CEVA Logistics continues supporting Indonesia with the fight against the COVID-19 virus. It announces the transport of oxygen concentrators from the U.S. to Indonesia via Singapore. As part of the broader Singapore Changi Airport community, CEVA is participating in the aid project organized by the Changi Airport Group. The project’s first shipment of oxygen concentrators from Los Angeles weighed more than 14,000 kilograms and was delivered directly to the CEVA Logistics warehouse located within the Airport Logistics Park of Singapore. With many Southeast Asian and Pacific countries affected by the highly transmissible Delta variant, CEVA Logistics is using its global network to connect the right medical supplies with those that need them. In total, 1,380 machines are being donated by the Changi Foundation together with more than 30 other airport partners, as well as individual airport employees.

GMR Hyderabad Air Cargo (GHAC), a division of GMR Air Cargo and Aerospace Engineering Limited today announced that it had become the first cargo terminal in India & South Asia region to handle a shipment using the next generation Envirotainer Releye® RLP air cargo containers. Envirotainer active heating and cooling containers are one of the preferred options for movement of highly temperature-sensitive air cargo shipments globally. Pharmaceuticals and vaccines need to be protected from the vagaries of temperature excursions at all times throughout the supply chain providing an unbroken cold chain, irrespective of location, time of day or mode of handling, this is the preferred choice. Envirotainer has introduced the RLP size for the first time in an active container in the industry. Releye® RLP is the next generation temperature-controlled air cargo container introduced by Envirotainer, offering superior performance, up to 50% higher space efficiency, advanced live monitoring, and control features with an unparalleled ability to maintain the temperature of shipment for up to 170 hours, the highest in the world today.

Drone delivery tech start-up, Skye Air Mobility recently confirmed its participation in the Drone Logistics Ecosystem as a new member and the first member from India. The drone delivery tech company primarily dealing on healthcare, e-commerce, and food logistics, as the lead operations member of the first consortium is to be given approval by DGCA. The company is spearheading the BVLOS (beyond visual line of sight) trials and the “Medicines from the Sky” trials for the Telangana government in collaboration with leading logistics delivery partners. The collaboration between Skye Air & Mobility & AirGo Design will enable Inclusivity for all players in the industry and provide an open Drone Logistics Ecosystem, and it will standardize globally to ensure the smooth and efficient movement of goods from the factory to the end customer globally. Furthermore, it will create a win-win situation for all participants in this emerging industry and the delivery and courier industry, and more importantly, the customers.

India’s logistics market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 10.5% until 2025 spurred by faster adoption of modern technology, e-enabled fleet, and warehouse management solutions. Had it not been for the disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the logistics and supply chain industry — the backbone of global trade and services — would not have moved in a hurry to engineer the adoption of IoT, machine learning, and artificial intelligence in their day-to-day operations. “The disruptions caused by Covid-19 are making global companies rethink their supply chain strategy. Two major areas that are likely to see great traction are improved visibility across supply chains (both for cargo shipments and documentation) and drawing a balance between just-in-time and just-in-case,” says Sanjay Bhatia, Co-founder & CEO at Freightwalla, a digital freight forwarder.

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ), announced that the Andhra Pradesh Maritime Board has approved the company’s proposal to acquire 10.4% stake for INR 644.78 crore in Gangavaram Port. The transaction for the same is expected to be completed within a month. Gangavaram Port is engaged in the business of handling various types of dry bulk and break bulk cargo. The port is a multi-cargo facility and handled 32.81 MMT of cargo in FY 21. It had a capacity of 64 MMT. The operational revenue for financial year 2020-21 was Rs 1,057 crore. Earlier in April, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) also gave a go-ahead to the Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd. on their acquisition of 89.6% stake in Gangavaram Port Ltd. The acquisition of the port by Adani is in line with its strategy of East Coast to West Coast parity and will provide an access to growth from new hinterland markets as it has coverage in resource rich and industrial belt in Eastern, Central and Southern India.

Euler Motors, a manufacturer of electric commercial vehicles, announced that BigBasket, Flipkart, Udaan, and some other e-commerce, hyperlocal and B2B delivery players have placed an order with it for 2,500 EVs for intra-city deliveries. The companies will deploy Euler Motors’ EVs for first, mid and last-mile operations across Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai. Deliveries of these vehicles are scheduled to take place in the next six to eight months. The Delhi-based OEM company also announced the launch of its first three-wheeler L5 cargo vehicle around the festive season this year. The company is currently plying 300+ vehicles as part of a pre-launch pilot with e-commerce and FMCG companies for hyperlocal delivery in Delhi-NCR. Euler claims of clocking over 10 million km and helping reduce carbon emissions of over 1,000 tonnes, which is equivalent to 1 million litres of saved fuel.

New age domestic logistics and supply chain giant Delhivery has acquired Bengaluru-based Spoton Logistics for an undisclosed sum, a move primed to strengthen its existing B2B capabilities. With the acquisition, Samara Capital and Xponentia, which acquired Spoton from IEP in 2018, have made a full exit for cash as part of the transaction. Spoton Logistics is a leading multimodal express logistics and supply chain solutions company in the country. “Over 10 years, Delhivery has established a leading position in B2C logistics and now by combining our part truckload business with Spoton’s, we will be on the path to the same position in B2B express as well.” said Sahil Barua, CEO, Delhivery “Spoton is known for its focus on customer relationships and service quality, professional management and technology and engineering, which are values shared by Delhivery as well, and that sets us up to together be one of India’s leading logistics companies.” said Abhik Mitra, Managing Director, Spoton Logistics.

The advisory group on air cargo met the Minister for Civil Aviation, Jyotirditya Scindia to discuss key issues related to Air cargo that will help boost the Air cargo in India. The Minister took keen interest complementing the deliberations and very pro-active action items were discussed at length. In a message by Cyrus Katgara, President Air Cargo forum of India he said that the meeting was quiet a success. The meeting chaired by the Honorable Minister with the advisory group on air cargo to get an overview of the major policy and infrastructure-related issues facing the sector and developing a robust air cargo ecosystem in India.

Etihad Engineering, the largest commercial aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services provider in the Middle East, has signed a strategic partnership with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), to provide Passenger to Freighter (P2F) conversions on Boeing 777-300ER’s. In 2019, IAI and GE Capital Aviation Services (GECAS) announced the launch of the Boeing 777-300ERSF, a programme which established a P2F conversion dubbed ‘The Big Twin’ denoting its status as the largest ever twin-engine freighter. 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. Etihad Engineering will capitalise on their expertise and extensive capabilities for the specialised Boeing 777-300ERSF conversion. In the initial stage of the partnership, Etihad Engineering will facilitate towards two conversion lines accommodating multiple aircraft conversions per year.

UPS is delivering COVID-19 vaccines with Matternet drones to a hospital in North Carolina. Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist medical center is believed to be the first in the country to receive COVID-19 vaccine deliveries by drone. This new initiative operated by UPS and its subsidiary, UPS Flight Forward expands Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist’s existing drone program, which was launched in July 2020. The World Health Organization estimates that up to 50 percent of vaccines are wasted globally every year, largely due to temperature control failure, Matternet CEO Andreas Raptopoulos said in a statement. When transporting the COVID-19 vaccines, the Matternet M2 drone is outfitted with a special cargo box that contains Cold Chain Technologies’ customized PCM Gel solution, a temperature-sensitive packaging mixture that maintains the COVID-19 vaccine at 2 degrees to 8 degrees Celsius (35.6 degrees to 46.4 degrees Fahrenheit).