Etihad Cargo operated the inaugural flight using Boeing 777-200 freighter to Ezhou Huahu Airport, making the carrier the first international airline to operate flights to the airport. Located in the Hubei Province of China, Ezhou Huahu Airport was developed as Asia’s first and the world’s fourth professional cargo airport. “Equipped with a 23,000-square-metre cargo terminal and a 700,000-square-metre freight transit centre, the airport serves as a gateway for air trade between China and the rest of the world. The airport is expected to open ten international cargo routes and 50 domestic routes by 2025 with an annual cargo and mail throughput of 2.45 million tonnes.”Etihad Cargo’s expansion to Ezhou follows the carrier’s announcement that it has expanded its reciprocal block space agreement with SF Airlines to increase cargo capacity between China and the rest of the world via Etihad Cargo’s hub in Abu Dhabi. “This partnership has given Etihad Cargo’s partners and customers greater accessibility to 25 domestic Chinese destinations including Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Chengdu and Nanjing. SF Airlines benefits from Etihad Cargo’s global network for its express product.”

Skye Air, a Gurugram-based drone solutions provider launched traffic management system for drones in India. Launched in the presence of Minister of Road Transport and Highways of India Nitin Gadkari, the software will allow drone operators to plan routes, make flight plans and assess risks before running drone-based operations in the country. The solution, called Skye UTM, is a first-of-its-kind for India. Unmanned traffic management systems will play a key role in how airspace will be managed, allowing multiple beyond visual line-of-sight (BVLOS) drone operations to be run by different firms at the same time. Globally, several companies, such as US-based AirMap and Netherlands-based Airbus, offer such solutions.

The demand for Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) production has increased considerably, says DHL Global Forwarding in its latest reports. The customers’ demand has been increased for sustainable solutions. The freight forwarder said a growing number of customer tenders and discussions included greenhouse gas transparency. Customers are also willing to explore the use of sustainable solutions even if they come at a higher cost. However, the forwarder is worried about the supply of SAF. “With the growing demand the availability of sustainable fuels must be scaled up significantly,” the company said. DHL Global Forwarding chief commercial officer Thomas George said: “From today’s perspective, e-fuels such as hydrogen and other sustainably produced synthetic fuels will only become increasingly available from 2030 onwards. “Until then we need to scale up sustainable biofuel usage – and this is only possible in a joint effort.”

Hans Infomatic was felicitated with ‘Best IT & Software Service Provider of the Year’ award at the recently concluded 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 Cargo Industry.

Leading 3PL logistics & warehouse services providers in India, V-Logis has expanded its horizons with a brand-new warehouse in Chennai. Spanning a massive 100,000 sq. ft., this space is more than just storage. Strategically positioned for optimal efficiency, the new warehouse promises to provide great services for storing goods, managing inventory, or streamlining operations,

Narrow-body freighters will play an integral role in the growth story of air cargo in India as we have witnessed in the matured markets like UAE, Europe and US,” says Ramesh Mamidala, Head of Cargo at Air India. “If we talk about domestic air cargo market, with the help of Indian freighter operators we can finally see capacity coming out of remote locations and cargo is getting picked up even from tier 2 and 3 cities. Domestic air cargo is moving at a good pace. The e-commerce sector is driving major growth volumes. E-commerce companies are more than happy to use air cargo for their premium shipments. Right now, they do have some issues at the service levels like infrastructure at the airport, therefore we are actively working as an airline with the airport operators to resolve the issues. As we become more quality oriented, more reliant we may see many shipments flying via air using belly of an aircraft in the coming years. We will also see a lot of freighter airlines coming in the space to operate both narrow body as well as wide body – narrow body for domestic and wide body for international market, this will be happening very aggressively in the next 5-10 years’ time,” he adds.

Delhi International Airport (DIAL) was felicitated with ‘Best Cargo Airport- Infrastructure’ award at the recently concluded 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 Cargo Industry.

The Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations in India (FFFAI) organised women’s wing delegation visit to India-Bangladesh Border with an objective to explore opportunities as well as understand challenges especially for the women professionals in logistics business. The Women’s Wing of FFFAI paid a visit to Petrapole (India in West Bengal)-Benapole (Bangladesh) border on August 6, 2023 which was led by Chaitaly Mehta, Convenor, Women’s Wing, FFFAI. Mehta said, “Petrapole is managed by the Land Port Authority of India (LPAI) where LPAI administers and manages all the facilities, infrastructure, etc with futuristic views. It was very interesting to learn and see Women working in Petrapole. Women workforce at LPAI constitutes more than 12% of its total employees at this Land Port. The Women Workforce is maximum in BSF followed by Customs, Immigration etc. The purpose of the visit was to understand what differentiates an ICP from an airport to a sea port and ICD, how logistics activities are carried out at an ICP and what exactly is an ICP. Especially, challenges before the women logistics practitioners at a border customs post were the focus area.”

The warehousing and industrial sector of India is expected to expand up to 516 million sq. ft by 2026, states research firm, JLL’s H1 2023 India: Logistics and Industrial State of the Nation study. Delhi NCR, Mumbai, and Bengaluru are the major contributors to this expansion, while the top three cities in terms of demand are Mumbai, Pune, and Delhi NCR. For net absorption or new leases, the top eight cities in the country consisted of 15 million sq. ft., and third-party logistics operators made up for 43% of the demand in their leasing market. That marked a notable increase from the previous year where it was for 35% in H1 2022. Meanwhile, the lease share of the FMCG and retail industry went down to 15% in the current year from 23% in 2022. A similar decrease was also seen in India’s gross absorption, including renewals and churnings, which fell to 20 million sq. ft. in 2023 from 23 million sq. ft. last year.

To become a global cargo hub, India must compete with established hubs like Dubai, Singapore, and Hong Kong. Offering unique value propositions and seamless services is essential,” says Keku Bomi Gazder, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, Aviapro Logistic Services. Also, innovation is vital for sustained growth. A lack of investment in research and development may hinder the industry’s ability to adopt cutting-edge technologies. Streamlining processes and adopting technology for seamless clearance is necessary. While India has made progress in infrastructure development, there’s still a need for further investment in ports, roadways, railways, and airports to handle larger cargo volumes efficiently. Inadequate intermodal connectivity often leads to delays and increased costs. Improving last-mile connectivity and creating efficient multimodal transportation networks is essential too.”