Spoton Logistics, India’s premier technology-driven logistics company, successfully eliminated operational inefficiencies and increased monthly sales turnover by over 3-times for one of India’s largest auto components manufacturers. Spoton drastically reduced the Order-to-Supply turnaround time – by an astonishing 30%, improved customer collections, as well as significantly increased repeat orders resulting in record-high production and sales units. Delivering service excellence to over 5500 customers in India over the past nine years, Spoton Logistics was entrusted with the responsibility to manage post-production operations. Spoton’s team deftly redesigned workflows, packaging, and weights and measures processes in order to bring about improvements in the entire supply chain processes. Abhik Mitra, MD & CEO, Spoton Logistics, expressed, “We are honoured to work with giants in India, helping them simplify their workflows and attain positive business outcomes with the amalgamation of cutting-edge technology and our service excellence. We are certain to deliver substantial value to our customers through our integrated logistics services impacting their bottom-line results in a positive manner.”

Foreign buyers have started cancelling the shipments boarding from India because the exporters are not able to avail any containers leading to consignments lying at various ports for weeks together. This, coupled with ever-soaring freight rates and congested ports, has left the small-time exporters of India fighting for every penny as the freight rates are higher than the cost of their product. Container News spoke with the Managing Director of the New Delhi-based clothing manufacturer, Jyoti Apparels, HKL Magu, who said that “high freight rates can be absorbed, but unavailability of containers has changed the rules of the game. Several vessels are bypassing India because there are no containers for consignments to be shipped. Sometimes our consignments are lying in ports for three to four weeks. International buyers tell us to either cancel the order or send it by air. But air freight rates have also skyrocketed”.

The exponential surge of coronavirus infection over the past few weeks has swamped the health care system that witnessed patients facing many challenges in getting oxygen at the right time thus resulting in lots of deaths at various situations. The dire shortage has turned out to be a major challenge faced by hospitals in many states across the country. Several healthcare centres in Indian cities and towns have run short of the gas leaving the people helpless. Recently JM Baxi Group had supplied Oxygen Cylinders to the states of Delhi, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. At the time of extreme crises faced again across the country JM Baxi has once again extended its hands to help the needy in the imports of oxygen cylinders through Visakha container Terminal. The imports are done by WAN HAI lines that brought 14×20’ of oxygen laden cylinders from Qingdao & 25×20’ of empty cylinders on their service “m.v. TRF Kaya” arrived Visakhapatnam Port on 09th July. The unconditional support from the shipping fraternity in carrying these oxygen cylinders across the country is truly commendable. Despite the challenges of the lockdown VCT also continued to render its services through the able support of all the concerned stakeholders.

Air Canada Cargo, the cargo division of Air Canada announces their quarterly results. They believe this quarter has seen their best performance ever. Canada’s largest airline and the flag carrier’s, Air Canada Cargo, achieved a record $358 million in revenue. This represents an increase of $89 million, or 33 percent compared to the same quarter in 2020. The second quarter results were recently announced and the highlight of the financial numbers for the North American carrier was the cargo revenue. “We’re tremendously proud of the strongest quarterly results Air Canada Cargo has ever seen, which are a testament to our continued efforts to maintain stable and consistent capacity flows for our customers across the globe through cargo-only flying,” said Matthieu Casey, senior director, cargo global sales and revenue optimization at Air Canada.

Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on October, 2017 had approved Phase-I of Bharatmala covering 24,800 km of roads under Bharatmala Pariyojana in addition to 10,000 km of residual NHDP, at an financial outlay of Rs. 5,35,000 Crores. Apart from above highways projects, CCEA also mandated MoRT&H to develop 35 Multi Model Logistics Parks (MMLP) across the country. The list of 35 MMLPs is provided at Annexure – I. The status of 35 MMLPs along with land acquisition and the status of detailed technical assessment is provided at Annexure – II. The status of detailed technical assessment is provided at Annexure – II. 35 MMLPs being implemented by MoRTH are to be developed under Public Private Partnership (PPP) on Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer (DBFOT) mode. The bidding documents (The Model Concession Agreement and Request for Proposal) for these 35 MMLPs is under finalization. Based on outcome of DPR/Feasibility Studies and approved bidding document, the tender will be invited from companies.

Lufthansa Cargo, supported by Miebach Consulting, is modernising the infrastructure for its road feeder services (RFS) at its Frankfurt hub. On behalf of the carrier, two mechanical companies — Vollert Anlagenbau and Körber — will carry out the modernisation of the RFS high-rack storage system, including its mechanical, control and IT features. Completion of the RFS stacker conversion is planned for early summer 2023. The complete modernisation of the Lufthansa Cargo Center is expected to be finished in 2029. Harald Gloy, chief operations officer and chief human resources officer at Lufthansa Cargo, commented: “The modernisation of the RFS stacker is another important component of the extensive infrastructure program for the logistics center at the Frankfurt site. In the future, our RFS customers will benefit from shorter turnaround times and more efficient handling of transports by truck. With the help of a modern IT environment, we are ensuring the adaptability of the high-rack storage system with regard to upcoming technological developments.”

The Hambantota International Port (HIP) recorded their highest discharge levels of bulk cargo recently, when a shipment of gypsum consigned to Insee Cement was unloaded at a rate of 24,000 Metric tons per day by port operations. Thusith Gunawarnasuriya, Director Procurement & Logistics of Insee Cement says this was an extraordinary achievement for a Sri Lankan port in terms of speed and efficiency. “As the No. 1 cement manufacturing company in Sri Lanka, we import raw materials in large vessels. But once these vessels arrive in the country, it is up to port operations, in this case HIPG and HIPS, to discharge the vessels quickly. Quicker the cargo is discharged, the more benefit not only to us but also the country because for each day the vessel remains in port we pay vast amounts in detention and demurrage —something to the tune of US $ 75,000. Therefore, when we are able to discharge two-and-a-half days earlier like we did this time, the cost saving is significant. Yes, it is an advantage for our company, but it is also a considerable saving in foreign exchange for the country.”

AVEVA offers a complete suite of technology solutions that enable shipyards become more agile, while shipping lines can better share and analyse data from ship to shore, explains Herve Lours, Vice President – Marine, AVEVA. It is a $1.6 billion software company listed on the London Stock Exchange. It’s a leader in industrial software business, primarily focusing on gas, power and marine. AVEVA is also one of the largest software companies in the maritime sector and has some unique capabilities – this is the only software supplier in the maritime world providing a complete software suite for the entire lifecycle, starting from engineering design and moving down to operations of the shipyard and ships as well. Talking about the lifecycle, engineering and design, AVEVA is a leader in this area, with an approximate 60% market share in engineering and design software, which means we are active in most of the important shipyards. AVEVA is also the leader in the shipping sector, providing solutions to ship owners, system integrators and more than 3000 ships are using AVEVA software on-board.

The civil aviation ministry has constituted three advisory groups with representatives of airlines, airport operators, cargo carriers, ground handling companies, flight training organisations, and maintenance, repair and overhaul companies to address and solve challenges faced by the sector. These three groups will be chaired by Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia. The first group will have chiefs of airline companies and includes Air India CMD Rajiv Bansal, IndiGo Promoter Rahul Bhatia, SpiceJet Chairman Ajay Singh, GoAir Director Ness Wadia, Vistara Chairman Bhaskar Bhat and CEOs of AirAsia India and Alliance Air. The group also has Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Secretary of Civil Aviation and Director General of Civil Aviation as members. The second group comprises of Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India Chairman, Director General, Bureau of Civil Aviation Security, Chairman of AAI, GMR Group Business Chairman GBS Raju, Adani Group VP Jeet Adani and BIAL MD and CEO Hari Marar in addition to the civil aviation ministry and DGCA representatives. The third group, which comprises of ground handling organisations, MROs, flying training organisations, etc will delve into air cargo related matters and advise the government on enhancing the participation of Indian carriers in air cargo.

The Adani Group owned Mundra Port will offer a 50% discount on Port related charges to ships running on liquefied natural gas (LNG). India has been aggressively initiating strategies to cut emissions under its green ports plan. LNG fueled ships are said to emit significantly less CO2 and other forms of pollutants compared with conventional shipping fuel. “Port will offer 50% discount on Port Dues, Pilotage and Berth hire charges,” the notice to shippers, issued by Adani Ports and SEZ Ltd, said. The discount scheme will be functional for a period of six months from August 1 and will apply to vessels with dual fuel engines that use LNG as a primary fuel.However, the waiver on port charges would not apply for vessels carrying LNG cargo and using LNG fuel, it said.