Pacific Cargo launches Click & Ship, its new digital booking platform across its South Asian network starting this month. Click & Ship promises to book transparency and speed, day and night. Customers in South Asia, including India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka can view prices and capacity and book cargo with instant confirmation in just three steps through the intuitive booking interface. Over the past 20 years, the air cargo industry has continued to rely on manual processes and email confirmation for shipment bookings, while the passenger airline industry has evolved to enable customers to book tickets and other services online. Digitalisation and automation are central to Cathay Pacific Cargo’s vision to become the world’s most customer-centric air cargo service brand. Click & Ship is the latest digital innovation along this journey.

Air France announces to purchase of 4 Airbus A350F Full Freighter aircraft, with purchase rights for 4 additional aircraft. This order would increase Air France-KLM’s cargo capacity. Air France-KLM would be among the launch operators of the A350F Full Freighter. The order comes with full substitution rights to Airbus A350 passenger aircraft, which constitute the new spearhead of the Air France long-haul fleet. The airline currently operates 12 of the 38 aircraft of the type on order. The order covers Airbus A320neo and Airbus A321neo aircraft. The first deliveries are expected in the second half of 2023. Benjamin Smith, CEO, Air France-KLM Group said, “These evolutionary orders will position our Group airlines on the path to improved performance while accelerating our decarbonization trajectory. This is a major step forward for KLM, Transavia and Air France, which will operate the best aircraft available for their network needs. The outstanding performances of the A320neo family and of the A350F Full-Freighter, which are quieter, more fuel-efficient and more cost-effective aircraft, make them the best choices for the long-term growth of our fleet. They will be instrumental in reaching our ambitious targets, including zero net CO2 emissions by 2050.”

APM Terminals, Pipavav in collaboration with Pipavav Railway Corporation Limited (PRCL), is now going offer double stack rail service to Jodhpur via Sanand on a hub & spoke model, which will further provide access to other ICDs in India. The service is managed by PRCL, the joint venture between Gujarat Pipavav Port Ltd. and Indian Railways, the first such service by PRCL. Customer centricity is at the core of all our initiatives. The rail connection to Jodhpur via Sanand on hub and spoke model will give an edge to our customers in connecting to their markets/ICDs quickly. We extend all our support to the PRCL to make this connection big success.” Jakob Friis Sorenson, APM Terminals Pipavav The hub & spoke arrangement via Sanand will ensure timely evacuation from the port in lesser dwell time there by swift movement of the cargoe for the customers. The initiative is likely to help the trade to connect with their markets quickly and competitively.

Jeena & Company recently acquired the internationally coveted Good Distribution Practices (GDP) certification, from ISOQAR, a part of ISO, the global standardisation leader. The GDP certification authorises the regulatory protocols for distribution of pharmaceutical and healthcare products, as per stringent distribution standards. The company was granted the GDP certificate after an independent assessment of the quality measures in place by the competent authorities. The company has successfully fulfilled all the conditions and requirements of GDP compliance by following quality standards pertaining to the storage facilities and vehicles and equipment used for distribution so as to ensure packaging integrity and stability of the pharmaceutical products. Speaking about the certification, Cyrus Katagra, Partner, Jeena & Co., said, “As a logistic leader with focused interest in pharma and healthcare, we are aware of the responsibility and the role that an effective pharma supply chain has in the fight against the global pandemic. We are committed to ensure implementation of a consistent quality management system throughout the entire supply chain with every ASE (Actual Standard Error) performed on time, whether it is the delivery of the raw materials, manufacturing of the products or the shipment of the products to the customers. Further, with the certification, we aim to strengthen our global presence in the EU, as it is now in compliance with the stringent safety and hygiene requirements for non-refrigerated transportation of medicines for human use. The EU legislation mandates GDP compliance for wholesale of medicines anywhere in the EU and we hope to strengthen its supply chain across the world with the newly acquired GDP certification.”

Singapore Airlines (SIA) signs a Letter of Intent with Airbus to purchase seven A350F freighter aircraft. The new aircraft will replace the airline’s existing Boeing 747-400F. The agreement includes a swap with 15 A320neo and two A350-900 passenger aircraft that are in the SIA Group order book. This allows SIA to manage its capital expenditure, while continuing with the essential freighter renewal programme. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter of 2025, when SIA will become the first airline to operate this new generation widebody freighter aircraft. Goh Choon Phong, chief executive officer, Singapore Airlines said, “This agreement with Airbus reinforces SIA’s position as a leading global air cargo carrier while advancing our sustainability goals. It also ensures that we are prudent with our capital expenditure, and adjusts our passenger aircraft order book to give us the flexibility needed to navigate uncertainties in the recovery trajectory. The A350Fs will replace our seven 747-400F freighters, with the options providing the ability to adapt our requirements to future demand in the cargo market.”

“To accomplish the goal of becoming a $5 trillion economy by 2025, India is aiming to increase its supply chain efficiency and lower logistics costs”, said Sarbananda Sonowal Minister for Ports, Shipping, Waterways and Ayush. In a virtual address at the CII Partnership Summit 2021, the minister said that India has one of the largest supply chain and logistics sectors in the world growing at a fast pace. An efficient logistics ecosystem is thought to be a catalyst for improving the competitiveness of all sectors of the economy. Ensuring the coordinated and accelerated growth of India’s maritime sector in the next decade with the objective of propelling India to the forefront of the Global Maritime Sector, the shipping ministry has prepared a blueprint – Maritime India Vision 2030 (MIV 2030). The minister said, MIV 2030 has identified initiatives such as developing world-class mega ports, transshipment hubs and infrastructure modernization of ports.

QuickShift has launched its same-day delivery service QS-Rapid in Delhi-NCR. With this, the company will cater to the consumers’ growing needs by ensuring all deliveries across the Delhi-NCR region are done within the same day. The company that has set a target of providing unique supply chain solutions for large and small enterprises for product deliveries to happen on time, has launched this service to cater to the online orders received for D2C brands on its system to be delivered on the same day to its customers. Also, with the launch of same-day delivery in Delhi-NCR, Quickshift RAPID plans to further consolidate every brand’s ‘customer first’ positioning. “Delhi is the national hub of business with a nine times bigger market. Its robust connectivity across NCR regions and neighbouring states, catering to growing urban demands makes it a prime location for Quickshift to launch the same-day delivery service. The reality is that consumers want quick, easy, and accessible products straight to their door. Same-day delivery is a game-changer because it combines the immediate product availability of brick and mortar retail with the convenience of ordering from home. The option of having same-day shipping reduces cart abandonment by close to 25%. It encourages consumers to shop more online. While it has its own challenges, we feel that few cities in India today provide the dynamism to make it work,” said Anshul Goenka, Founder, QuickShift.

Shypmax, India’s first and only AI-powered Logistics Platform as a Service (LPaaS) for cross border shipping, has secured an exclusive partnership with the Netherlands based B2C Europe, a Maersk company specializing in B2C parcel delivery services in Europe. The collaboration will enable Indian businesses to deliver their products to Europe, including the UK, based customers cost-effectively using a single-window platform. From Shypmax, Indian companies, especially SMEs, Direct-to-customer, B2C, and E-commerce firms, from over 27,000 pin codes, can deliver any product across European markets and beyond. Shypmax automates processes related to compliance with current regulations in the European Union. As India’s first Import One-Stop-Shop (IOSS) ready facility enabling centralised declaration and payment of VAT by European customers at the point of sale, Shypmax is saving Indian companies and the European customers from the hassles of navigating through different tax systems in Europe. The services also include customised labels, pickup, packaging, and door-to-door delivery via more than 100 connected carriers across Europe and beyond by B2C Europe.

“Indian merchandise export to touch an all-time high of $400 billion during the current financial year, driven by sharp uptick in shipments” said Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal. As per a preliminary trade data, India’s merchandise exports in April-November 2021 were at $262.46 billion, an increase of 50.71 per cent over $174.15 billion in the same period of the previous financial year. “Our exports have consistently crossed $30 billion for the last eight months. We are now at about $262 billion of exports versus $290 billion in the 12 months of last year. So, by the ninth month, we would have crossed last year’s export, and we hope to do a record export of $400 billion,” Goyal said. While speaking at CII Partnership Summit 2021, Goyal also mentioned that a growth is also been observed in India’s imports, thus opening a plethora of opportunities for other countries to expand business and international trade with India. Imports during April-November 2021, grew by 75.39 per cent to $384.44 billion.

Air Belgium is looking to expand in the air cargo market through the addition of B747-8 freighter aircraft operations.The airline’s expansion in the cargo market shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise, Air Belgium already operates four A330-200 freighter aircraft on behalf of French shipping and logistics firm CMA CGM. Also, the airline is headed up Niky Terzakis who until 2014 was managing director/chief executive of express carrier TNT Airways. At this stage details of the airline’s plans for cargo operations are thin on the ground – it is not known how many B747F freighters the airline plans to operate or where it will base them.