In continued effort to support India and combat the second wave of COVID-19, FedEx Express, a subsidiary of FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) and the world’s largest express transportation company, today announced the arrival of a third dedicated charter flight carrying much needed COVID-19 supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) to India. The third FedEx Boeing 777F charter flight carrying over 250,000 face shields, 100,000 goggles, more than 80,000 coveralls and gowns and over 134,000 KN95 and N95 masks landed on June 13, 2021 in Mumbai, India from Memphis, Tennessee. Items arriving on the charter flight were donated by Dignity Health, coordinated by TMC Navya, and will be distributed by Direct Relief to medical facilities in India through Tata Memorial Centre. To date, FedEx has moved thousands of oxygen concentrators, and hundreds of tonnes of medical supplies and aid into the country. FedEx has previously donated two charter Boeing 777F flights from the USA to India, which flew on May 9 and May 16, transporting thousands of oxygen concentrators and other medical aid for Direct Relief.

Om Logistics, India’s leading 360-degree logistics solutions company, as a social cause, has helped Democracy People Foundation deliver 5000 Oxygen Concentrators to hospitals across India till date and aims to systematically address the on-ground issues related to the supply of oxygen under the Mission Oxygen initiative. Akash Bansal, Country Head, Om Logistics said, “We are humbly thankful to have the honour of serving our country and our people by transporting CE certified oxygen concentrators across the length and breadth of the country. We are doing this as a social cause initiative, guided by the CSR program outlined at Om Logistics. To have the opportunity to do this selfless service helping our fellow countrymen breathe feels like a blessing. It surely was a mammoth task but by God’s grace, the strong will of our employees and the dedication of the entire team we could achieve it.” Rahul Aggarwal, Founder of Democracy People Foundation said, “Mission Oxygen is a non-for-profit and charitable initiative. We started in late April, self-funded approximately 50 Lacs for this initiative and placed an order for 100 concentrators. Gradually within days, we realised the widespread need for oxygen concentrators as we received more than 3000 requests weekly. We are happy to associate with Om logistics for warehousing and faster delivery at this point of time when the demand for oxygen concentrators have spread across cities, towns and villages. We thank them for their support in making Mission Oxygen more impactful to save lives.”

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal today in a virtual meet inaugurated 22 PSA plants for hospitals spread across Delhi. The plants have been installed by Uttam Group of Companies who have been working on this project with the Delhi Govt. for ease of medical grade oxygen supply to various government hospitals and making them self-reliant in producing medical grade oxygen right in their premises. With a combined capacity of 13000 cubic meter per day, these 22 PSA oxygen generating plants are a revolutionary step and aim to disrupt the way oxygen has been procured and delivered till now. Few installations of these medical oxygen generators are unique in its nature as their module and capacity can be increased as per the rising demand of oxygen. These EN ISO: 13485 certified oxygen generation plants can generate ‘on-demand’ oxygen by taking in atmospheric air and producing medical grade oxygen in quick and simple steps. Not only is the process efficient, easier to operate & maintain but is also environment friendly. It is extremely cost-effective as compared to the present mode of supplies.

Hellmann Worldwide Logistics has announced a €28m lease and development investment with New Zealand’s Auckland Airport to establish a new ambient warehousing complex dedicated to multinational manufacturer Techtronic Industries (TTI). The 19,200 sq m complex is located directly at Auckland Airport and will begin operations in July. Hellmann will handle full-service contract logistics services for its long-standing customer TTI. The facility will offer storage for up to 29,000 pallets at up to ten pallet levels high. Chris McCagney, managing director Hellmann New Zealand said: “The new warehouse is designed to build in flexibility and scale to adapt and grow as TTI’s requirements of tomorrow develop. For example, the complex will have no columns and enhanced floor specifications which allows for future investments in innovative robotic-based material handling and automation solutions.”

AirBridgeCargo Airlines has awarded a three-year cargo handling contract to Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) in Atlanta. WFS said the carrier is its “launch customer” at its new cargo terminal at Atlanta International Airport. Under the terms of the agreement, the handler will process around 9,500 tonnes of cargo each year from AirBridgeCargo’s Boeing 747-400ERF freighter flights. WFS opened its cargo terminal at Atlanta Airport in May this year under a 20-year lease agreement. The facility is located in the hub’s new Cargo Building C, the first new cargo terminal to open at the airport since the 1980s. Mike Simpson, executive vice president Americas at WFS, commented: “AirBridgeCargo is an important and growing customer of WFS globally. Through multiple contracts in the US and Europe, we are consistently proving our ability to deliver the service excellence ABC demands for its customers, as well as our expertise in supporting the airline’s portfolio of special cargoes services, including for pharmaceuticals and oversized shipments.

As the world economy recovers from COVID-19 disruptions and demand for exports rises, container prices at major ports, such as Chennai, Mundra and Nhava Sheva, remain high.The average price of a 20-ft dry container at the Chennai port stood around $1,600 (Rs 116,736, at Rs 72.96 to the dollar) at the end of May, compared to around $1,083 (Rs 79,015) in May 2020. The average price of a 20-ft dry container in Mundra at the end of May stood at around $1,550 compared to $1,163 recorded in June 2020, while for Nhava Sheva in Navi Mumbai, it was at $1,700 in May against $1,075 in June 2020. Demand for exports, especially vaccines, medical equipment like masks, personal protective equipment kits, and oxygen concentrators, has risen in the past few months, shipping companies said. “Many companies are likely to get into bidding wars to extradite their export and import cargo, and this is likely to lead to higher tariffs,” another Mumbai-based shipping analyst said. Demand for white goods has also picked up in the last few months.

Indian government’s premier policy think-tank NITI Aayog along with RMI and RMI India has released a new report titled “Fast Tracking Freight in India: A Roadmap for Clean and Cost-Effective Goods Transport”, which highlights key opportunities for India to bring down its logistics costs. Owing to the increasing demands of goods and services, an increase in freight transport demand is expected. While it is essential for economic development, it is plagued by high logistics costs and contributes to rising CO2 emissions and air pollution in cities. The Report states that India has the potential to: Reduce its logistics cost by 4% of GDP Achieve 10 gigatonnes of cumulative CO2 emissions savings between 2020 and 2050 Reduce nitrogen oxide (NOx) and particulate matter (PM) emissions by 35% and 28%, respectively, until 2050

German shipping group Hapag-Lloyd has announced the successful conversion of the 15,000 TEU-capacity Brussels Express to run on liquefied natural gas. In completing the conversion, the ship becomes the first “large” containership to make the switch to LNG propulsion, the company says. “The fact that a retrofitting of this scale had never been done before meant that we faced numerous challenges – from the planning to the implementation. We have broken new ground with the conversion, and we will now be testing it very precisely in real-world operation,” says Richard von Berlepsch, Managing Director Fleet Management at Hapag-Lloyd. “Fossil LNG is currently the most promising fuel on the path towards zero emissions. The medium-term goal is to have CO2-neutral shipping operations using synthetic natural gas (SNG).”

Ports in southern China impacted by Covid-19 lockdowns that are further disrupting the global box trade have seen a significant slump in container availability in the last two weeks, according to the latest data from Container xChange. Pearl River Delta port productivity has slumped in recent weeks with container lines citing positive Covid-19 cases for slowing productivity. Yantian and Shekou ports, near Shenzhen, and Nansha port, part of the Guangzhou box hub, have been most affected. All three have seen significant drops in container availability in the last two weeks, according to Container xChange, the world’s leading online platform for the leasing and trading of shipping containers. “Far few empty boxes are arriving back to southern China as container lines skip calls and many shippers will likely face long delays or higher prices for equipment if they can’t avoid using the affected ports,” said Dr Johannes Schlingmeiner. Yantian saw a 19% drop in incoming containers between Week 17 and last week (Week 22). Nansha’s drop in incoming containers over the same period was 16.4%, while at Shekou the plunge was 29.6%.

Dr Reddy’s Laboratories has entered into a strategic partnership with Hyderabad-based Rockwell Industries, specialising in commercial cold chain appliance manufacturing, to provide vaccine freezers for storing Sputnik V, the Russian-made Coronavirus disease (Covid-19) vaccine, across India. The deal has been closed to supply at least 750 Covid-19 vaccine freezers to various hospitals and institutions across the country; 500 of these being specifically for Sputnik V. Dr Reddy’s earlier tied up with the Russian Direct Investment Fund that markets Sputnik V globally, to distribute first 250 million doses of the vaccine. On May 14, Dr Reddy’s announced a limited pilot soft launch of the Sputnik V vaccine in India, ahead of the commercial launch later in June to test, among other things, cold chain facilities for storage.