Ecom Express has leased over 4 lakh sq. ft. of warehousing space in the logistic hubs of Bhiwandi and Farukhnagar from Welspun One Logistics Parks. Bhiwandi and Farukhnagar are both thriving Logistics Ecosystems servicing the consumption centers of MMR and NCR respectively. Ease of connectivity to expressways, highways and nearby states have established both these locations as critical warehousing micro-markets. Through this deal, Ecom Express will add to its existing warehousing inventory in these strategic markets, built specifically to meet their needs whilst at par with global “Grade A” standards. According to the deal, Ecom Express has leased the warehousing spaces for a term of 9 years at both the parks, in two separate transactions and these projects are expected to go live by the second half of 2022.

In a landmark achievement, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPA) handled 5.68 Million TEUs during FY 2021-22 against 4.68 Million TEUs in 2020-21, a 21.55 percent increase. This performance is the highest ever at Jawaharlal Nehru Port for any financial year compared to 5.13TEUs in 2018-19. The total traffic handled at JNPA during the April-2021 to March-2022 of the FY 2021-22 is 76 million tonnes, which is 17.26 percent higher as against 64.81 million tonnes for the same period of last year. During FY 2021-22, JNPA handled 6,278 container rakes and 1,007,667 TEUs as compared to 6,092 rakes and 921,512 TEUs in previous year.

FedEx Express has partnered with air cargo logistics company Elroy Air to test the latter’s autonomous drone cargo system within its middle-mile logistics operations. Elroy Air’s Chaparral is an electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aerial cargo system that can autonomously pick up 136-227kg of cargo and deliver it by air up to 480km. The Chaparral is capable of longer-range flights without the need for additional infrastructure such as airports and charging stations. This trial will involve FedEx Express moving shipments between sortation locations.

Gulf Air, the national carrier of the Kingdom of Bahrain, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Texel Air to explore various cooperation opportunities including charter agreements, engineering and maintenance activities. A signing ceremony was held last month at Gulf Air headquarters, the MoU was signed by Captain Waleed AlAlawi, Acting Chief Executive Officer of Gulf Air and Mr. John Chisholm, Chairman of Chisholm Enterprises which is the parent company for Texel Air.

Wiz appoints Michael Sickinger as the CEO for APAC region and Dietmar Kuehn as the Regional Ocean Product Head for South East Asia region. Sickinger has over 30 years of experience of which he has spent 25 years in the APAC region. He will be responsible for the development and expansion of operations in the APAC region. Kuehn has over 20 years of experience in ocean product development. He will see ocean freight development for Wiz in the South East Asia region.

In a major milestone, the Paradip Port Authority has achieved the highest record of handling 116.13 million tonnes of cargo in the 2021-22 financial year, surpassing the previous record of 114.55 million tonnes in the 2020-21 fiscal. Officials said that despite a 30 per cent drop in iron ore traffic due to international market conditions and poor demand, they managed to improve their cargo handling by focusing on other commodities.

With growing complementarity between the economic priorities of the two nations, India and Australia, signed the Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA), marking a major step towards lifting their economic relationship to the next level. To be followed by a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) by year-end or early next year, this will be one of the fastest agreements to be concluded by either of the countries. The agreement will pave the way for greater cooperation between the two countries in the economic space and will be instrumental in developing and expanding bilateral trade.

. Colliers appoints Rao Srinivasa as Managing Director, Data Centers, with immediate effect. Srinivasa is an industry veteran with more than two decades of experience in project management, design and building, commissioning, and facility operations for data centers, critical infrastructure, and commercial real estate. Srinivasa will lead the entire Data Centers operations for the project management business and execute large-scale projects to build Colliers’ portfolio in the data centers sector