With an objective to promote young Entrepreneurs/Forwarders/Logistics Professionals, the Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations in India (FFFAI) is inviting applications from the Members of FFFAI Association Members (within the age group between 18 and 32 years as on January 1, 2021) to participate in the ‘FIATA Young International Freight Forwarder of The Year Award’ The award demonstrates recognition by FFFAI, FIATA and its participating sponsors of the need to develop quality in the forwarding industry and to reward young talent with valuable training opportunities. To participate in the nomination process pertaining to the awards, the candidates should have two years full time experience in Freight Forwarding, should submit the dissertation on the topic stipulated by FIATA, and should fulfil the condition stipulated in the registration form. The dissertation is an opportunity for the candidate to demonstrate a range of skills and qualities that are needed to pursue a successful career in international forwarding and supply chain logistics. It would demonstrate the knowledge base of the contestants concerning the following aspects: Identifying a problem or business opportunity; gathering relevant information on a specific situation; identifying possible changes or enhancements for the benefit of the forwarder or the client; evaluating the information and drawing one’s own conclusions; deciding what action should be taken; making reasoned and costed recommendations; quality of innovation and initiative; description and valuation of the situation, discussion of problems, opportunities, faults, relevant issues, benefits, costs, etc. There will be limitation of 4000 and 6000 maximum words for the Dissertation and may be supplemented by graphs, photographs, examples etc. and should be in a single unlocked Word Document file. The FFFAI Selection Panel will judge the contestants focussing on an …

Singapore Airlines and WiseTech Global, provider of leading logistics execution platform CargoWise, have partnered to provide a direct exchange of eBookings between their systems, adding significant value to many forwarders across the globe. The integration is the first of its kind for SIA and through the use of custom APIs, allows CargoWise customers, including some of the world’s largest freight forwarders, direct access to SIA to book and modify shipments in real-time from within the CargoWise platform. Chin Yau Seng, senior vice president cargo, Singapore Airlines said, “We are committed to the continued digitalization of all areas of our business. Our partnership with WiseTech Global will result in the integration of our eBooking systems, enabling customers to book airfreight directly with SIA via the CargoWise online platform. This is one of the many steps that we are taking to provide a more seamless experience for our cargo customers.”

LATAM Airlines Group and its cargo subsidiaries have collaborated with a leading digital sales platform cargo.one, making the carriers’ network available for instant booking on the cargo.one platform. This milestone is part of LATAM Cargo’s innovative digitalization agenda, with the aim of diversifying its distribution channels while offering its customers best-in-class direct booking options. “We want to provide customers with reliable and efficient solutions and a broad set of options that allows them to choose what works best for them. The LATAM Cargo carriers’ network and product portfolio are great examples of that. Partnering with cargo.one is fully aligned with this goal as it gives customers access to LATAM’s cargo capacity through an innovative way,” comments Andres Bianchi, Chief Executive Officer of LATAM Cargo.

FedEx Express and the world’s largest express transportation company, and Delhivery, the fastest growing fully-integrated logistics services player in India, announced the strategic alliance transaction signed in July has taken effect, following satisfaction of closing conditions including regulatory approval from the Competition Commission of India. This transaction combines the FedEx global network with Delhivery’s extensive pan-India network and technology solutions to bring the best of both worlds together. The investment and the commercial agreement between the two companies deepens the FedEx commitment to the India market, and signals a significant step in providing innovative services and solutions that aim to improve speed, efficiency, and access for FedEx and Delhivery customers, to unlock India’s international trade potential.

Imperial has opened a new, multi-user logistics facility in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. The launch customer for the new facility will be a long-standing Imperial customer, Lemken, which is a renowned international manufacturer of agricultural machinery. Imperial will transfer Lemken’s spare part logistics operations from Herten to Gelsenkirchen. The opening of Imperial’s new multi-user facility in Germany supports its organic growth strategy, introduced in 2019, which has seen multiple investments in workforce expansion and operating infrastructure to date. According to Hakan Bicil, CEO of Imperial’s Logistics International business, “Our latest multi-user facility provides Lemken with further space for growth, and will also mean that another long-standing customer, KONE, has additional space for its own expansion at our Herten location.”

Even as global trade is resurging in a post-Covid world, supply chain management has emerged as an integral component for businesses. An efficient and effective supply chain, with a robust logistics system at its core, mitigates supply bottlenecks, yields competitive edge, and enhances profitability. While the pandemic heightened the challenges for organisations and drove them to recalibrate their sourcing and distribution structures, Covid-19 also acted as a catalyst for change, accelerating the momentum for a technology-powered transition. Through the pandemic, the e-commerce sector grew exponentially from 13% to 17% of total retail market, while paving the way for continued growth in the years to come. The Indian e-commerce sector is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 27% to reach the USD99-billion mark by 2024. The rise of e-commerce and the digital marketplace phenomenon are changing the dynamics of the market, both, in terms of buyer behaviour as well as business transformation. To thrive in the highly disruptive environment, businesses are re-examining their conventional operations and recalibrating supply chain strategies to improve efficiencies, lower costs and ensure sustainability. For this, an efficient logistics system can be a critical differentiator, and technology can serve as a key enabler.

Abu Dhabi has set its sights on Belgium, as a leading global pharmaceutical hub, to establish a global distribution corridor to serve the world in vaccine delivery and future life science needs. The collaboration builds on the capabilities of Abu Dhabi’s healthcare sector as a leading life sciences hub and the efforts of the HOPE Consortium in providing vaccine solutions for the world. This initiative entailed a delegation visit from Belgium to Abu Dhabi, hosted by the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi (DoH). The visit saw the signing of two declarations of collaboration between Belgium and Abu Dhabi, Witnessed by H.E. Abdullah bin Mohammed Al Hamed, Chairman of DoH and H.E. Peter CLAES, Ambassador of Belgium in the UAE. The first agreement was between the HOPE Consortium, Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC), Brussels Airport Company and Pharma.Aero. The collaboration aims to establish a fully compliant origin-to-destination pharma air corridor between Abu Dhabi and Brussels Airports. The dedicated pharma trade lane will unite key compliant and sector certified supply chain stakeholders, including forwarders and ground handling agents.

A global survey published by Container xChange shows that majority of the container logistics industry (75%) is rethinking its logistics strategy in the next year. The survey results indicate that the industry is expecting gloomy times for the container logistics industry. The top challenges for the industry remained finding spot on the vessel and surcharges by carriers. One-way leasing emerged as the most sought-after alternative as compared to getting equipment from the carriers. Container xChange, world’s leading container trading and leasing tech company released the results of the xChange Industry Speak Survey 2021-22. The survey was released to 800 container logistics players globally including shipping lines, container traders, freight forwarding companies, NVOCCs, shippers and procurement companies. The objective of the survey was to study the industry sentiment, key learnings from the year 2021 and outlook for the year 2022 from the players.

RAAHO, an On-Demand intercity trucking marketplace, has raised INR 12.5 crore in Pre-series A round of funding led by new investors IPV , Nitish Mittersain (Founder – Nazara) and participated by its existing investors Roots Ventures, Venkatesh Vijayraghavan (Group CEO, Board Member, Cavinkare) , Miten Sampat from CRED and others. The asset-light, capital-efficient company plans to utilize the fresh funds to grow nationally and make the whole product “100% On-Demand”. The $100bn Trucking industry in India is unorganised, largely offline and is plagued with massive deadhead and wastage (wherein a truck drives empty for a load). It’s estimated that 25% of total travel by a truck is empty which leads to huge loss for the trucker, loss for the economy and also a huge environmental challenge.

Vessels seeking supplies or crew changes in southern Africa have been making contingency plans to call elsewhere as the new strain of the virus, first detected in Botswana and thought to be far more contagious than earlier variants, has spooked many. “We are expecting longer quarantine period, tighter testing regime and restrictions for vessels coming from South Africa and neighbouring countries,” warned Carl Schou, president and CEO of Wilhelmsen Ship Management, with a host of managers already reporting crew change cancellations in South Africa. Guy Platten, secretary general of the International Chamber of Shipping, said, “his fears that unless coordinated action is taken by world leaders there could be a return to the peak of the crew change crisis in 2020 where more than 400,000 seafarers were impacted by harsh travel restrictions.”