We recently launched our 100,000 sq. feet multi-client wareousing facility in Bhiwandi and Mumbai and we have plans to expand across key markets in India including Bengaluru and New Delhi, said Deepak Tiwari, COO, KSH Logistics. “Currently, we have over 300,000 sq. ft. of MCF warehousing space with a capacity of over 3000 pallet positions. Over the next 12 months the company plans on expanding its MCF network to 6 cities and take up the total area to 7,00,000 square feet with over 7000 pallet positions,” he added. “In the last couple of years, the awareness and availability of different product categories has increased tremendously due to the growth of ecommerce platforms. Consumers are getting a variety without having to step out of their homes; ease of buying with fast home deliveries has changed the overall buying patterns. This growth is not only reflective in major towns and cities but is also growing across Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. These are in fact the potential cities for ecommerce business. To meet this growth in demand, we have operations (Dedicated & Multi Client) at Pune, Bangalore, Mumbai, Jaipur, Nashik, and Chennai. We serve varied customer segment like FMCD, FMCG, Automotive, Industrials, General Merchandise, and Retail, Home Furnishing and E-commerce,” Tiwari further informed.

Air cargo is witnessing growth but at relatively slow pace. The growth is expected to continue. Even today major shipping lines are investing heavily in aircraft which is a proof that the Air cargo industry is progressing,” said M Afzal Malbarwala, Founder, Galaxy Freight and President, Air Cargo Agents Association of India (ACAAI). There is a perception of a market down trending in Americas & Europe. We however see stable volumes month on month out of India and we believe the Asian markets are still strong inspite of the tremendous focus on China and associated challenges therein. Making space available at competitive rates, ability to deliver to fixed schedules still remain as base growth drivers. Complementing these would be the continued focus on infrastructure build up, accepting innovative methodologies while retaining the fixed touch on the customer’s pulse. The agenda should be to make the air freight operations process more pleasant and acceptable to all industry sectors,” he added.

Cargo Talk, South Asia’s leading and highly circulated magazine, was felicitated at the recently held symposium themed ‘New Logistics Policy-Embracing Opportunities’ organised by the Air Cargo Agents Association of India (ACAAI) at New Delhi. Amrit Lal Meena, Special Secretary (Logistics), Department of Commerce and Industry, Government of India was the chief guest on the occasion. Throwing light on the National Logistics Policy, he said, “The logistics sector has witnessed a push in the past few years, the capital expenditure has gone up to four times. The NLP targets to improve the logistics efficiency through 100 per cent digitization, standardization of warehousing, HR, skilled manpower, focusing on the EXIM trade and bringing all the states together.” Focusing on the multimodal connectivity, he added, economic zones are the mandate under PM Gati Shakti. “The target is to facilitate logistics efficiency so that all the economic zones do not face any kind of disruption. As part of Gati Shakti and NLP, all the ministries are implementing high scale and volume projects to improve the interest.”

The Airforwarders Association (AfA) and the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America (NCBFAA) are seeking a state or federal-backed Air Cargo Support Fund to tackle the infrastructural crisis facing the U.S. air cargo industry, said release. The recommendations form part of a whitepaper following a major national survey of 400 air cargo stakeholders in the public and private sectors undertaken by the organisations, identifying the critical issues and the airports where the challenges are greatest. Brandon Fried, Executive Director, AfA said, “With airports and airlines experiencing substantial revenue shortfalls over the past two years, the situation is becoming critical with potentially severe impacts on the economy and jobs throughout the country. Because of the lagging financials, airports will be allocating the monies of the Infrastructure Act to passengers, security, and safety, leaving insufficient funds to sustain air cargo operations. Additional funding, specifically dedicated to air cargo, is urgently needed.”

To introduce and manage the cargo capacity digitally, Italian National carrier, ITA Airways Cargo has collaborated with cargo.one, marketplace for digital air cargo bookings. “Thousands of freight forwarders throughout the world will have far better access to ITA Airways Cargo’s capacity into and within Italy. Cargo.one, the airline’s first digital sales channel for air cargo, will provide the airline with an industry-leading methodology that assures clients have a superior and smooth digital booking experience,” said an official release. The launch demonstrates cargo.one’s breadth and variety of supply possibilities for forwarders. “Digital distribution expansion, together with quality and sustainability, is a major strategic pillar of ITA Airways Cargo’s development plan, speeding the transformation of air cargo management processes, systems, and culture. ITA Airways Cargo strives to increase its value offering through digital connection, creating an offer that provides clients with quality services quickly and with even more control over their shipments,” added release.

CABT Logistics is gearing up to manage the heavy inflow of orders for its clients during the festive season by investing INR 4,68,00000 in its distribution and warehousing facilities. Catering to industry behemoths like Flipkart, Amazon, Meesho, Purplle, Ferns and Petals et al, CABT Logistics has planned an investment of around INR 4,68,00000. CABT Logistics has set up 78 facilities like distribution hubs and sorting hubs pan India for its clients. Each hub is around 3000 sq ft in area and equipped with the means to handle monumental order volumes. The company has massively ramped up capacity services across India by adding around 10,000 more rider partners to an already huge network of 15,000+ active partners. This count is expected to cross 25,000 during peak season. Currently, the company is handling around 20 lakhs orders per day and this number is expected to reach 30 lakhs orders per day during the ongoing festivities.

India’s first D2C brand in the seafood and meat category, Pescafresh, has launched a new processing facility and distribution hub in Mumbai for its seafood, meats, eggs, Ready to Cook (RTC) and Ready to Eat (RTE) processing operations. This Central Areal Processing and Distribution centre (CAD) in Lower Parel includes separate processing areas for seafood, poultry, mutton and RTC and RTE with industry-leading temperature and humidity controls. It also has a culinary centre, dry storage, an office mezzanine, freezers, coolers, and loading docks. The unit includes an R&D centre to develop exemplary fresh products across the seafood and meats range. Equipped with industry-referenced processing, analytical capabilities and based on European standards, the new facility will serve customers hygienic and 100% fresh Pescafresh products. This facility reinforces the company’s strategy of investing in infrastructure that enables the brand to create formulations that meet the needs of customers and market trends. It has been constructed to enable the highest standards in hygiene and cleanliness and various industry-standard Sanitary Standards Operating Procedures (SSOPs) have been put in place.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious master plan, Gati Shakti and the recently launched National Logistic Policy are fully focused on reducing logistics cost and enhancing logistics efficiency. Gati Shakti is also facilitating the development of multimodal transportation infrastructure across the country. Focus has been on improving infra and integrating all the sectors like rail, road, ports, airports, civil aviation, power, and telecom etc, said Amrit Lal Meena, Special Secretary Logistics, Department of Commerce, Government of India, while addressing the symposium organised by the Air Cargo Agents Association of India (ACAAI) themed, ‘National Logistics Policy – Embracing Opportunities.’ “The logistics sector has witnessed an enormous push in the last few years, the capital expenditure has gone up to four times. National Logistic Policy targets to improve the logistics efficiency through 100 per cent digitization, standardization of warehousing, human resources, skilled manpower, focusing on the EXIM trade and by bringing all the states together,” he added. Focusing on the multimodal connectivity, he further added that, economic zones is the mandate under PM Gati Shakti. “The target is to facilitate logistics efficiency so that all the Economic zones do not face any kind of disruption. As part of Gati Shakti and NLP, all the ministries are implementing very high scale and volume projects to improve the interest.”

Mammoth Freighters LLC has signed a General Terms Agreement with STS Aviation Services (STS) to perform passenger-to-freighter conversions for the Mammoth 777 program. All work will be accomplished at STS’s facility in Manchester, UK, and the multi-year agreement covers both the 777-200LR and 777-300ER aircraft. “Ensuring that we have the right modification capacity in place around the world to meet the robust demand for the Mammoth 777 freighter program is vital to our success. STS has the experience, knowledge, capability, and, most importantly, the high-quality reputation that we look for in an MRO partner. We are excited to have STS on our team and look forward to a productive, long-term relationship,” said Mammoth’s Senior Vice President of Operations, David Steinmetz. The STS facility will also provide Mammoth with AOG, product support, and spares provisioning throughout Europe. STS acquired the Manchester facility earlier this year as part of its expansion efforts, and this constitutes its third facility in the UK. Mammoth will begin inducting 777 aircraft for modification at the facility in mid-2024.

Airbus has utilised one of its five-strong BelugaST aircraft, based on the A300-600 design to deliver the Airbus-built Hotbird 13G satellite for Eutelsat to the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral in Florida, said an official release. This milestone marks the first time since 2009 that A BelugaST has visited the US – when it transported the International Space Station European module ‘Tranquility’. For this latest mission, the BelugaST used 30% Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) for its departure flight from Toulouse, France. The flight followed the successful launch of the twin Hotbird 13F satellite by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The spacecraft are the first members of the new “Eurostar Neo” family of Airbus telecommunications satellites, based on a next-generation platform and technologies developed with the support of the European Space Agency (ESA), and others, including the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES) and the UK Space Agency (UKSA). Airbus launched a new air cargo service using its five-strong BelugaST fleet, based on the A300-600 design, to help meet outsized freight transportation needs in January, the release added.