Category Archives: Aviation

Serving the air cargo logistics industry, its members from the entire segments of air cargo logistics industry and the nation, Air Cargo Forum India (ACFI) has completed its eight constructive and successful years. With the objective of developing the air cargo logistics and supply chain industry and for bringing improvements in the movement and processing of EXIM trade with the help of the government regulatory agencies, ACFI was formed in the year 2012. After completion of two successful years (2018-19 to 2019-20) term of previous ACFI Governing Board, ACFI in its 8th Annual General Meeting (AGM) followed by its 63rd Board meeting held on July 17, 2020 has announced the new ACFI Governing Board members for the next two years i.e. 2020-21 to 2021-22 taken over charge under the leadership of Cyrus Katgara, Partner M/S Jeena & Co. as President of ACFI. Air Cargo Forum India (ACFI) is the only nationwide association having representation from the entire air cargo logistic supply chain industry i.e. Airport Operators (Government & Private), Freight Forwarders, Airlines, Customs Brokers, Cargo Terminal Operators, Bonded Truck Operators, General Sales Agencies, Express Industry and the Associations of these individual stakeholders. In the international collaboration ACFI is the member of The International Air Cargo Association (TIACA) and an Association Member of PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry in India.

“Supply has never been a problem in the cargo industry before this pandemic,” says Ashok Rajan, Senior Vice President and Head – Cargo & Logistics Solutions, IBS Software. Calling digitisation a saving grace for most of the air cargo professionals, Rajan shares, “In last three months, nature of operations has started to change considerably. With the work from home concept, interactions have gone digital. People who had strong digital backbone have responded much better to this crisis.” “In the time of crisis people are struggling to get connected to their customers in order to make sales. Hence, people who had access to digital sale channel are actually able to get a bigger chunk of the market than others,” he adds.

As part of its efforts to continue modernising and growing its fleet, DHL Express and Boeing has announced that DHL will add four B767-300 Boeing converted freighters (BCF). According to DHL, the move was a step towards modernising its long-haul intercontinental fleet in order to fly eco-friendlier and more cost-efficiently. Work on the conversions will start in the fourth quarter of this year and is expected to be completed by the end of 2021. “We are excited to introduce additional B767 freighters to the DHL Express air network,” says, Geoff Kehr, Senior Vice President – Global Air Fleet Management, DHL Express. The 767-300BCF has virtually the same cargo capability as the 767-300F production freighter with approximately 50 tonnes structural payload at a range of approximately 5,556 km and 186,880 kg maximum take-off weight.

Air Cargo Forum India has (ACFI) elected Cyrus Katgara of Jeena & Company as the President of ACFI for the year 2020-2022. Katgara, who held the post of Vice President earlier, takes over from Tushar Jani of Cargo Service Centre. Yashpal Sharma of Skyways Air Services, who previously served as Hon. Secretary, has now been appointed as Vice President of ACFI. Sanjiv Edward of Delhi International Airport and Avinash Razdan of Delhi Cargo Service Center have taken over as Hon. Secretary and Hon Treasurer respectively.

Emirates SkyCargo has facilitated the movement of essential commodities and other supplies for individual consumers and businesses across the world by operating more than 10,000 cargo flights to destinations across six continents between April and June 2020. The flights were a mix of scheduled, ad-hoc and charter operations. Nabil Sultan, Divisional Senior Vice President – Cargo, Emirates, says, “Emirates SkyCargo has innovatively adapted our cargo operations and offerings over the last few months in line with rapidly evolving market demand. In keeping with our core value as a global facilitator of trade and economies, we have re-grown our network to over 100 destinations with robust flight frequencies to key production and consumer markets.”

DHL Global Forwarding has opened its first temperature-controlled facility in Hyderabad to meet the growing demand for reliable temperature-controlled transportation from point of departure to arrival. Located in the cargo satellite building close to the airport in Hyderabad, the new facility offers conditioning of packaging materials in different chambers for varying temperatures up to -20̊ C, to meet the stringent needs of pharmaceutical shipments. “To meet the intricate requirements of each life science and healthcare shipment, our goal is to ensure that all goods are vigilantly handled by DHL’s core team of professionals with customised end-to-end solutions,” says, Niki Frank, CEO, DHL Global Forwarding, India, in adding, “By sending pre-conditioned packaging units to our customers’ premises to pick up temperature-sensitive medicines and vaccines, we ensure that the highest possible integrity of temperature control is achieved within the supply chain during export.”

In order to maintain unbroken cold chain for time and temperature sensitive shipments such as pharmaceuticals and perishables, GMR Hyderabad International Airport has ramped up its cargo capabilities by introducing a Multi ULD (Unit Load Device) Cool Dolly. The Multi ULD Cool Dolly at Hyderabad Air Cargo was virtually launched today by Vandana Aggarwal (IES), Senior Economic Advisor, Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) during the third Webinar on ‘Air Cargo-Changing Dimensions’ organised by GMR Group as part of its ongoing webinar series on ‘Reposing the faith in flying’. Comprising of a steel trailer and aluminum insulated container, the Cool Dolly acts as a mobile storage unit from air cargo terminal to the aircraft. They provide an unbroken cold chain to all the perishable shipments of temperatures of +2⁰C to +8⁰C and +15⁰C to +25⁰C and can handle around 7-tons of cargo in a single trip.

CEVA Logistics has launched an all-in-one portal named myCEVA to enable shippers in managing their complete shipping journey online. The online tool provides a seamless customer experience by giving them greater control over every function and a larger range of options whatever the circumstances. The portal has been designed to give customers greater control over the booking process while simultaneously improving efficiency through greater process automation. Customers can instantly receive quotes, make bookings and track shipments in real time, which will enhance the customer experience.   After a successful pilot phase in the US in May 2020, myCEVA is working towards covering all transport modes in every region of the world and has been launched in a phased manner with FCL and LCL ocean freight customers using specific trade lanes from/to the US, China and India.

Talking about how COVID-19 has exposed the vulnerabilities of complex global supply chains built on lean manufacturing principles, Saurabh Trikha, Director, Aargus Global Logistics, says. “This is true in the healthcare sector, where the scramble for protective equipment has laid bare the inherent risks of inventory and single-sourcing models driven exclusively by cost control. The impact of China’s lockdown and its dominance in key areas of manufacturing have further highlighted the problem with modern supply chains. One likely consequence is that global firms will diversify their supply chains in the future, instead of relying only on China. Manufacturing hubs such as Vietnam, Mexico, and India are likely to benefit from that shift.”

Saudia Cargo has operated more than 1500 flights since March 2020, when the COVID-19 restrictions came into effect. According to the carrier, 500 of these flights have been operated using passenger aircraft deployed for international air cargo. From March through June, Saudia Cargo has transported around 75,000 tons of vital shipments to the Kingdom including medical and PPE equipment as part of the Saudi health authorities’ efforts to prevent the spread of the pandemic. Omar Hariri, CEO, Saudia Cargo, says, “We have created largest cargo air bridge to deliver vital goods and medical equipment to KSA during COVID-19 pandemic,” in adding, “The company has operated a combined fleet of freighter and passenger aircraft enhancing all operations related to the air transportation of medical equipment and medicines to the Kingdom in order to mitigate the economic and health impact of COVID-19.”