The Suez Canal Authority had to put up with with another ship running aground in the high-traffic waterway. The Coral Crystal, which measures 225 metres in length and 32 metres in width, was passing through the canal with 401 tonnes of cargo when it ran aground. However, the good news is that there was no global shipping traffic jam. Although it is yet to be ascertained why the bulk carrier ran aground, it has been reported that it was only stuck for short time. According to some international reports, the carrier only took 15 minutes. Fortunately, it was stuck in a double-lane section of the canal, so other vessels could keep going on their way in another lane. Earlier this year, the Ever Given blockage led to a global traffic jam. The 440-metre-long Ever Given was wedged in the canal for six days, creating a massive traffic jam and leading to international shipping delays as vessels were forced to go around Africa instead of passing through the canal.

Mammoth Freighters LLC (Mammoth), a logistic solution provider has launched its Boeing 777-200LR and 777-300ER passenger-to-freighter conversion programs. Mammoth brings a flexible business model to market that provides air cargo operators and asset owners dynamic new options including the ability to provide their own assets for conversion or acquire or lease ready-to-fly converted freighters from Mammoth’s existing feedstock of ten 777-200LR GE90-110B1 equipped aircraft. These assets were acquired from Delta Air Lines and are the largest fleet of -200LR sister aircraft in the world. Mammoth was founded in December 2020 by two aviation industry executives, Bill Wagner and Bill Tarpley, both serving as the company’s Co-CEOs. The Company is backed by private investment funds managed by Fortress Investment Group LLC and its affiliates (Fortress). The company has launched its Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) development program with the plan to achieve FAA approval in the second half of 2023.

Urban logistics spaces in India are expected to exceed 7 million sq. ft by 2022, as demand surges, JLL said it its report ‘India Urban Logistics – Are dark stores revolutionising the sector?’ released today. The urban logistics industry in India is at a very nascent and fragmented fringe state now and is on the cusp of going mainstream. Demand will be supported by freight congestion currently impacting cities and communities and mitigate the associated environmental impact of vehicles on these locations. According to JLL, urban logistics will help address these infrastructure, community, and environmental concerns, while via the efficient movement and transport of goods in urban areas through last-mile storage spaces. Furthermore, urban logistics is expected to expand significantly beyond 2022, as the increasing trend of faster goods distribution and e-commerce penetration increases nationwide. “Urban logistics will play a more front-and-centre role in the metropolitan economies of India as consumers become more tethered to the convenience, transparency and hygiene benefits of online purchasing throughout and post-Covid. The surge in e-commerce has led to increased storage space and logistic delivery capabilities, thereby giving owners and developers a clear opportunity to capitalise on the demand, which we believe will easily exceed 7 million sq. ft by 2022,” said Radha Dhir, CEO and Country Head, India, JLL.

CEVA Logistics opened its temperature-controlled airfreight station adjacent to Singapore’s Changi International Airport, positioning Singapore as a strategic healthcare logistics hub for the Asia Pacific region. CEVA’s latest cold station lies within the Free Trade Zone of the Airport Logistics Park of Singapore, facilitating seamless regional distribution in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region and providing in-transit storage, value-add services and quick turnaround times for connecting to global markets. CEVA’s growing network of cold stations is in direct service of its Temperature Sensitive Solution, a pharmaceutical logistics offering ensuring that temperature-sensitive shipments across ambient and chilled conditions are maintained in their optimal environments throughout shipment. CEVA remains committed to operating a network of more than 40 such airfreight stations by the end of 2021. Additional stations in Atlanta, Chicago, Frankfurt, Madrid, Budapest and Mumbai are scheduled to open in the coming months.

The warehousing sector’s meteoric rise to prominence in India was spurred by the introduction of GST leading to consolidation and the central government’s decision to grant ‘infrastructure status’ to the logistics sector including warehousing. Furthermore, with 100% FDI permitted in warehousing and logistics alongside maturated state-level warehousing policies, the sector has been seeing rapid institutionalization and subsequent inflow of major investments. The investments grew from USD 675 million during 2014-2016 to USD 2.3 billion from FY 2017-2019 in the top 8 cities of India. In 2020, the pandemic reinforced a structural shift in consumer preferences – accelerating the penetration of online sales even in tier-2 and tier-3 cities, thus giving a huge boost to the sector. Any e-commerce operation needs a strong and robust supply chain network, of which, modern warehousing forms a critical component. As global e-commerce companies rapidly look to expand in their battle for retail supremacy, investments in infrastructure like warehousing; especially well located, modern, compliant with very high construction quality; will remain a top priority. In a previous report, we have also estimated that e-commerce companies themselves will require at the very least 25 million sq. ft. of Grade-A warehousing stock in 2025 across the country which in 2020 was 9.3 million square feet.

LATAM Airlines Group exceeded 100 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines transported free of charge within Brazil, Chile, Ecuador and Peru. The initiative is part of LATAM’s ‘Solidarity Plane,’ a program that makes LATAM’s connectivity available for the benefit of South America at zero cost. It includes both passenger and cargo capacity. “Each of LATAM’s collaborators are proud to be able to contribute to overcoming the pandemic. Today, we have transported the 100 million dose of COVID vaccine for free. We will remain committed to making our connectivity available for the benefit of the lives and health of the people of South America,” said Roberto Alvo, CEO of LATAM Airlines Group.

GEODIS is offering its customers to benefit from alternative fuel solutions in the air and at sea, all around the world. The objective is to contribute to the reduction of the CO2 emissions of their shipments. “The development of biofuel is one of the strategic paths being pursued by GEODIS to meet the challenge of carbon neutrality. With these new solutions for air and sea freight, we offer our customers an additional way to decarbonize their entire supply chain,” says Marie-Christine Lombard, GEODIS Chief Executive Officer. The aviation (Sustainable Aviation Fuel) and maritime (Sustainable Marine Fuel) fuels, derived from non-fossil sources, are produced using food and agricultural waste (mainly cooking oil). Their use allows for a massive reduction in CO2 emissions over the cycle from production to fuel consumption; at least 80 percent for air and 90 percent for sea transport, along with a reduction in other pollutants.

E-commerce giant Amazon, on Tuesday, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Industries and Mines Department, Government of Gujarat with an aim to help drive e-commerce exports from the state, an official release stated. Under the signed MoU, Amazon will train and onboard MSMEs from the state on Amazon Global Selling and enable them to sell their unique Made in India products to millions of Amazon customers across 200-odd countries and territories. This will allow the home-grown businesses to get access to the global market. They will benefit from Amazon’s distribution capabilities and global footprint to scale rapidly and build sustainable export businesses. The e-commerce giant will host training, webinars and workshops for exporters from key MSME clusters like Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat, Bharuch and Rajkot and others.

Scan Global Logistics (SGL) has signed an agreement to acquire New Zealand Freight Forwarder Orbis Global Logistics Limited. Orbis will become the newest member of the SGL family on 5 October. SGL and Orbis are said to share an identical customer-centric business model rooted in providing entrepreneurial transport and logistics solutions to a diverse portfolio of customers. By this acquisition, SGL will significantly strengthen its position in the Pacific region, targeting significant growth in the coming years. Director of Orbis, Troy Hageman, explains how the acquisition will provide an even better value proposition for the customers, “The SGL acquisition of Orbis represents the next chapter in our dynamic growth in the NZ market. SGL is the perfect fit for us on a cultural level. It also gives us the ability to utilize their extensive network and infrastructure to expand within the Pacific Region and beyond, to the benefit of our customers and staff alike. The Orbis Team and Directors look forward to our next chapter with SGL, remaining focussed on providing our customers with the service and care that they are accustomed to, and with the additional capability that SGL brings.”

BBAM Limited Partnership (BBAM) and Lufthansa Cargo sign an agreement to lease two Airbus A321 passenger-to-freighter (P2F) aircraft on long-term leases. The Airbus A321P2F aircraft will be leased to Lufthansa Cargo on long-term leases from BBAM. In July this year, Lufthansa Cargo had announced that the company will offer its customers additional capacity in Europe from the beginning of 2022 by permanently converting Airbus 321 passenger aircraft into freighters. This new agreement is the first step towards its commitment. The A321P2F will offer customers in the eCommerce segment fast intra-European connections. With this the company is meeting their customers’ growing demand for same-day solutions and further strengthening its dense network of global connections as well as its product offering.