Hactl has returned to full manning and normal operations, following the reporting on October 7th of a single case of COVID-19 in the company’s ramp handling team, which led to the quarantining of his close work contacts by Hong Kong’s Centre for Health Protection. All quarantined staff subsequently tested negative, have now been released from the quarantine centre and have returned home. The manpower shortage resulting from the quarantine affected around 20% of flights but – despite the additional impact on all airport operations of two typhoons on October 9th and 13th – the situation was progressively brought under control through increased overtime, re-scheduling of some flights, re-deployment of other ramp-trained Hactl staff and subcontracting of some duties to other operators. Less than 5% of Hactl’s workforce were affected, and over 80% of flights were handled within normal time frames. Hactl’s terminal operations were not affected. There is no truth in some reports of two-three day delays.

The first full reefer rake titled as “The Maersk Processed Food Express” was flagged off from ICD Viramgam to Pipavav Port. The reefer train operated by Gateway Rail Freight Ltd, carried agro-based commodities from Gujarat to be exported to South East Asia. This service will help in safe and quick passage of frozen food from Ahmedabad and nearby area, thereby shifting the transport of commodities from road to rail, an environment friendly mode. The flagging off ceremony was graced by Ashok Pandey & Bhumik Bhatt from Gateway Rail. Senior executives from Maersk & APM Terminals Pipavav were also present. Commenting on reefer rake movement, Jakob Friis Sorenson, MD, APM Terminals Pipavav said, “The reefer rake facility is going to be a boon for exporters from Gujarat as it will open up a whole new global market for their produce. We are excited to be a part of a logistics supply chain for ‘Made in India’ products from Gujarat to the world. This initiative by Maersk and Gateway Rail is commendable and we believe that with collaborative efforts of ICD, Liner and the Customer, this service will benefit the agro based trade.”

There is immense congestion in cargo clearance at Airports, especially in Delhi Airport Cargo Terminals due to sudden mandate by the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) to follow the order of 2015 regarding rules of screening export cargo, said Pradeep Multani, President, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, in a press statement issued here today. The order regarding the change in the operational method of x-ray of cargo (Aviation Security Service (AVSEC) Order no. 11/2015) states that before delivery to air carrier, all cargo processed at the terminals shall be subject to 100% X-Ray screening at piece level. This decision of screening cargo on a piece level basis is a cumbersome task, which requires more manpower, security staff and x-ray machines, said Multani. The catastrophic effect causes high congestion at the airport due to slow cargo clearance at piece level, average time for a shipment has increased from 12 hours to 1-2 days, shippers have to pay higher demurrage, staff of the shippers has to work for a long shift to clear the order and even some export orders are getting affected, said Multani.

SafeStorage®, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Imperial Supply Chain Solutions. Safestorage will support them with on demand space to scale up/down business as per requirements. This would include storage space support, third party logistics, and support for technical/non-technical staff. To optimize warehousing and to facilitate ease our operations, Safestorage has incorporated AI&ML models in their processes. Artificial Intelligence is used to identify unused space across warehouses and it then suggests best fit space based on the inbound customer goods/items. The company has employed Machine Learning & Deep Learning to assign pickups based on geography resulting in optimization of transportation. Sharing his thoughts, Ramesh Madisetty, CEO & Co-founder of SafeStorage, said, “We are excited to partner with Imperial Supply Chain solutions. We hope this collaboration sustains for a long time and we achieve newer heights. We have seen a significant positive growth in our business this year as well. Our target is to be one stop shop for storage & logistics solution in the country.”

American Airlines Cargo further enhances its transatlantic services for cargo customers this winter with direct service from London Heathrow (LHR) to nine key U.S. cities starting in November onward. The airline will operate doubly daily service from LHR to John. F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) and Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), and daily service to Boston Logan International Airport (BOS), Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA), Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), Miami International Airport (MIA), Philadelphia International Airport (PHL), Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD) and Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) all starting in November. Additionally, German customers will see a special limited-time service in November between Frankfurt Airport (FRA) and CLT to connect Germany to the important production and consumption centers in the U.S. South East. “These winter services are tremendous news for American Airlines customers in the UK and Europe where capacity to the U.S. and beyond has proved to be very tight over the last eighteen months,” says Tim Isik, Sales Director – EMEA & APAC for American Airlines Cargo.

Along with the launch of 21 new commercial vehicles, Indian multinational Tata Motors also announced its plans to launch Electric Small Commercial Vehicles (SCVs) for the Indian ecosystem. The EVs are being developed in synergy with a few e-commerce organisations as Tata targets last-mile transportation. Though an exact timeline has not been revealed, Tata Motors Executive Director Girish Wagh said it was going to be ‘soon’. EVs have a substantial advantage over conventional vehicles in reference to the cost of operating as fuel prices continue to surge by the day. Moreover, demand for EVs in the e-commerce and logistics sectors have increased multi-fold as organisations strive to achieve net-zero emissions as a part of sustainable supply chains. Girish Wagh cited the advantage of operating cost, shrinking price gap between EVs and conventional vehicles and ballooning demand of EVs for last-mile transportation as the grounds for electrification along the supply chain.

The Union Ministry of Civil Aviation launched the Krishi UDAN 2.0 scheme on with additional 4 locations – Ahmedabad, Vadodra, Rajkot and Bhavnagar – in Gujrat have been identified to set up cargo terminals with the development of hub and spoke model along with a freight grid. Jyotiraditya Scindia, Union Minister of Civil Aviation, said, “This scheme will open up more avenues of growth for the agricultural sector and help attain the goal of doubling farmers’ income by removing barriers in supply chain, logistics and transportation of farm produce.” The Krishi UDAN 2.0 scheme has given a full waiver of airport charges at select airports including Srinagar, Dibrugarh, Imphal, Jorhat, Lucknow, Tuticorin and Kozhikode among many others.

Blue Dart Express Limited, declared its financial results for the quarter ended September 30 2021, at its Board Meeting held in Mumbai. The company posted ₹895 million profit after tax (previous year corresponding quarter was at ₹414 million) for the quarter ended September 30, 2021; Revenue from operations for the quarter ended September 30, 2021 stood at ₹11,236 million. Revenue from operations for the half year ended September 30, 2021 stood at ₹19,884 million and profit after tax at ₹1,189 million. Balfour Manuel, Managing Director, Blue Dart says, “The company witnessed strong pull back in demand during the quarter as wave II of pandemic started slowing down. All economic indicators like GDP growth, Index for Industrial Production, GST collections etc. reflected strong recovery. Growth during the quarter is testimony to heightened business activities of key industrial verticals.”

Minister of Civil Aviation, Jyotiraditya Scindia met the Cargo Advisory Group today to discuss key issues in further boosting the Air cargo services. Members present during the meeting were Vipin Vohra, Cyrus N Katgara, Keku Bomi Gazder, Sanjiv Edward and others. The presentation was given by the Cargo Advisory Group, led by Cyrus Katgara, President ACFI. The discussion involved making an effective Air Cargo Eco-System with strong International Airline network, robust domestic air connectivity, Multi Modal connectivity and Hinterland Connectivity through AFS Spokes. Members from FFFAI also shared some key issues required to be addressed such as: * TDS on Freight Commissions charged by Airlines/Shippers – Double Deduction, * TDS Lower Deduction/ Nil Deduction Certificate issued u/s 197 of the Income Tax Act to the Airlines. * “Foreign Exchange Earner” recognition to the Freight Forwarders (FF’s) and Custom Brokers (CB’s) under service exports. * Clarity Sought by Freight Forwarders on certain points regarding SEIS scheme.

Singapore’s new mega-port is just months away from full operations, but it has opened its storage area early to help alleviate the supply chain bottlenecks plaguing container shipping. Congestion has caused ships to arrive late, resulting in logjams of containers in major ports around the globe. Ship arrivals at Singapore are now 7.5 days late, on average, after schedule reliability fell to an all-time low of 33.6% in August, although this has since improved to 40%. Senior minister of state for transport Chee Hong Tat said that following the Ever Given grounding, a ship which skipped a port call in the Persian Gulf came to Singapore, where it unloaded 2,700 containers originally bound for the Gulf. The containers were stored before being reloaded onto ships sailing to the intended destination. Chee said, “In doing so, [port operator] PSA enabled the shipping line to skip a port and catch up on its schedule, after a two-week diversion around the Cape of Good Hope.”