Category Archives: Aviation

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.”

Association of Multimodal Transport Operators of India (AMTOI) held its 24th AGM in Mumbai. The Office Bearers for the term 2023-2024 include Xerrxes Master, President, Arun Kumar, Vice President, Devpal Menon, Hon. Secretary, Haresh Lalwani, Hon. Treasurer. The association also awarded Cargo Talk for its exemplary contribution in the logistics sector. The president touched upon the few important Achievements and milestones mentioned below: 1-Collaboration – bringing diverse stakeholders from multimodal agencies 2-Knowledge sharing 3-Advocacy – policies engaging with govt bodies to represent interest of multimodal agencies 4-Digital transformation – no longer an option but necessity to streamline operations 5-Sustainability – a global goal

The much-awaited Cold Chain Unbroken (CCUB) 2023 event organised by WIZ finally kicked off at the Taj Bengaluru. The inaugural Session delved deep into the government’s vision, highlighting the pivotal policies that bolster the Indian Cold Chain Industry and logistics sector. Dr. S. Selvakumar graced the occasion as the Chief Guest, and shared invaluable insights shaping the path forward. Kajal Singh, Principal Commissioner, ACC and Airport also focused on the evolving cold chain and logistics sector. Satyaki Raghunath, Chief Cargo Officer, BIAL, Satish Lakkaraju, Global Head Air Freight and Pharma at WIZ, and Ramkumar Govindarajan, Founder and CEO together with dignitaries performed the lamp lighting ceremony. “The theme of this event, Cold Chain Unbroken, encapsulates the fundamental goal we all share to establish an unbroken chain of temperature control, storage, transportation and the distribution of goods. Achieving this objective requires a collaborative effort from government agencies, private entrepreneurs, research institutions and stakeholders involved. It also necessitates embracing cutting edge technologies and the best practices to address the challenges that lies ahead. Karnataka has a considerable number of approximately 233 cold storage facilities, collectively offering a substantial overall capacity. The remaining cold storage facilities are owned and operated by private players in the state. This distribution of ownership highlights the collaboration between government agencies and private entrepreneurs in providing essential cold storage infrastructure to further assist in the process of releasing and logistics policy of Karnataka that will provide fiscal incentive for setting up cold chain facilities in Karnataka,” said the chief guest.

Combined Logistics Solutions wins ‘Best Global Logistics Company’ award at the recently concluded 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.

Get ready to participate in India’s highly anticipated and power-packed show on cold chain storage and transportation. Being organized by WIZ, Cold Chain Unbroken (CCUB) 2023 opens today at Taj Bengaluru. The key points of discussion will include cold chain storage, handling and transportation, adequate infrastructure and skilled manpower for ground handling and transportation of products such as pharma and perishables, tech integration, government policies to facilitate EoDB and a lot more. Several industry stalwarts and stakeholders, including airports, airlines, freight forwarders, shipping lines, trucking companies, custodians are expected to take part in the show. The two-day event will provide a platform to meet and exchange ideas and collaborate.

Blue Dart Express re-branded its service Dart Plus to Bharat Dart on 13 September at Mumbai. Bharat Dart service is backed by speed, security, and handling with value-added features, with time-sensitive delivery. The rebranding comes as a decision to deliver exceptional value to customers, aligning with Blue Dart’s objective of redefining logistics services in the country. Balfour Manuel, Managing Director, Blue Dart, also said, “This rebranding represents an exciting transformation for us as we continue to serve the length and breadth of the country. Bharat Dart is the first step in a new and exciting chapter for our company and our nation. We are dedicated to leveraging our expertise to elevate our capabilities and enhance the overall customer experience.” Blue Dart boasts of access to over 55,000+ locations across India, and spans 220 countries and territories internationally. Their initiatives like DAWN (Deliver Anywhere Now), and RISE (Revenue Increase from SMEs and Emerging Markets) target further expansions into tier II and tier III cities in the country.

Ahead of its upcoming 47th Annual Convention in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in November, The Air Cargo Agents Association of India held its 53rd Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Mumbai on Tuesday and elected CK Govil, CMD, Activair Airfreight as the President of the association. The Managing Committee elected Samir J Shah, Partner, JBS Group of Companies as the Vice President. Vikram Kumar, Director at CTC Air Carriers has been elected as Honorary Secretary General and Praveen Menon is now the Honorary Treasurer. Afzal Malbarwala, MD, Galaxy Freight stepped down from the position of President this year after serving ACAAI for two consecutive years as President. The Managing Committee Member are Mahesh Trikha, Anil Vazirani, Siddharth Jairaj, Chaitaly Mehta, Ronnie Goveas, Amit Koley.

Kale Logistics Solutions (Kale) is pleased to announce the successful completion of its Series B funding round, raising USD 30 million in capital led by Creaegis Advisors LLP, a digital and tech focused private equity fund. This funding round represents a significant milestone in the company’s journey and positions it for rapid expansion and continued innovation. The company had earlier raised a Series A investment from Inflexor Ventures in 2020 and counts marquee founding angels Narendra Kale and Vipul Jain. The investment will fuel Kale’s mission to develop and deploy robust Cargo Community Systems to transform global logistics beyond regional boundaries. Vipul Jain, Chairman, Kale Logistics Solutions, said, “This is our second fundraising with an external investor, and we are happy to partner with Creaegis because of the alignment of vision for the business, their record and understanding of the SaaS and tech products space globally. We are confident they will add value to the company as we shift gears towards a faster growth trajectory. Amar More, Rajesh Panicker, and Vineet Malhotra, Co-founders of Kale Logistics Solutions, said jointly, “We are thrilled to partner with Creaegis for our global expansion, leveraging their operational value add and SaaS experience. Together with our esteemed group of existing investors, we are well positioned for the next phase of growth. The current funding will empower us to accelerate our mission of connecting the different stakeholders of the logistics industry through our community platforms and empower them with several digital value-added services and enterprise systems to facilitate global trade.”