To eradicate duplication and simplify procedural requirements, Nitin Gadkari, Union Road Transport and Highways Minister said the central government is working on bringing a single logistic law for all modes of freight transportation. The PPP model should be encouraged for the development of air cargo infrastructure in India, the minister added. Addressing the 12th DACAAI Convention, the minister said, “The Centre is working on bringing a single logistic law for all modes of freight transportation to eradicate duplication of processes and simplify procedural needs. This system will facilitate multimodal transportation in the truest sense.” Gadkari added that the government is working towards reducing logistics cost to 8 per cent, citing India’s logistics cost is around 14 per cent of GDP currently.

Mahindra Logistics announced the launch of its latest fulfilment centre, its eleventh in the country and third in the city of Hyderabad. The new fulfilment centre will specifically enable quick commerce in the grocery segment with technology at its backbone in driving efficiency, said an official release. Within a short period, MLL has established its operational capability across India with its end-to-end services of fulfilment centres, milk-run transportation, micro-fulfilment centres (dark stores) and last mile delivery. The network which the company built for this segment is the best in class and is equipped to fulfil large volumes. These fulfilment centres are spread across 5 cities (Bangalore, Vizag, Vijayawada, Hyderabad, and Kolkata) and are currently serving more than 6 lakh units and 15000+ stores per day. Commenting on this expansion, Rampraveen Swaminathan, Managing Director and CEO of Mahindra Logistics, said, “With changing consumer demand patterns, we are expanding our network to continually enhance our reach. Essential service is a rapidly growing category, and we are looking at bringing our facilities to cities where these services are not accessible. We believe in delivering a consistent customer experience in the B2C space through customized, technology-driven solutions. These operations also synergise last mile operations through “Whizzard”, our last-mile logistics brand we acquired in April this year.

Bakkafrost subsidiary, FarCargo has closed a deal to purchase a Boeing 757-200 aircraft ahead of its planned operational launch as a salmon transportation airline. FarCargo’s maiden trip is planned to take place in two to three months. Initially, the cargo plane will fly between Vágar, the Faroe Islands and New York, US, stated a release. The aircraft has a flight range of 7,000 km and can carry some 35 tonnes of cargo. For the last 12 months, preparations have been made for the launch of the airline, and finding the right aircraft has been challenging as well as getting all the necessary permits and generally sorting out practicalities.

Hungary’s Budapest Airport (BUD) is investing around 30 million euros (US $29.8 million) in the extension of its Cargo City complex. BUD will develop an additional 6,500 square meters of cargo handling capacity and double its aircraft parking space, enabling the apron to handle up to four code-F aircraft such as 747Fs, said Josef Kossuth, Head of Cargo.

Talking about its upcoming 46th Annual Convention in Bangkok, Thailand from 24 November to 27, Mohamed Afzal Malbarwala, President, Air Cargo Agents Association of India (ACAAI) said, “The theme of the convention is Resilient Air Cargo Industry – Post Pandemic. We will discuss extensively on the challenges faced during the ongoing pandemic, the increased freight rate and scarcity of space, issues being faced with the airlines in the COVID scenario, and lastly the GST waiver on freight charges, which we have been discussing with GOI every year.” He said, “Despite the air cargo industry’s contribution to the Indian economy, we still lack standardised infrastructure at airports. This is connected directly to the ease of doing business and resulting in excessive costs. Our next step forward must be aligned to standardise processes where customers experience the same delight and ease of shipment execution irrespective of the airport they operate from. Standardisation and automation are the key to achieve this,” he added.

The only word that can be used to describe the current state of the air cargo industry is turbulent, says Glyn Hughes, Director General, TIACA. “Cargo volumes and capacity is fluctuating as consumerism and manufacturing is fluctuating. The rising cost of energy, food prices and raw materials are having an impact on household finances and production costs. This reinforces the view that the short-term outlook is challenging,” he added. The air cargo industry has shown its resilience and flexibility these past two years. “I think that innovative spirit will facilitate maximum benefit when market conditions improve. Preparations for the next wave of growth are already well underway with companies continuing to invest in technology and main deck cargo capacity across the spectrum with production and conversion orders remaining strong,” Hughes added.

Caribbean Airlines Cargo has teamed up with the air cargo digital solution platform, CargoAi to offer the capacity to and from the Caribbean. “CargoAi is delighted to announce that Caribbean Airlines Cargo successfully went live on the www.cargoai.co platform on 08 June 2022,” said a release. Caribbean Airlines has placed a strong focus on improved customer service both on the passenger as well as on the cargo side, and user experience is what CargoAi excels in,” said Matthieu Petot, CEO of CargoAi, in a statement. Marklan Moseley, General Manager, Cargo, and New Business, Caribbean Airlines also said in the release, “We see three major benefits in offering our capacity on CargoAi. First and foremost, our customers have access to a customized, easy-to-use e-booking system, allowing them to streamline their shipping processes more efficiently. Secondly, our capacity offers now reach a great many more potential and new customers around the world, and thirdly, these increased sales activities will ultimately boost our commercial cargo operations, enabling us to further enhance our service offers. A win-win all around.”

Air Canada Cargo freighters are being given a fresh look and the first newly painted Boeing 767F freighter has now rolled out of the paint shop. The 767F features a black, white, and red livery design first introduced in 2017. The aircraft, registration C-GXHM, is one of two factory-built freighters delivered to Air Canada earlier this summer that will enter service in 2023, said Air Canada in a statement. These are in addition to the eight converted 767 freighters that Air Canada Cargo will have in its fleet, two of which are already in service between North American, Europe and Latin America. Air Canada also recently announced the acquisition of two factory-built Boeing 777 freighters, which will enter service in 2024.

Airbus collaborated with IonQ, an industry leader in quantum computing to explore the potential application and benefits of quantum computing for aerospace services and passenger experiences. The Quantum Aircraft Loading Optimization & Quantum Machine Learning project will be a 12-month project that culminates in the development of a prototype aircraft-loading quantum application, hands-on collaboration and coaching sessions for Airbus developers and engineers, and an exploration of future integrations of quantum computers for Airbus and its customers. In response to the ongoing supply chain crisis, aerospace companies are investing in the latest technologies to understand areas for improved efficiencies – cargo loading being one of them. Airbus’ partnership with IonQ is the first step toward developing smarter algorithms based on quantum computers that can potentially lead to cost savings due to more optimized distribution of cargo on flights.

“The grand aim of the government is to make India a global manufacturing hub in the coming years,” said Sudhendu J Sinha, Advisor, Niti Aayog, Government of India at the recently concluded India Warehousing Show in New Delhi. He added, “We now want to set a benchmark globally. We have been observing this change as part of govt’s Make in India campaign. Products which are being manufactured by the Indian manufacturers are being accepted globally. They are being manufactured with best of the manufacturing facilities. Government is also focusing on creating end-to-end supply chain visibility and resiliency, and multimodal logistics. This is what government is doing now because we could see the supply chain, structure, processes and behaviour.”