Category Archives: Rail/Road

To achieve sustainable growth and to increase the energy efficiency of the logistics sector, Bengaluru-based tech-logistics company, LetsTransport has entered an agreement with India’s fastest growing EV startup, Etrio to add electric vehicles to its fleet. Under the signed agreement, LetsTransport will deploy Touro, a three-wheeled EV, in its last-mile operations across Delhi NCR, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai, and Pune, in a phased manner over the next 6 months. These vehicles will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by replacing regular fossil fuel three-wheelers. LetsTransport which already has EVs deployed, with this addition will further strengthen its commitment to sustainable growth and will leverage these vehicles for leading e-commerce customers, as well as in food, fruits and vegetables, and FMCG sectors.

The Logistics Division of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry has unveiled plans for the ‘Freight Smart Cities’ on Friday, July 2. It also launched a website and a handbook focusing on measures to improve the urban freight system. Freight, in simple language, means goods or cargo. These may be carried or transported by a ship, train, truck, or airplane. India is rapidly moving towards urbanization, which has led to an increase in economic growth, including e-commerce business. E-commerce requires the transportation of goods for on-time delivery of products to the consumer. Indian cities are driving the economic activity of the nation, contributing more than 63% of the national GDP. This prompted the need for a first and last-mile freight movement.

The first container block train from Finland to India is on its way carrying 32 containers loaded with paper-based products of a Swedish company. It is the first such service linking Europe and India using the western wing of a new transport corridor that seeks to cut transit time and cost of transportation. The train will pass through the Russian Federation and the Republic of Azerbaijan. The estimated travel time by rail from Vuosaari to Astara station in Azerbaijan is eight days. From Astara, the containers will be transported by road to the port of Bandar Abbas in Iran and then hauled by a ship to Jawaharlal Nehru Port, the state-owned container gateway near Mumbai. The transit time from Vuosaari to Jawaharlal Nehru Port is around 25 days, about half that it takes to go via the Suez Canal, said a spokesperson for Nurminen Logistics Services Oy.

The Ambala Railway Division, for the first time in its history, sent a special parcel train beyond India’s border to Benapole in Bangladesh with cotton yarn on Sunday. This earned the division ₹25.69 lakh for carrying 468 tonnes of freight in collaboration with mgX.com, a subsidiary of MGH Group, a Singapore-based shipping conglomerate, officials said. This train, consisting of 20 parcel vans, was flagged off by Vivek Sharma, senior divisional commercial manager, Himanshu Pant, director and CEO of MGH India, and other railway officials. Sharma said that businessmen in and around Punjab and Haryana have been transporting commodities by road to Bangladesh in small quantities, which is costly for them. “During the lockdown, they could not move goods by road. Then, railway staff and officials approached them and explained the transportation facilities by rail. To move the consignment by goods trains, it is mandatory for farmers and businessmen to mobilise the quantity in bulk,” he said.

Air cargo firm SpiceXpress and e-commerce logistics platform Delhivery have come together to build drone delivery capability in the country. SpiceXpress, which is the cargo division of airline firm Spicejet, is one of the key consortiums shortlisted by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to conduct trials on Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) drones in India, the statement said. “We are very excited about this project as it promises to be a game-changer in times to come. The MoU is a win-win for both companies leveraging their strengths to deliver great synergies”, said Sanjiv Gupta, CEO, SpiceXpress The collaboration is an extension of our long-standing relationship with Spicejet. We look forward to leveraging our capabilities to revolutionize the logistics ecosystem” added Ajith Pai, COO, Delhivery. Logistics firm Delhivery will provide the necessary on-ground support to ensure speedy and reliable first-mile and last-mile logistics, according to the statement.

Ahead of its initial public offering (IPO) this year, supply chain services provider Delhivery has reportedly raised $277 million in its latest round of funding, taking its market valuation to nearly $3 billion. According to a TechCrunch report, Delhivery disclosed the finding in its latest regulatory filing that has been led by US-headquartered investment firm Fidelity. Delhivery, a leading fulfillment platform for digital commerce, has raised about $1.23 billion to date. Earlier this year, Delhivery announced to expand its footprint by opening two new tech offices in Bengaluru and Ahmedabad, that will take its workforce strength to more than 500 employees in the country. It currently has more than 350 employees and centres in Gurgaon, Goa, and Hyderabad (in India), and Seattle in the US. “The current expansion ensures we stay ahead of the curve with tech and data science being the core business differentiators,” said Kapil Bharati, Co-founder and CTO, Delhivery.

Indian Railways’ DFC (Dedicated Freight Corridor) project successfully completed its first double stack container train run between Mundra port in Gujarat to CONCOR(Container Corporation of India) Multi Modal Logistics park (MMLP) at Kathuwas in Rajasthan. The double stack container freight train with a total tonnage of 2480 ton from Mundra Port arrived at New Palanpur station of the DFC on Sunday morning. With an approx. 1,00,000 Sq. Mtrs of concrete block paving dedicated for rail handling and container stacking, MMLP, Kathuwas is deemed to be the largest multi modal park that is spread over around 283 acres of land serving container Port Terminals of JNPT, Mundra, Pipavav, Hazira, other ports and all terminals of CONCOR spread across the length and breadth of the country.

Chetak group, a pioneer in logistics and supply chain solutions in automobile transportation in India, has forayed into Multi-modal transportation model by venturing into transportation of finished auto good through Railways. The company started its induction into the multi-modal transportation on a strong note by using Rail and Road transport to deliver 430 customised Tata Xenon ambulances from Tata’s manufacturing unit in Dharward to various Military hospitals, located at widely spread defence locations including Jammu, Prayagraj, Guwahati, New Delhi and Durgapur. Speaking on the momentous occasion, Mukesh Haritash, Director Chetak Group said, “We are really proud to cross this significant milestone as Chetak Group debuts into rail and multi-modal transportation segment. We cannot visual a better way to enter the segment, than transporting Tata’s ambulances to our India’s defence forces, travelling across many states on rail and roadways. The credit for this achievement goes to our dedicated team and to the outstanding relationship that the Chetak Group enjoys, with our all our prestigious clients.”

Shyplite, an AI-powered logistics platform that enables businesses to automate their logistics and increase shipping efficiency by providing a single-window platform integrated with multiple carriers, has raised $ 1 Mn in revenue-based growth capital from N+1 capital. The company was bootstrapped with investments in the year 2015 from its founding members Nisschal Jain- Co-founder and Managing Partner, Sugam Jain- Co-founder and CEO and Parinay Itkan – Co-founder and COO & launched exactly five years ago on 9th June 2016. Shyplite will utilise the funds to support its expansion plans to enter the new segments like Fulfilment Centres and Hyperlocal deliveries to become an end-to-end logistics player and add more experts on board. As part of the expansion, Shyplite has committed nine fulfilment centres across India in cities including Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru. It is also bringing last-mile logistics players like Dunzo, Wefast and Shadowfax and others on its platform to help businesses with last-mile and same-day delivery service.

Spoton Logistics, India’s premier technology-driven logistics company has announced the addition of supply chain solutions including service parts logistics to its service portfolio. The company is all set to offer end-to-end integrated express logistics and supply chain solutions to businesses across industry verticals. The complete suite of supply chain services will allow Spoton to execute factory inbound, end-customer distribution and in-plant operations in complex environments. The solution will encompass integrated warehousing, long-haul transportation, local redistribution part-load movements, mission-critical service parts deliveries, asset recovery and other value-added services integrated through seamless next-generation technology. Commenting on the development, Mr. Abhik Mitra, Managing Director, Spoton Logistics, stated, “Since 2012, we have continued to be one of the most preferred express and road transport logistics providers to many large and mid-scale companies in India, counting some of the best in business as our clientele. We are thrilled to embark on this journey of becoming a one-stop solution to our existing clients as well as opening new avenues of growth by acquiring new customers.”