The Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has approved the highest-ever outlay of Rs 12,123 crore to Andhra Pradesh for improvement of national highways, M T Krishna Babu, Principal Secretary, State Roads and Buildings Department informed. This allocation is a jump of Rs 4,258 crore over last year’s sanction of Rs 7,865 crore. In Andhra Pradesh, the national highways are spread over a length of 7,303.34 km of which 4,007.95 km are maintained by the state Roads and Buildings Department. “We will take up improvement of the NHs with the funds allotted this year. These projects will improve road connectivity from industrial nodes, economic zones and tourist spots. This will also improve logistic efficiency and create job opportunities, besides generating more tax revenue to the state government,” added Krishna.

TechEagle has launched ‘Vertiplane X3,’ the fastest hybrid vertical take-off and landing (e-VTOL) drone ever made in India. TechEagle’s product will be deployed for various use cases across industries such as providing better healthcare access to the remote areas, apart from hyperlocal and e-commerce requirements. The product also aims to also address the needs of maritime and defence sectors and strengthen conventional supply chain with improved and faster accessibility.

Amit Maheshwari, CEO, Softlink Global bagged ‘DDP Game Changer’ Award at India Cargo Awards 2022, held recently in the Capital. Softlink Global was founded by Maheshwari with the objective of providing a single platform software to automate the entire logistics operation of the company. An engineer by education, he is a technology crusader well-known in the logistics business for his leadership skills and game-changing ideas. His attention to detail, has enabled Softlink Global to achieve success with each software product created. Maheshwari’s knowledge and experience include strategic planning, information management, financial resource management, product development, and marketing.

o9 Solutions and Deloitte announced the launch of Smart Planning, a subscription offering that combines Deloitte’s leading supply chain planning and data science capabilities with o9’s visionary planning platform. Smart Planning is an AI-powered, cloud-based digital insights, connectivity, and workflow automation solution that drives strategic- and tactical-level supply chain activities across the enterprise value chain. Combining o9’s technical scale and solution architecture with Deloitte’s production-ready environment and planning-as-a-service capabilities, Smart Planning can help companies level up their planning capabilities in a matter of months versus years.

V-Trans (India) has undertaken various sustainability initiatives such as green tree plantation, rural life upliftment, and energy conservation. V-Trans (India) that believes in sustainability and CSR is working towards harnessing the power of the sun and determined towards having less polluting vehicles in its fleet. In addition, the firm became the proud owner of the first CNG truck produced by Ashok Leyland. A company statement read, “We are monitoring the Electronic Vehicle segment and are planning to move towards sustainable automobile solutions. We consider sustainable automobile solutions are important in unlocking the potential of Sustainable Logistics which will shape the future of the commercial transportation industry. This will lessen oil dependability, improve financial efficiency, and will protect our environment.”

Union Minister of Commerce Piyush Goyal chaired National Single Window System (NSWS) meeting organised by Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade. The objective of the review meeting was to boost trade and industry. Som Prakash, Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry and Amitabh Kant, CEO, Niti Aayog were present in the meeting. Industry expert, Vipin Vohra, Chairman, Continental Carriers Group of Companies and Chairman, Civil Aviation Committee at PHD Chamber of Commerce also participated in the meeting.

Shailender Anand, MD – India and Director, Dubai at Pronk Multiservice was honoured at the India Cargo Awards under ‘DDP Trailblazer category’ for his outstanding contribution and excellence in services worldwide. Pronk Multiservice is known for its world-class services, excellent customer-centric approach, smart innovations, and adoption of cutting-edge technology. The awards were conferred by Amrit Lal Meena, Special Secretary, Logistics, Department of Commerce and Piyush Srivastava, Senior Economic Advisor, MoCA in the presence of senior officials from the logistics and air cargo fraternity.

AviaAM Leasing has acquired another aircraft to convert into a freighter as part of a wider project to expand its all-cargo offering. The aircraft has been ferried to the Taikoo (Shandong) Aircraft Engineering Company Limited (STAECO) facility in Jinan (TNA) where it will be changed to a freighter configuration over the next four months. The aircraft is the fourth Boeing 737-800 inducted to cargo conversion, with the first two already delivered to the lessee and successfully operated by Bluebird Nordic, and one more soon to be delivered.

CargoAi has announced that Air Canada Cargo has selected its eBooking and eQuote platform to accelerate eBooking adoption with freight forwarders. “We’re thrilled to be announcing the partnership between Air Canada Cargo and CargoAi,” says Petot, CEO of CargoAi. “Both organisations share ambitious growth plans in the post pandemic months and years to come, as well as a relentless focus on the customer experience. As such we are looking forward to leveraging this alignment in vision and strategy and bring the best digital booking experience to our joint customers,” he added.

Economic and Social Commission for Asia and The Pacific (ESCAP) is conducting a research study to offer policy recommendations for gender equality and women’s empowerment in the maritime sector, taking into consideration regional and national contexts in Asia and the Pacific. As part of this work, a dedicated research team led by Sanjam Sahi Gupta, an International Consultant, Founder, Maritime SheEO, and Ex-President WISTA (India) will work with countries in the region to assess their current activities, identify key opportunities, and challenges, and ultimately support the design of a road map towards gender equality and women’s empowerment. The outcomes of this effort will help the Member States build gender policy in the maritime sector by facilitating regional exchanges of best practices and lessons learned.