The Indian logistics sector emerged as one of the strongest support systems for the economy ravaged by a global pandemic. The rise can be attributed to several factors, including appropriate policy amendments and infrastructure support by the government for improving transport and storage facilities, with a focus on reducing the logistic cost. In addition to this, the sector has also be driven largely by fast paced tech adoption, the meteoric rise ecommerce led last mile deliveries, a more robust food and pharma supply chain and AI driven operations. In addition to tech adoption, global trends in adopting Greener business practices are also pushing for adoption of environmentally responsible solutions in logistics and supply chain. This would mean that the next wave of disruption for Indian logistics is set be the evolution of ‘Sustainable’ Supply Chains which are not only environmentally conscious but also efficient in terms of cost, time, fuel and productivity. Hector Patel, Executive Director, and Board Member. Jeena & Co. lists some key points of transformation that will help build sustainable supply chains for India: 1. Tech Adoption 2. Optimised storage Capacity 3. Agile solutions 4. Greener Transportation

Cainiao Network (Cainiao), the logistics arm of Alibaba Group, announced the partnership with Qatar Airways Cargo to launch a weekly charter flight from Hong Kong (HKG), China, to São Paulo (GRU), Brazil, and serve one of Cainiao’s fastest growing e-commerce destinations in Latin America. The first Cainiao chartered Boeing 777 freighter departed Hong Kong Airport (HKG) for Guarulhos Airport (GRU), São Paulo, Brazil, with a tech stop at Qatar Airways Cargo’s hub in Doha, Qatar. The cargo on board included online retail products such as beauty and fashion goods, jewellery, watches, appliances, toys, and sports equipment. Operating once a week, the Boeing 777 freighter provides 100 tonnes of cargo capacity. “Cainiao’s mission is to deliver globally within 72 hours; a goal that can be achieved with the right logistics partners. In just over a year, Cainiao has established a comprehensive operation in Latin America, and we see that e-commerce retail in Brazil, in particular, is growing at a phenomenal rate. With Qatar Airways Cargo, we are in a good position to support that growth, and look forward to a long and fruitful partnership,” says William Xiong, Cainiao’s Chief Strategist and General Manager for Export Logistics. “There is no doubt that e-commerce is not only here to stay but is also one of the fastest-growing commodities within logistics, today. It demands versatility, speed, accuracy, and a reliable, global network,” Guillaume Halleux, Chief Officer Cargo of Qatar Airways Cargo, explains. “We are constantly enhancing our service offering. We launched specialised e-commerce products with charter programmes, among others, back in 2015, already – around the same time as we began operations to Guarulhos, São Paulo. We are therefore in a strong position to …

The International Air Cargo Association (TIACA) welcomed it’s six new members been elected by the Trustees to serve on the Board of Directors expanding industry expertise of the Board. The new members include, Kai Domscheit, CHI Handling; Dan Sheehan, UPS; Tushar Jani, Cargo Service Center India; Kamesh Peri, Celebi Ground Handling; Roos Bakker, Schiphol Airport and Massimo Roccasecca, Verona-Brescia Airport; bringing a wealth of experience from the airport, airline and handling sectors. * Kai Domscheit, Chief Executive Officer of CHI Deutschland Cargo Handling which offers forwarding and airline handling; trucking and air cargo security in the largest air freight hub in Europe. * Dan Sheehan, Director of Industry of UPS. It’s comprehensive hub-and-spoke network provides access to key transportation centers across the U.S. and beyond. * Tushar Jani, Chairman of Cargo Service Center India, is an end-to-end cargo handling group that handles both general, sensitive, as well as perishable cargo. * Kamesh Peri, Chief Executive Officer, Delhi Airport – Celebi Ground Handling is a ground handler offering Ramp, Passenger, Cargo Handling, Warehouse Management, Bridge Operations, Trucking, General Aviation, Airport Lounge Management and Premium Services. * Roos Bakker, Director of Business Development for Airline Route and Network Development, Schiphol Airport, renowned for its collaborative model. Schiphol Cargo successfully brings together our logistics community, Dutch Customs and academia. * Massimo Roccasecca, is the Group Cargo Director for the SAVE Group. The SAVE Group is the managing company for Venice, Verona, Brescia and Treviso Airports. “With the appointment of the six latest Members, we have continued our commitment to expand the Board of Directors across the industry sectors to ensure every sector’s view is well represented within the group. We look forward to …

The spectacular growth exhibited by the retail, ecommerce, grocery firms and third-party logistics providers have spurred up the demand for last mile deliveries, forcing top warehousing developers to ramp up their expansions in the tier-II locations and within metros. Aiming to have a better reach to the consumer, operators and investors such as ESR, LOGOS, Blackstone-led Horizon Industrial Parks, and Welspun One Logistics Parks (WOLP) are actively eyeing land acquisitions in smaller cities and vying for first mover advantage in setting up multilevel in-city logistics hubs. With focus on tier-II cities, ESR is currently in advanced discussions to acquire 3-4 land parcels. The company kicked off its urban logistics plan with the acquisition of 8.2 acres of land in Alipur, Delhi, to establish a distribution centre spread across 300,000 sq ft to cater to e-commerce, grocery, pharmacy, cloud kitchen, and other companies. “2021 was a mixed bag, with lot of leasing in e-commerce but slowdown in industrial. In the last six months light manufacturing and industrial sectors have revived. We are looking at significant expansion this year, incl-uding in tier-II markets, which have become important because of e-commerce penetration. Our strategy would be to build more plug-and-play (warehousing) facilities, which help customers to go live in three months,” said, Abhijit Malkani, chief executive officer (CEO), ESR India. Warehousing has been a sweet spot for the real estate industry during the pandemic largely because of the e-commerce boom. According to JLL India, the cumulative warehousing supply in the top 8 cities was 287 million sq ft in 2021-end and is expected to touch 500 million sq ft by 2025.

o9 Solutions has announced Generation Investment Management co-founder and chairman, and former U.S. Vice President, Al Gore, as a keynote speaker for aim10x global 2022. Held virtually from April 5-7, aim10x global 2022 will be o9 Solutions’ largest digital transformation event to date. Top leaders across planning, decision-making, and analytics will share their insights on leveraging the power of data and AI to help companies make better, faster decisions across industries. On April 5, Gore will present “The Case for Optimism on the Climate Crisis” and discuss the Sustainability Revolution that is beginning to reshape the world. This revolution—when coupled with technological advances—will have a deeper global impact than the industrial revolution and will unfold faster than the digital revolution. “We are extremely pleased to welcome the co-founder and chairman of Generation Investment Management and former U.S. Vice President, Al Gore, as a keynote speaker at aim10x global 2022,” said Chakri Gottemukkala, CEO and co-founder of o9 Solutions. “He has dedicated his career to raising awareness and inspiring action against climate change. Social impact and sustainability are core values and an important part of o9. We are eager to help large companies make better decisions for their companies and our planet and are looking forward to hearing Al Gore speak more on that topic at aim10x global 2022”. aim10x global takes place virtually from April 5 to April 7.

Pickrr has announced the launch of another value-added service, Pickrr Predict. The flagship product feature will provide predictive analysis to sellers as soon as an order is placed on Pickrr, which helps mitigate the significant risk proportion attached to cash-on-delivery orders. According to an industry estimate, there is only a 75% probability of the order getting delivered. There can be multiple factors behind COD orders not getting received, such as fraudulent orders, incorrect addresses, unavailability of cash, late deliveries, restricted zones, etc. This results in the sellers’ considerable monetary loss because of the failed delivery and the inventory’s RTO process. In a bid to neutralize the additional losses of the sellers, Pickrr Predict has been integrated with Pickrr’s all-in-one dashboard. The feature uses collective data and evaluates the order over 30 parameters, including past online transactions of the customer, return history, high-stress delivery zones, etc., to calculate the risk percentage and intimate the high-risk orders before proceeding with order dispatch. With the help of this intelligent analysis, sellers can determine further processes to cancel, confirm, or edit details for any order. Speaking on introducing the new VAS feature, Gaurav Mangla, CEO and Co-Founder, Pickrr, said, “Failed Cash-on-Delivery has become a significant challenge for businesses. As an industry leader, we strive to provide solutions for the problems that can make a larger difference within the logistic ecosystem. Pickrr Predict is already resolving the shipping woes for over 5000 sellers currently using this disruptive service. He also added, “We are confident that this marquee product feature will help countless sellers generate valuable savings and steer clear of losses.” Pickrr has constantly delivered a seamless logistics experience to D2C and eCommerce sellers through …

After two years of disruption, the logistics sector is riding on a growth wave as COVID-19 wanes, with the giant logistics provider DTDC leading this wave with a special focus on healthcare. The national player is taking the logistics game a notch higher and upgrading their infrastructure, launching several warehouses for positive growth and expansion. After the pandemic struck and several lockdowns, the demand for doorstep delivery of medicine and vaccines has soared. In order to meet this demand and facilitate people with speedy services that meet their life-saving medical requirements, DTDC is now on a mission to reach every large city and the remotest of villages in the country. Rolling this mission into action, DTDC has begun with the Guntur district in Andhra Pradesh. They have opened a new warehouse with state-of-the-art facilities and high-end technology-enabled. Partnering with e-commerce giants, the logistics provider is all set to provide enhanced deliveries across categories across the urban and rural segments of the state. “To further enhance our services and streamline operations to serve our customers better, we are building major logistic hubs across the country to facilitate business growth and deliver value to customers across the length and breadth of the country,” says Subhasish Chakraborty, Founder, Chairman and Managing Director of DTDC. “We are happy with the way the people of the country have supported us in the last 32 years. We started from Karnataka but are all over India today. With the trio element of service, support, and advanced infrastructure, we are sure to take care of everyone’s needs in the coming future. Moreover, we also run a foundation called SSCF (Shri Subhasish Chakraborty Foundation), where orphanages and the aged …

Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), India’s premier container port, has accomplished an all-time high record handling of 5.15 million TEUs in the financial year of 2021-22, compared to the previous 5.13 million TEUs in FY 2018-19. It is the highest ever traffic handled in any financial year since the inception of the port as it depicts JNPT’s growth in the trade, maritime, and port sectors. Commending the robust growth and achievement of the port, Shri Sanjay Sethi, IAS, Chairman, JNPT, said, “JNPT’s spectacular performance in the financial year 2021-22 has taken the port’s business to new heights irrespective of the pandemic. The record handling which we have achieved is because of the collective efforts of every employee. I congratulate all our stakeholders, as JNPT is performing exceptionally well even in the post-pandemic era by implementing a host of measures to make the business sustainable, efficient, economical and convenient. JNPT will continue to ensure timely and safe movement of EXIM trade with modern infrastructure, and novel technologies.” Earlier, in January 2022, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), India’s premier container port, continued its steady surge in cargo handling in CY 2021 with total container traffic of 5.63 million TEUs (5,631,949 TEUs) as against 4.47 million TEUs (4,474,878 TEUs) in CY 2020, growth of 25.86% over last calendar year.

Amerijet International Airlines has announced the launch of its new cargo management system, SmartKargo. The new online system enables the airline’s customers greater flexibility to view prices, capacity and make real-time bookings. Digital transformation and automation have been in the forefront of Amerijet’s vision to provide its customers with digital innovation every step of the way. “The new cargo system will bring efficiencies to Amerijet and its customers, and with SmartKargo we will provide not only a streamlined user experience for our forwarders and direct cargo customers but also reliable access to our capacity, and real time data at every step of the distribution journey,” said Tim Strauss, Amerijet’s Chief Executive Officer. Using the new online system, Amerijet’s customers can access capacity throughout Amerijet’s global freight network anytime, anywhere. Customers will use the new platform by accessing their existing Amerijet MyCargo suite at www.amerijet.com. “SmartKargo is a part of a comprehensive investment strategy in new technology and processes that will benefit both our employees and customers every day. We are very pleased with our SmartKargo experience, and we hope our customers will be too,” added Eric Wilson, Chief Commercial Officer. “We will be investing in our customer experience moving forward as we continue to grow,” Wilson said.

LocoNav commits to empowering the driver community in India on the occasion of National Safety Day. Working towards their mission of positively impacting the livelihoods of 100Mn drivers and owners globally by 2030, LocoNav will be setting up e-Shram camps for the driver community at three prominent Transport Nagars in the Delhi NCR region on 4th March 2022. With the driver community being an integral part of the fleet management ecosystem, LocoNav has made a long term commitment and is making concerted efforts to strengthen the security and social wellbeing of the community. The fleet tech startup further aims to integrate access to the e-Shram portal by Government of India -Ministry of Labour and Employment into its platform in the future to enable fleet owners and operators. As per the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Indian roads witness 415 deaths per day in accidents, the highest in the world. About 1.5 lakh people are killed in road accidents and 3.5 lakh are crippled annually in India. Drivers also face several risks in their day-to-day work including regulatory fines, asset damage, and cargo theft. By creating awareness and facilitating education and easy access to the government’s e-Shram initiative on National Safety Day, LocoNav reinstates its commitment towards the upliftment of the driver community. The e-Shram portal was launched last year by the ministry of labour and employment of India to form a database of workers in unorganized sectors. Through these e-Shram camps set by LocoNav, drivers will be able to generate e-Shram cards for themselves and use it to gain all social security benefits of the Central and State Government for unorganized workers. Workers registered under the e-Shram portal will …