Qatar Airways Cargo is pleased to announce a new partnership with Xiamen Airlines, the first Chinese airline to operate passenger non-stop flights from Mainland China to Qatar. The new partnership will allow Qatar Airways Cargo to provide additional belly cargo capacity for customers to and from Mainland China. Under the cooperation agreement, Xiamen Airlines will launch daily flights between Beijing’s Daxing International Airport (PKX) to Doha’s Hamad International Airport. The flights will commence on 20 October 2023. In addition to the flights from Beijing, Xiamen Airlines will also launch two weekly flights from Xiamen (XMN), the special economic zone of Fujian Sheng province, to Doha, commencing 31 October 2023. Xiamen Airlines will connect DOH with PKX (seven times a week) and XMN (two times a week), providing more than 100 tonnes of capacity on board both flights. The new direct services from Beijing to Doha will be operated by a Boeing 787-9 and Xiamen-Doha-Xiamen service will be operated by a Boeing 787-8. Elisabeth Oudkerk, SVP Cargo Sales & Network Planning at Qatar Airways Cargo said: “China has always been a key market for us and our customers. We are delighted to be able to offer our clients even more capacity. We will now serve 9 destinations in Mainland China, offering over 2,800 weekly tonnes of cargo capacity. We welcome Xiamen Airlines and look forward to working closely with them.” Mr. Tong Qianju, Vice President of Xiamen Airlines Cargo said: “Xiamen Airlines Cargo is very happy to expand its network reach for the first time to the Middle East, and we are very honored to do this with one of the top air cargo carriers in the world – Qatar Airways …

JSW Infrastructure, the ports business of Sajjan Jindal-led JSW Group, has placed bids worth Rs 2,000 crore to acquire three ports under the government’s privatisation move. These ports would add another 10-12% to the company’s capacity, said reports. Separately, the country’s second-largest commercial port operator by cargo handling capacity, had set a price band of Rs 113-119 per share for its Rs 2,800-crore initial public offering (IPO). “Post this IPO, we will be net-debt free, we will have enough headroom to grow and if required we can raise additional capital also. So, we have placed bids for three ports that are coming up for privatisation,” Arun Maheshwari, joint MD & CEO, JSW Infrastructure, said in a statement.

Tripath Logistics was honored with Fastest Growing Logistics Company award at recently held India Cargo Awards in New Delhi. Piyush Srivastava, IES, Senior Economic Advisor graced the occasion as the Chief Guest. Known as the “Oscars of the Cargo Industry,” the India Cargo Awards 2023, hosted by Cargo Talk (DDP Group Publication) serves as an all-India platform created with a vision to recognise excellence in the Cargo-Freight-Logistics Industry across various domains, including Rail, Road, Air, Sea, Allied Services, Warehousing, Technology, 3rd Party Logistics, and more. Our world-class awards ceremonies are known for their formal Black-Tie affair, filled with glitz and glamour, attended by the most influential personalities in the industry.

Suntek Axpress India was honoured with ‘Best 3PL Company – Automotive’ award at recently held India Cargo Awards 2023 in New Delhi. Piyush Srivastava, IES, Senior Economic Advisor graced the occasion as the Chief Guest. Known as the “Oscars of the Cargo Industry,” the India Cargo Awards 2023, hosted by Cargo Talk (DDP Group Publication) serves as an all-India platform created with a vision to recognise excellence in the Cargo-Freight-Logistics Industry across various domains, including Rail, Road, Air, Sea, Allied Services, Warehousing, Technology, 3rd Party Logistics, and more. Our world-class awards ceremonies are known for their formal Black-Tie affair, filled with glitz and glamour, attended by the most influential personalities in the industry.

Samir J Shah, Vice President, ACAAI and Partner. JBS Group of Companies highlights ACAAI theme and says, “The future is for those who hold the ability to comply with numerous issues simultaneously. Some compliances are repetitive and some need prompting. Companies cannot know everything. AI will ensure that no errors occur. It will also undertake proactively many issues. It will facilitate easy working in a complex world of cargo forwarding.”

C K Govil, President, Air Cargo Agents Association of India (ACAAI) says, “FTAs reduce trade barriers and remove export regulations thus facilitating EXIM traffic. India’s exports to ASEAN Countries have increased from US$25.13 billion in 2016 to US$31.49 billion in 2021. Our exports to SAFTA nations have grown from $18.60 billion in 2016 to $22.08 billion in 2021, and to South Korea from $3.52 billion in 2016 to $4.68 billion in 2021. Our FTAs have brought in a cumulative investment of $89.54 billion in just five years. And that is just the beginning. We have seen a similar trend whenever an FTA has been signed, and the number of Indian trade partners is increasing.This will attract further foreign investments and participation in our country. Air cargo cannot be left behind amid all this action.” He adds,India has been promoting ease of doing business, and FTAs are a testimony to that effort. India has been promoting FTAs with bilateral and regional partners to boost export-oriented domestic manufacturing. Last year, India carried 2.2 million tonnes of air cargo, 70% of which was to international sectors. This is one-tenth the size of the American air cargo market and one-fifth of China’s. This figure can increase if air cargo is prioritised under the FTAs. India currently has 13 FTAs operational and 8 under negotiation. These are bound to uplift Indian trade on the global platform. In the past five years, India’s merchandise exports have grown by 20.75% to countries with which it has signed FTAs. It will go up if FTAs focus on air cargo. While the National Logistics Policy and Gati Shakti gave the much deserved recognition to air cargo, now it needs …

Ramesh Mamidala, Head – Cargo, Air India in an exclusive chat says, “The future export growth is going to come from tier II and tier III Indian cities. Great infrastructure development has been done at major airports across the country to facilitate seamless cargo movement. But, in the next four-five years, the industry collectively needs to focus on creating world class cold chain infrastructure in tier II and tier III cities. Therefore, the industry collectively needs to build the infrastructure that would also include the belly capacity deployment from the airlines in tier II, tier III cities, the airport infrastructure, the regulatory related infrastructure, etc.” He adds, “I feel the agriculture wastage that is happening is overestimated in India. For NE cities, what is produced in northeast can be consumed in India itself, it can be meant for the domestic market consumption, not only for the export market. But unfortunately, it’s not well-connected. So, connecting Northeast with air cargo or airline capacity may not be sufficient. Connectivity has to come in the form of railway network as well as surface network, which is a work in progress. In the next couple of years when it is well connected, we might see the northeast feeding their exotic fruits and vegetables to the rest of the country.”

Locus released a new research report, Decoding Asia’s Last-Mile Maturity, uncovering valuable insights about the current state of last-mile logistics in India, Indonesia, the UAE, and other Asian countries. It shows progress and gaps in the ecosystem, and the pivotal role of technology in driving business success. The report reveals that 79% of businesses across Asia are harnessing the technology to enhance their last-mile efficiency, but a staggering 84% lack confidence in their processes to drive growth and enhance customer experiences. These findings underscore that there’s widespread adoption of technology in the industry however, a majority of businesses are not able to leverage it to its full potential. “Solving deep-seated last-mile challenges requires a deep understanding of your business’s last-mile maturity. Therefore, to help businesses across sectors gauge their maturity and supercharge their last-mile growth, we recently launched the Last-Mile Maturity Assessment. Data from these responses has shown that today only 40% of businesses in Asia have scratched the surface of tech-driven last-mile prowess, showing that there is an untapped opportunity for businesses to achieve success. We want this report to reflect key trends and opportunities for businesses, so can they get inspired to optimize their logistics and achieve greater revenues and superior customer experiences”, says, Mehul Kapadia, Chief Revenue Officer, Locus. T

Shreeji Translogistics was felicitated with ‘Premium Bonded Trucking Operator’ award at recently held India Cargo Awards in New Delhi. Piyush Srivastava, IES, Senior Economic Advisor graced the occasion as the Chief Guest. Known as the “Oscars of the Cargo Industry,” the India Cargo Awards 2023, hosted by Cargo Talk (DDP Group Publication) serves as an all-India platform created with a vision to recognise excellence in the Cargo-Freight-Logistics Industry across various domains, including Rail, Road, Air, Sea, Allied Services, Warehousing, Technology, 3rd Party Logistics, and more. Our world-class awards ceremonies are known for their formal Black-Tie affair, filled with glitz and glamour, attended by the most influential personalities in the industry.

The second session at CCUB 2023 ignited insightful conversations about the vital infrastructure required to optimize the efficiency of the cold chain industry. It was all on the table, from storage facilities to temperature-controlled zones and transportation infrastructure. Moderated by Balasubramanian P., The panel of expert speakers, including Mohammed Esa, Prasad Gengusetti A, Manoj Singh, John Ackerman, S. Burak Omeroglu, and Abdulla AlKhallafi, provided insights that balanced global standards with the unique challenges faced by the Indian cold chain industry.