Federation of Freight Forwarders’ Associations in India (FFFAI) upgrades its Mumbai office infrastructure with the highly innovative and latest technologies, on May 3, 2022, on the auspicious occasion of Akshay Tritiya. The highlights of the new facilities are the training centre and video conferencing rooms for its members for training and meetings. Its members, board of advisors, past chairmen, publishers, trade body representatives, and well-wishers attended. Shankar Shinde, Chairman, FFFAI, said, “2022 is special for us as we are celebrating Diamond Jubilee, and are happy to create the modern infrastructure for our members to enhance knowledge through training and skill development.”

The inaugural day of the ShipBuild India Expo Summit 2022 and Maritime Transport & Shipping India Expo 2022 in Mumbai witnessed 100 exhibitors from across the country. Shripad Naik, Union Minister of State for Ports, Shipping and Waterways shared his welcome message via a recorded video. Shantanu Bhadkamkar, MD, ATC Global Logistics, Immediate Past President – Association of Multimodal Transport Operators of India (AMTOI) Chairman of Technical Advisory Board, said, “This event was conceived two years ago and we had thought it would take place in some months. As pandemic hit us, we were not sure if we would be able to hold it at all for a long time. Congratulations to the team at Ocean Trade Media for a successful show. There is a need to encourage the maritime sector in India.” Ali Patankar, Director, Ocean Trade Media said, “We thank all 125 companies taking part. We started this venture over a year ago on the lines of Atmanirbhar Bharat. In the years to come, we will cover more maritime segments such as marine tourism, ocean energy, safety security and surveillance and others.” Arun Sharma, Executive Chairman, IRClass; Ashish Pednekar, Chairman, Federation of Customs Brokers’ Association of India; Cmde Hemant Khatri, CMD of Hindustan Shipyard were also present.

Aeroprime Group was conferred with the Fastest Growing Cargo GSA Award at the recently held India Cargo Awards, the country’s topmost supply chain awards which helps create a platform to recognise those behind the success of the cargo and logistics industry. Amrit Lal Meena, Special Secretary (Logistics), Union Department of Commerce and Piyush Srivastava, Senior Economic Advisor, Union Ministry of Civil Aviation presented the award. Abhishek Goyal, Executive Director said, “Thank you for honouring me at this prestigious event. We have learned to value our teams and resources during the pandemic. Worldwide, the focus has shifted to rules and regulations, hygiene, and strict cancellation policies, which we must be aware of from an operations standpoint. There are so many considerations and information required than ever before that the teams must work with. As the world is opening up again, we need the agility and experience of our staff to work effectively.”

Global tech service provider, Capgemini has been selected by the Airbus to deliver a cloud-first transformation programme for its commercial aircraft and helicopters businesses worldwide. Capgemini will now help Airbus with a fully managed service of the core cloud infrastructure for its business. “Capgemini will drive transformation of existing services through unification and modernization, managing both private and public clouds as well as legacy infrastructure, along with infrastructure management, to achieve the flexibility needed to meet any future needs of Airbus commercial aircraft and helicopters,” according to the company’s statement. “The hybrid cloud transformation programme will accelerate new functionalities through advanced releases in Airbus’ IT systems, while contributing to innovation at scale to support Airbus’ production activities and supply chains,” the statement read.

Keeping in mind growth of logistics sector, Rivigo has relaunched National Freight Index (NFI) to ensure end-to-end transparency in freight rates. The company has relaunched NFI after two years to publish daily rates for container trucks to boost transparency in the road-freight marketplace. “The NFI, which is completely tech-driven, will provide easy access to daily freight prices for truck owners, transporters, and other stakeholders and establish trust and transparency in the highly fragmented logistics and supply chain market,” as per the company statement. Deepak Garg, CEO and Founder, said, “We are optimistic about creating a platform for fleet owners and transporters to enable the growth of the logistics sector. By reintroducing the NFI, we want to empower small freight owners, transporters, advisors, consultants, and the market at large that relies on this data.”

While addressing the Air Cargo Forum India (ACFI) Annual Event in New Delhi on Tuesday, titled as, ‘10 million: Vision 2030, Stimulating, Scaling and Steering Air Cargo,’ the Minister of Civil Aviation, Jyotiraditya Madhavrao Scindia, said, “The growth potential for air cargo in India is tremendous. Today, we are close to 3.1 million metric tonnes, and we have set this highly ambitious target to reach 10 million metric tonnes by 2030. This is possible only if we put the right strategies in place – use both widebody aircraft and smaller aircraft to move cargo from tier 2 and tier 3 cities, develop a hub and spoke arrangement and build transhipment hubs across India then it is certain that India will emerge as a global cargo player.” The minister also added that the industry needs to be ready to accept the changes that are going to come in the industry in the coming years and the industry should also be ready to be able to cater to the market demand that needs to be looked in.” Other dignitaries who also graced the occasion included Piyush Srivastava, Senior Economic Advisor – Ministry of Civil Aviation, Yashpal Sharma, MD, Skyways, Cyrus Katgara, Partner Jeena and Company and President, ACFI, Sanjiv Edward, CCO, DIAL, Kamesh Peri, CEO, Celebi Aviation Holding amongst others.

With an aim to expand its geographical presence, enable sellers to make swift deliveries to end-consumers, and to promote efficient last-mile deliveries, Pickrr is planning to unveil 25 new fulfillment facilities pan India. “Pickrr Plus Fulfillment centers are a network of tech-enabled establishments strategically positioned in the near vicinity of the end-consumer, enabling more than 90 per cent same-day deliveries at significantly lower freight costs,” said an official company statement. With new fulfillment centers, Pickrr wants to bridge the gap between D2C brands from their end-consumer regardless of the geographical distance. Gaurav Mangla, Co-Founder and CEO said, “The competition between digital-first businesses is increasing, and to build a competitive advantage, they need to serve their customers pan India, on time. By using Pickrr Plus fulfillment facilities, brands can associate with us and grow multi-fold by tapping a diverse range of untapped consumer pools and addressing all the last-mile barriers. Pickrr’s upcoming fulfillment centers will also help D2C brands make their customer experience more frictionless and establish a trust to gain their loyalty.”  

Jeena & Company won the Excellence in Supply Chain Management & Logistics Award at the recently held India Cargo Awards, the country’s topmost supply chain awards which helps create a platform to recognise those behind the success of the cargo and logistics industry. Amrit Lal Meena, Special Secretary (Logistics), Union Department of Commerce and Piyush Srivastava, Senior Economic Advisor, Union Ministry of Civil Aviation presented the award. Cyrus Katgara, Partner, Jeena & Company said, “It is great to be honoured at the India Cargo Awards, an offline event happening after gap of two years. Our biggest learning during the pandemic has been digitization of business processes and going paperless. Digitization will now be an essential if not crucial means of doing business, and accordingly, we have put all our digital technology-related projects on the fast track mode.”

India’s first virtual shipping and marine exhibition titled, ‘ShipBuild India Expo Summit 2022’ is all set to kick-start in Mumbai from May 11 to 13, 2022 at the Bombay Exhibition Centre, Goregaon East, Mumbai, India. Powered by Blue Economy Event Series, an Oceantrade Media’s intellectual property, the inaugural edition of ShipBuild India Expo Summit 2022 shall provide the Indian Maritime sector an integrated platform for both live business networking opportunities as well as future technological knowledge summits. The event will provide an opportunity to the Indian and International manufacturers, suppliers, technology and systems integrators and service providers to come together under one roof to discuss potential business opportunities and new partnerships.

International Airlines Group (IAG) Cargo has recorded growth in the revenue for first quarter of 2022 of £32m, an increase of 23.4 per cent as compared to first quarter 2021. This positive first quarter cargo growth is for the period from January 1 to March 31, 2022. “The results represent an increase of 18.6 per cent at constant currency versus the same period last year. Overall yield for first quarter 2022 reflected an increase of 2.3 per cent at constant currency versus corresponding period in 2021,” read a company statement. FQ in 2022 saw an increase of 19 per cent in sold tonnage as compared with the same period in 2021. “Demand was high between the US and Europe for key industrial goods such as automotive parts, with IAG Cargo increasing the availability of wide-body aircraft on European feeder lanes into Heathrow,” the statement stated.