (TIACA), “ACF 2016 is the perfect opportunity to promote and launch new products and services and to interact with potential and existing customers, partners and suppliers. It is important because it gives a unique platform to air cargo industry to understand the volatility of global scenario, recognise global issues and address them with concrete steps.” “ACF is also a prospect for global leaders to apprise themselves of latest developments in air cargo, exchange of ideas from broad spectrum; airports, airlines, security experts, and forwarders etc, showcase new technologies,” said Edward.

KWE India has unveiled India’s first Good Distribution Process (GDP) warehouse at the Hyderabad airport cargo satellite building to exclusively handle pharmaceutical logistics. Mineo Suzuki, Managing Director, KWE India, “Strategically located at the country’s pharmaceutical hub, this facility will be utilised to provide logistics support for the pharmaceutical shipments including both export and import trade.” “Set up in non-bonded area, the state-of-the-art facility is equipped with 24×7 temperature ambient control, CCTV, control access, racking, temperature and humidity indicators, alarm system and skilled and trained manpower to follow GDP compliant process throughout shipment handling,” he adds.