Tata Steel has been rated “A” and is listed as 2021 ‘Supplier Engagement Leader’ by CDP, a global environmental non-profit charity, for its initiatives to reduce GHG emissions and tackle climate-change risks across its supply chain. This is the second time in three years that the Company has been included on the Global Leaderboard. Over the last three decades, Tata Steel has made concerted efforts in various areas including supply chain to mitigate climate change and manage climate risks. Tata Steel launched its Responsible Supply Chain Policy in FY20 to encourage supply chain partners to integrate sustainability principles in their decisions and processes. The Company works in collaboration with its supply chain partners towards promoting sustainable business practices for a better planet. Peeyush Gupta, Vice President, Supply Chain, Tata Steel, said: “As part of our vision to be the global steel industry benchmark in value creation and corporate citizenship, we are committed towards climate action and adopting sustainable practices across our value chain. We will continue to engage with our supply chain partners and encourage them to adopt and maintain management practices to improve their energy & resource efficiency and environmental performance. We have also taken several initiatives over the last two years to lower Scope 3 carbon emissions and have plans to significantly reduce our footprint in future.” Sonya Bhonsle, Global Head of Value Chains & Regional Director Corporations, CDP, said: “Our data shows that companies currently have blinkers on when it comes to assessing their indirect impacts and engaging with suppliers to reduce them. Companies must act urgently to cascade action and manage environmental impacts throughout their supply chains to scale the level of action to secure a …

TESSOL, a globally recognized Indian Cold Chain Solution provider that aims to solve the last mile distribution problem in India is all set to raise the bar of Cold Chain solutions in India. The brand had launched a break-through ice-cream and frozen food delivery solution last year, indiWRAPTM which has been extremely successful in helping brands fulfil their promise and reach a wider customer base. Encouraged by the success in ice cream delivery with e-commerce brands, TESSOL has expanded the product range to include other verticals like Gourmet Chocolates, imported fruits, Seafood and Meats as well as Pharmaceutical products. The solution ensures product quality with a 60 min temperature maintenance guarantee in every delivery without using any insulation and this further help brands increase their delivery radius in a simple and cost-effective manner. With insulation, the product can be cost effectively transported up to 72 hours! Commenting on the success of indiWRAPTM, Mr. Rajat Gupta, Founder & CEO, TESSOL said, “We are excited about the success of our PCM based indiWRAPTM in keeping the ice-cream and frozen chilled while maintaining the taste on the go. With the new expanded range, a lot more Brands will be able to benefit from this technology this summer. This will not only increase brand’s bandwidth but further help them gaining their customers trust and confidence.”

Shannon Group has plans to upgrade its cargo facilities at Shannon Airport in Ireland. It’s development, currently awaiting planning permission, is a “2,705 sq m distribution facility”. This facility will be located on a three-acre development site and will incorporate an additional 335 sq m of office accommodation. This facility will provide direct landside/airside access, said a Shannon Group spokesperson. “The upgrade of our cargo facilities is part of our overall plans to enhance the facilities Shannon has to offer to cargo operators using the airport,” added the spokesperson. The distribution facility forms part of Shannon Group’s development strategy, which has seen the Group invest over €150m in property since 2014. Over €5.3m in airfield rehabilitation works were recently completed at Shannon Airport. The rehabilitation works involved three separate areas of the airfield: the resurfacing of the executive jet and light aircraft park; the extension of a section the apron (which facilitates aircraft for the loading and unloading of cargo, passengers and for refuelling), and the resurfacing of the long-term aircraft parking area.

GMR Hyderabad Air Cargo (GHAC) is stepping up its investments to cater to higher cargo volumes by launching a dedicated International Courier Terminal (ICT) for handling express cargo this year. A ‘Cool Container Yard’, set to be South Asia’s largest on-airport base for temperature-controlled air cargo containers to facilitate transport of high-value life-saving medications globally, is also scheduled for opening. These two are part of a terminal expansion programme of scaling up the infrastructure, technology, and service offerings with additions to capacity across both domestic and international cargo terminals to meet the expected demand in the future. The entire export processing zone was recently converted into a temperature-controlled area, becoming the only cargo terminal in the country with such an offering. All these developments are likely to make GHAC the largest air cargo hub for south and central India. “Our cargo terminal has registered a positive growth momentum in a difficult year. With the expected return to normalcy in international air connectivity during 2022, we are very bullish about the future prospects. We will be making major investments into expansion and upgrade of our cargo terminal facilities,” said CEO-GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd. (GHIAL), Pradeep Panicker.

In the month of January 2022, the national transporter recorded the highest ever freight loading of 129.11 million Tonnes, marking it as the 17th consequent month of growth in freight loading i.e. from September 2020 to January 2022. According to the Railway Ministry, Indian Railways registered 107.56 MT freight loading in January 2019, 110.58 MT in January 2020, 119.55 MT in January 2021, and 129.11 MT in January 2022. Indian Railways, a few days ago, announced that the East Coast Railway became the first zonal railway to achieve 200 MT freight loading in 2021-22. The zone has achieved 200 million Tonnes in loading, recording a growth of 26.67 million Tonnes, which is an increase of 15% than the corresponding period of last fiscal, i.e., from 1 April 2021 to 14 February 2022. The ECoR has loaded 200.50 million Tonnes of freight during the period as against 173.82 million Tonnes of freight carried in the corresponding period of last fiscal. The zonal railway has achieved this in just 320 days as against 360 days loaded in the corresponding period of the last financial year.

ECS Group’s U.S. subsidiary, Miami-based Globe Air Cargo is now responsible for all cargo sales and administrative services connected to Azul’s entire U.S. business and will assist Azul with flight operations. Azul operates an A330 passenger and passenger-to-freighter fleet out of Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) and Orlando International Airport (MCO), to Viracopos-Campina International Airport (VCP), Brazil, nine times a week, and is licenced to carry all commodity types. In addition to steering and growing Azul’s cargo business out of its online gateways, the GSSA has clear plans to also develop the airline’s business from offline U.S. destinations with dedicated Azul sales representatives. “We are thrilled to represent Azul which is a fast growing and very dynamic Brazilian carrier with a lot of ambition. We have established a dedicated team here at Globe Air Cargo, to support and develop Azul Cargo’s U.S business to Brazil and look forward to creating synergies with our ECS Group colleagues representing Azul in Argentina and Europe,” Danny OLYNICK, Regional VP North America for Globe Air Cargo, comments. “We aim to maximise Azul’s revenues and support it in accessing new destinations across the United States, both online and offline. What is particularly attractive about Azul, is its focus on e-commerce cargo deliveries all the way through to the last mile across Brazil: a fascinating expanded network challenge that we are more than happy to participate in.”

Sea freight rates have increased up to 800% in some routes — a 100% increase than in October last year (700%) — due to reduced available capacity on shipping lines and container shortage, based on recent feedback received by the Malaysian National Shippers’ Council (MNSC). MNSC chairman Datuk Dr Andy Seo said as an open trading nation like Malaysia, over 90% of the international trade volume is being carried through international sea transportation. He stressed that the skyrocketing sea freight rates coupled with the increasing commodity prices and labour shortages in both the manufacturing and logistics services sectors as a result of the pandemic has caused prices of imported business inputs and export costs to soar. “Shippers face difficult decisions daily on whether to ship and incur high export costs or not to ship and lose their export markets. Major shippers in Malaysia are now exporting on ‘Free on Board’ basis as they are no longer able to cover the high freight costs and now must rely on the freight services determined by the overseas buyer.” said Seo.

The economic corridor is among the projects, that are included to be tracked as part of Gati Shakti National Master Plan (NMP), launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. NMP envisages breaking departmental silos and bringing in more holistic and integrated planning and execution of projects. Chennai-Surat economic corridor is under various stages of execution in Tamil Nadu, Andhra, Telangana, Maharashtra, and Gujarat. Some of the packages have already reached the bid stage. The project is envisioned as a combination of 2 partially access-controlled economic corridors (Chennai-Solapur and Solapur-Surat) and will include construction of greenfield stretches and upgrading brownfield sections. The corridor will pass through Nashik, Ahmednagar, Solapur, Kalaburgi outskirts, Kurnool, Kadappa, and Tirupathi linking the states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana, and Tamil Nadu. While the Surat –Solapur Economic Corridor (via Nashik – Ahmednagar ) will be 564 km long, the Solapur Chennai Economic Corridor (via Kurnool) will be 707 km. The stretches between Surat and Ahmednagar via Nasik and Akkalkot-Mahabubnagar section that links Maharashtra with Telangana will be developed as greenfield alignments. The greenfield portion of the corridor will be close to 520 km. The rest of the corridor will upgrade existing two-lane roads. The project will be developed on Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM) that NHAI has preferred till recently. The project is estimated to cost anywhere between Rs 45,000 to Rs 50,000 crores. Besides creating a third route by road between Chennai and Mumbai, the corridor seeks to reduce the distance roughly by 150 km between the two cities. Currently, heavy vehicles from Chennai and other parts of the State take a detour via Karnataka to reach Mumbai passing through a 1,604-km distance via Bengaluru, Tumukuru, Chitradurga, Davangere, …

John Menzies has approved a takeover proposal from Agility subsidiary National Aviation Services (NAS) Holding following its rejection of earlier offers. The board of Menzies has received a further revised “final” proposal from Agility subsidiary NAS regarding a possible all cash offer for Menzies of 608 pence per share. The deal has been valued at around £550m. This follows earlier approaches from NAS to the board regarding possible all cash offers for Menzies at 460 pence, 510 pence and 605 pence per Menzies share. Menzies ssid, “The Board has considered the Final Proposal and indicated to NAS that it would be willing unanimously to recommend an offer at the financial terms of the Final Proposal to Menzies shareholders subject to the satisfactory resolution of all the other terms of the offer, including the approach to the customary regulatory approvals required to complete any transaction.” The board of Menzies is now in talks with NAS regarding the terms and will be providing NAS with access to management and due diligence information.

Smartr Logistics, a trademark of Smart Express Private Limited, has carved a niche in the express logistics industry by offering same-day interstate delivery. The logistics firm has been executing multiple inter-state same-day deliveries across the country. Some of the notable routes are from North to South; East to West; Metros to Non – Metros etc. This has helped Smartr customers in savings by reducing their inventory carrying/working capital cycle by 3-4 days and thereby reducing their inventory holding cost. The start-up has also enabled a technology that allows customers to track shipment 24×7, offering best-in-class first and last-mile services to its customers. The technology is easy, convenient, and ensures consignment is tracked through the entire journey, thus instilling transparency and fairness. Commenting on the 12–18-hour delivery services Yogesh Dhingra, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Smartr Logistics said, “We invest in potential, not just assets. We are optimally using India’s air network to directly connect destinations thus reducing the time for transits and diversions. We also work around customer’s clock, supporting in flexible pickup and delivery timelines. These facilities help our customers with faster and more prompt services. “