E-commerce giant Amazon India has entered into an agreement with GMR Logistics Park Pvt Ltd as of August 19, 2021, to lease a 10 lakh sq ft of warehousing space for a period of 20 years, in Hyderabad, as revealed by Propstack. The chargeable area is 10.08 lakh sq ft and the starting rent is around INR 2 crore per month (INR 20.15 per sq ft). The lease starts from April 15, 2022, as per documents. As per the clause mentioned in the lease agreement, there will be a rental escalation of 15 percent every three years. GMR Logistics Park Pvt Ltd is expected to hand over the first phase of the leaseable premises on April 15, 2022, and phase 2 of the leasable premises on September 1, 2022, the documents showed

Airbus, one of the world’s largest airplane manufacturers, has firmed up plans for the freighter version of its successful passenger jet A350 with interest from the likes of global cargo giants DHL and UPS. And Boeing, which has a near monopoly in the production freighter market, has a plan for a freighter version of it’s yet to be operational passenger jet B777X. While the Covid-19 pandemic has taken its toll on the aviation sector, cargo operations are offsetting operators’ losses, as it continues to play a critical role in facilitating international trade. As a result, industry forecasts show an increase in demand for wide-body freighter aircraft with long-haul capacity. As original equipment manufacturers like Airbus and Boeing expand their production freighter options, the conversion of passenger-to-freighter (P2F) business has also boomed ever since the Covid-19 pandemic gripped the world.

Lufthansa Cargo along with the German Federal Ministry of Transport (BMVI) has come together for a new federal research project “Digital Test Field Air Cargo”. The aim is to increase the efficiency, performance and competitiveness of air cargo in Germany by improving the networking of all the players involved and digitizing processes. This project will be coordinated by the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics (IML). “We are pleased that the Federal Ministry of Transport has clearly committed itself to air freight in Germany with the Digital Test Field Air Cargo. We want to contribute to further strengthening Germany as a business location. That is why we are contributing our many years of experience in digitalization along the supply chain to this nationwide project and ultimately also want to set international standards. Digitalizing air freight further also means making it more sustainable. To this end, we see great potential in optimized data exchange between all partners in the airfreight transport chain, for example, which we want to leverage,” said Harald Gloy, Lufthansa Cargo’s Executive Board member for Operations and Human Resources and a member of the BMVI’s Innovation Commission.

In a landmark achievement, Indian Railways’ Western Railway (WR) zone successfully operated the first electric train from Bhavnagar Division’s Pipavav Port, making it the country’s first Indian port connected with High Rise over head electrification(OHE). With this, Pipavav Rail Corporation Ltd., a new customer, has been added as Container Operator. The first rake was loaded from Pipavav port siding to Bhagat Ki Kothi, Jodhpur. This port is now directly connected with DFC with AC Traction of High Rise OHE. A senior railway official stated that this newly established connectivity will benefit in various aspects, such as elimination of undue detention on account of Traction change, acceleration will be quicker, direct connectivity through AC Traction between Pipavav Port and DFC and other major destinations. “The new connectivity with Pipavav Port is the beginning to a new era for Western Railway as well as Indian Railways towards a smooth, easy and quick transportation from ports in India,” according to an official statement by the Western Railway.

Allcargo Logistics Ltd is mulling a potential entry into container terminal operation business to explore opportunities with the container freight stations (CFS) and inland container depots (ICD) the firm runs across India, shared a top official. “Some of the strategic objectives that we could explore would be whether it would make sense to get into container terminal operations,” said Ravi Jakhar, Chief Strategy Officer, Allcargo Logistics. This, however, does not include greenfield port development as those are infrastructure projects. But if there happens to be any opportunities for container terminals, we could look at it, Jakhar said. “From a strategic point of view, container terminals could be a potential area of synergy with CFS/ICD business”, Jakhar explained. He, however, added that the firm “does not have active investment plans on the drawing board”.

Emirates SkyCargo, an air transport of temperature sensitive pharmaceuticals, announces the completion of more than 400 million kilos of pharma transport in 5 years, marking an important operational milestone. In September 2016, Emirates SkyCargo raised the bar in the air cargo industry for the safe and efficient transport of pharmaceuticals by launching its dedicated GDP certified pharma handling facility at Dubai International Airport and at the same time unveiling its three-tiered specialised product – Emirates Pharma. Nabil Sultan, Emirates Divisional senior vice president, Cargo, said, “At Emirates SkyCargo, we recognised very early on that our customers were looking for increasingly specialised solutions for their cargo and this was true especially for valuable and life-saving medicines that have to be transported under very strict conditions. We introduced our 360 degree transportation solution backed by state of the art GDP certified Dubai handling facility for our pharma customers in September 2016. The response from the market was overwhelmingly positive and we managed to very quickly transform the perception that Dubai was a destination to be avoided for pharma cargo in the summer to that of Dubai being a reliable hub for pharma customers all year round. Our pharma volumes have continued to grow over the years and to date we have transported more than 400 million kilos (400, 000 tonnes) of pharma cargo under our Emirates Pharma umbrella.”

Continental Carriers Pvt Ltd announced the movement of Genex 1B engine, weighing over 10 tones, biggest in the GE family, from US to India. The scope of work extended from Door to Port including packing, lashing and movement of engine on Air Ride Trailer. Genex 1B engine Designed specifically for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner family. Continental Carriers Pvt Ltd Aerospace Team has for over a decade been the foremost choice for MRO/OEMs/ Commercial Carriers/Lessors for their AOG/DG/HAZ/Time Critical movements across the globe. The faith and confidence is nurtured by our dedicated AOG team who works round the clock monitoring the shipment status, end to end.

Asia Airfreight Terminal (AAT) has been awarded IATA’s Center of Excellence for Perishable Logistics (CEIV Fresh) certification in September 2021. This accreditation recognizes our strong expertise, stringent training and excellent facilities in handling perishable cargo in accordance with global standards. It enhances our service commitment and professionalism when handling temperature-sensitive shipments. There is increasing demand for the safe transportation of high-end perishables and pharmaceuticals by air. AAT is in the process of further enhancing our handling capabilities to capture these opportunities as part of Airport Authority Hong Kong’s initiative to develop HKIA into the world’s Perishables Hub.

Global automakers could lose $210 billion in revenue this year because of supply chain disruptions, nearly double a forecast earlier this year, consulting firm Alixpartners said on Thursday. Alixpartners attributes a part of this problem to a shortage of semiconductors in a new forecast. High prices and tight supplies of commodities such as steel and plastic resin are leading to a surge in costs and forcing automakers to curtail production. Automakers are on track to lose production of 7.7 million vehicles in 2021, according to the new forecast. Alixpartners advises automakers on supply chain and other issues. The firm in May, predicted automakers would lose $110 billion in revenue and fall 3.9 million vehicles short of production plans for the year. The forecast comes amid warnings from automakers and commercial truck manufacturers that semiconductor shortages and commodity price spikes are not easing as 2021 heads into its final months, as industry executives had hoped they would.

South Africa’s national carrier South African Airways (SAA) will stretch its wings after a hiatus of over a year as it entered into the business rescue process that began on December 5, 2019. The first flight took off today from Johannesburg to Cape Town. SAA has got wings to fly once again because the government finally decided to give up its controlling stake by offloading 51 percent stake to Takatso Consortium which comprises Global Aviation and Harith General Partners. Initially, SAA will not return to the international long-haul as the market conditions are not yet right. Even though SAA has two A340-600s (owned) and one A330-300 (leased), aircraft that are capable of serving intercontinental routes, the operating cost for the old fleet is so prohibitive that the airline has decided not to resume intercontinental flights for the moment. An SAA Spokesperson said, “SAA’s current fleet includes the A330-300 which has the capability and efficiency for some international service at the right time. However, the primary focus is for maximum operational flexibility within Africa. Future fleet for international service is yet to be decided and the timing of that decision will coincide with evidence of sustained recovery in international demand.”