DP World announced a new weekly Straits India Service (SIS) at its Port Terminals in Nhava Sheva and Mundra. The new service is operated by the global feeder operator Feedertech part of Unifeeder Group, DP World Marine Services. The new weekly service will establish direct connectivity to the Far East with the shortest transit time from DP World terminals in Nhava Sheva and Mundra. This will further boost trade between India and the Far East by providing customers with opportunities to grow their business and offer seamless connections to Malaysia and Singapore as an alternative to transhipping at Colombo Port thereby, improving lead time and reducing cost. The service port rotation is Singapore – Port Kelang – Nhava Sheva – Mundra – Singapore. Ravinder Singh Johal, Regional Head – Commercial Liner Sales (Ports), Subcontinent, DP World, said “We welcome the new service at our terminals in Nhava Sheva and Mundra. It is our constant endeavour to enhance direct connections from our terminals and provide regional connectivity to our customers. This is yet another step in DP World’s endeavour to build an end-to-end logistics capability and integrated services for our end customers and help them grow their business. We will continue to create opportunities in the fast-growing coastal short-sea trade on the Indian Subcontinent.”Hui Khoon, CEO, Feedertech Pte.Ltd, said “We are delighted to announce the launch of our new SIS service which will enrich our network and our footprint in India. We look forward to the continued support from all our valued customers to the successful launch of this service.”

Cathay Pacific Cargo is launching Click & Ship, its new digital booking platform, progressively across its network starting this month. Click & Ship promises booking 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. 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. “Our customers globally have been telling us that they want a quicker and more efficient way to book shipments at any time,” said Rajesh Menon, Regional Head of Cargo, South Asia, Middle East and Africa. “We listened. We are rolling out Click & Ship progressively across our network including South Asia. We aim to make real-time flight schedules, space availability, allotments, and updated rate information available on www.cathaypacificcargo.com andwww.ezycargo.com for all Cathay Pacific Cargo customers over the next year.”

Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals Limited (Hactl) has opened its revolutionary new Integrated Hactl Control Centre (iHCC), creating a single command centre that is manned 24/7/365. The iHCC centralises operations control, systems control and maintenance control for the first time, with duty managers able to monitor the entire SuperTerminal 1 facility – from traffic management at its truck parks through the many different functional areas of the terminal, to cargo dispatch activities at the airside area. The iHCC provides comprehensive real time data, and workload forecasts for the coming eight hours, enabling instant adjustments to be made to staffing and resources to cope with any unexpected workload peaks. The iHCC also serves as a fully-integrated emergency centre, facilitating the involvement of the crisis management team, and coordinating actions across all departments, to ensure effective decision-making and proactive responses to crises. The Centre’s concept is similar to the emergency centres now found in many airlines and major airports around the world.

Welspun One Logistics Parks (WOLP), announced that it has acquired 40 acres of land, located on the Malur-Hosur road, to set up a large-scale warehousing facility. With a development potential of ~1 million square feet and a total project cost of INR 300 Cr, the facility will service the Bengaluru Metropolitan region’s (BMR’s) industrial and warehousing demand for space. Bengaluru has historically been a warehousing supply starved market with limited institutional developer presence in the Grade A space; however, demand has witnessed a significant uptick on the back of the post COVID E-Commerce boom. As per research estimates by various International Property Consultants (IPCs), demand for both warehousing and industrial space in Bengaluru is expected to be ~15-20 million square feet over the next 3 years. This acquisition comes at an opportune time giving WOLP an early mover advantage while helping the firm capitalize on the shifting customer preference towards Grade A warehouses.

Union Minister for Ports, Shipping & Waterways and AYUSH Sarbananda Sonowal said, “India is emerging as a world leader in the maritime sector.” He assured to work for the development of shipping, ports seafarers training,and ultimately emerging as a world leader in the maritime sector, said Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways in a statement. Sonowal recalled the vision of the Prime Minister, which has been embodied in the Maritime India Vision 2030 launched by him in March 2021. Sonowal said, “India is one of the largest seafarer supplying nation and our seafarers are in great demand internationally.” He expressed hope that the stakeholders would take appropriate measures to address the issues raised in the report.

Jet Freight continues to leverage its complete logistics services to deliver over ten million vaccines across key locations in the country. Jet Freight logistics provided their logistics services to the Central Government of Routine Immunization vaccine under Prime Minister twenty-point program and Covid 19 vaccine mainly Covishield and Covaxin from Mumbai Central to across key locations in India through Air India flights. Its regional offices coordinated in building a strong network for delivering point-to-point vaccines to government hospitals and enhancing its reputation as a trusted logistics partner with leading pharma and government agencies. From key metros like Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad to other cities like Lucknow, Indore, Raipur, Jaipur, Chandīgarh, Patna, Bhopal, Varanasi, and Vishakhapatnam, etc. Jet Freight’s advanced cold chain supply services employed superior temperature-controlled Envirotainers that utilize active temperature control systems based on compressor cooling and electric heating technologies. Richard Theknath, Chairman and Managing Director, Jet Freight,said “We believe in a continuous up-gradation of our logistic expertise while being resilient in providing responsible and reliable logistics solutions to our clients. During the pandemic, our mission was to optimize our existing air and sea freight service expertise to deliver over ten million vaccines across the country. In achieving this feat, we witnessed stupendous use of our logistics management system that is a part of our supply chain management.”

APM Terminals Pipavav, has handled the highest volumes on India- -US East Coast (MECL) service. The port safely handled 4,527 TEUs on Maersk Seletar with a record berth productivity of 140 moves per hour on this service. The MECL service connects the India to USEC including ports of Savannah, Norfolk, Newark, Algeciras and Middle East ports of Port Said East, Djibouti, Salalah, Jebel Ali and Port Qasim. Commenting on the achievement, Jakob Friis Sorenson, MD, APM Terminals Pipavav said, “Handling 4527 TEUs on MECL service is a significant achievement. I am also proud to share that we have achieved the 140-mph of berth productivity during the vessel operation. We are grateful to American customers, their representatives, USEC trade stakeholders and shipping lines for their abundant trust in our capabilities. Achieving these milestones are a testimony of our customer centricity, seamless coordination to manage transit sensitive cargoes, skilled staff and infrastructure competences, We strive to provide the highest efficiency at the berth, at the yard and at the gate to our customers.”

The third quarter results recently announced by the largest publicly traded carriers served to highlight the strength of the market. A.P. Moller-Maersk as the parent of the largest publicly-traded container line reported an amazing 355 percent increase in profits to more than $5.9 billion for the quarter. Similarly, Hapag-Lloyd reported a nearly 10 times increase in profits to more than $6.7 billion for the first nine months of the year. CEO Rolf Habben Jansen said it was “extraordinary strong results,” joining with the CEOs of the other major shipping companies to forecast that market conditions would remain similar for the remainder of 2021 and into 2022. Reviewing the results reported by the carriers, Alphaliner is forecasting for the full year the 10 largest container carriers remain on track for an EBIT operating profit of between $115 and $120 billion. According to Alphainer it the forecast is “more than six times the amount recorded in 2020 and is a figure that is likely to transform the structure of the industry.”

Navia Pty Ltd has extended its Australian network with the purchase of Perth-based Keys Freight and Logistics. Navia now has locations in four Australian cities and an expanding global footprint with offices in strategic locations around the world. Keys Freight and Logistics core business is logistics, arranging the transportation and clearance of commercial cargo – including e-commerce. It provides Customs clearance, warehousing and inter-state transport. Navia, formed in 2003, is a full-service freight and logistics company. Navia is strongly focused on tech-based solutions for customers; its NaviaHub platform is renowned as a complete supply chain solution that includes apps and dashboards which provide customers with online bookings, tracking and supply-chain metrics. Navia has domestic bases in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, and overseas operations in Auckland, Chicago, Penang and Budapest. Keys founder Cos Breglia will continue to lead the team in Perth, and joins the leadership team at Navia. Breglia said, “Keys Freight identified that both technology and scale are necessary to support its future growth. Navia meanwhile has a world-beating technology suite, as well as the scale of a larger entity.”

Shripad Y. Naik, Union Minister of State for Ports, Shipping & Waterways, and Tourism, Government of India, visited Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), for a comprehensive Port visit. During his visit, the Minister closely observed the Port operations and was apprised about several infrastructural and technological advancements harnessed by the Port, enabling it to offer world-class services to the global maritime and EXIM community. During his visit across the terminals at JNPT, the Minister engaged with the Port stakeholders and explored numerous tech-enabled ‘Smart Port Initiatives’ that are being undertaken to optimize terminal operations in order to further enhance the Port’s efficiency and competence. In addition, the Minister also experienced the RMQC crane simulator, used for training efficient & skilled crane operators, who are an integral and core part of the Port operations.