Category Archives: Technology

Air New Zealand releases document to deploy zero-emissions aircraft

Air New Zealand aims to deploy zero-emissions aircraft in the next five years. The airline has released a Zero Emissions Aircraft Product Requirements Document that details Air New Zealand’s specifications and requirements for a new generation of aircraft. Air New Zealand said it “is seeking long term partnerships with aircraft developers looking to develop zero emissions aircraft. From the PRD process Air New Zealand is seeking to gain an understanding from the aircraft developers of the realistic implementation timeline and technology feasibility to enable long term fleet strategy evaluation”. The overall goal is for zero-emissions aircraft to be deployed in the next five years, with battery electric propulsion, hybrid electric propulsion and green hydrogen propulsion being considered. Air New Zealand’s decarbonisation roadmap identifies four main levers needed to reach net zero by 2050. These are the use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF); the operation of zero emissions aircraft; continued investment in the modern fleet replacement programme; and improvements in operational efficiencies (such as through optimised flight planning).

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Delhi govt. pushes the use EV to curb pollution

The Delhi government is asking e-commerce companies, food delivery services and cab aggregators to completely switch to electric vehicles as it aims to increase the EV share in total vehicle sales to 25 percent by 2024 to check air pollution, according to officials. It is also going to ask dealers and petrol pumps to not give fuel to vehicles without a pollution-under-check (PUC) certificate. Vehicle emissions account for around 40 percent of the city’s air pollution. “The government is going to take two major steps to check vehicular pollution – we will ask all aggregators including Zomato, Swiggy, Ola, Uber, etc. to completely switch to electric vehicles. These services account for 30 percent of the registered vehicles in Delhi,” said an official. “We are also considering directing dealers and petrol pumps not to supply fuel to vehicles without a (valid) PUC certificate,” he said. Directions under the Environment (Protection) Act in this regard are expected to be issued this week.

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DHL, MIAL and Kale Logistics partners for paperless import operations

DHL Global Forwarding announces a collaboration with Mumbai International Airport Ltd. (MIAL) and Kale Logistics for the pilot rollout of D-Cube for paperless and contactless import operations. Soon MIAL will not require hard copies of MAWBs (Master airway bill) and HAWBs (House airway bill) to be submitted by DHL Global Forwarding, said Niki Frank, CEO South Asia and India, DHL Global Forwarding in a Linkedin post. This digital initiative facilitates ease of business to support all forwarders, customs brokers, transporters and customers, on the air import businesswith a ‘contactless’ and ‘paperless’ process, fast-tracking the deliverables factoring safety and security. The post read that queues at the Air Cargo Terminal will become a thing of the past with Digitalized Gate Passes to shortly be introduced. Being a major air cargo player at the Mumbai Terminal, DHL Global Forwarding volunteered to support this progressive initiative and played a significant role in its implementation. A well-aligned move to DPDHL’s own digitalization mission.

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Qatar Airways leads to perform Carbon Exchange Transaction with IATA

Qatar Airways and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced that Qatar Airways became the first carrier to make a transaction on the IATA Aviation Carbon Exchange (ACE) using IATA Clearing House (ICH). The IATA Aviation Carbon Exchange (ACE) is a centralised marketplace where airlines and other aviation stakeholders can trade CO2 emission reduction units for compliance or voluntary offsetting purposes. IATA and Qatar Airways reach another landmark milestone that encourages carbon markets to respond to the needs of the aviation sector. This initiative enables opportunities to simplify processes to ensure the successful implementation of Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) adopted by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), while also supporting the successful implementation of voluntary offsetting programmes. With Qatar Airways making the ACE transaction using IATA Clearing House (ICH), it benefits from the IATA Settlement Systems and Clearing House for seamless and risk-free settlement of funds.

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Atmos Systems introduces A42N, enhancing warehouse robotics

Atmos Systems, leading name enabling widespread warehouse automation, has introduced Atmos A42N – an autonomous case handling robotic (ACR) system that can significantly enhance both inbound and outbound efficiency of a warehouse. Following thorough research and development, the A42N robots comes with an increased load capacity of 150 kg and is engineered to support cases of various size and material. The system is loaded with easy to use features, thereby providing higher flexibility for warehouse location. Speaking about the innovative product, Atmos Systems co-founders Khursheed Alam and Faraz Alam said, “The idea behind the development of Atmos A42N is to boost the storage density of a warehouse by at least 80-130%. It connects with the warehouse’s business management systems, it supports both operations and analytics. Also, as it is based on reinforcement learning and deep learning, it ensures optimized scheduling of multiple robots along while ensuring real-time monitoring and pre-alert malfunction.”

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Japan Airlines partners with CHAMP Cargosystems for next five years

Japan Airlines (JAL) and CHAMP Cargosystems have extended their partnership for next five years. By extending their partnership with CHAMP, Cargospot will remain the IT keystone of JAL’s cargo business, enabling the airline to take advantage of the solution as it continues to evolve for the benefit of CHAMP’s large and growing customer community. The carrier has been using CHAMP’s acclaimed Cargospot solution to manage its day-to-day cargo business processes since 2014. Since then, JAL has partnered with CHAMP in a series of ground-breaking digital transformational projects built around the Cargospot ecosystem, including the launch of a cargo business platform that enables a fully digitalized end-to-end process across the airline’s domestic operation and a unique API-based solution that allows the airline’s customers to compare and book against multiple air-to-air and ground transportation options.

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Colliers estimates investments of $12.6 bn in Electric Vehicles segment

In its latest joint report with Indospace titled ‘Electric Mobility in Full Gear’, Colliers estimates that the Electric Vehicles (EVs) segment in India is likely to witness investments of USD12.6 billion or INR94,000 crore across the automotive value chain, over the next five years. The investments are likely to benefit the Indian real estate sector in the form of setting up new or augmenting manufacturing units, industrial parks, and clusters with focus on last mile delivery by E-commerce firms and 3PL companies, government push for electrification of public transport, tax benefits and incentives for first time buyers amongst others. Tamil Nadu is the frontrunner accounting for about 34% share in total planned investments for EV, followed by Andhra Pradesh and Haryana with a share of 12% and 9% respectively. Currently, 15 Indian States have either approved or notified EV policies, with 6 more states in the draft stage. States like Delhi, Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Meghalaya are focusing on demand incentives, whereas southern states and Uttar Pradesh are focusing on manufacturer-based incentives. States like Maharashtra, Delhi and Gujarat having strong demand side incentives should have provisions to set up industrial parks/clusters for EV or manufacturing of ancillary components with plug-and-play.

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Shypmax collaborates with B2C Europe to facilitate last-mile delivery

Shypmax, India’s first and only AI-powered Logistics Platform as a Service (LPaaS) for cross border shipping, has secured an exclusive partnership with the Netherlands based B2C Europe, a Maersk company specializing in B2C parcel delivery services in Europe. The collaboration will enable Indian businesses to deliver their products to Europe, including the UK, based customers cost-effectively using a single-window platform. From Shypmax, Indian companies, especially SMEs, Direct-to-customer, B2C, and E-commerce firms, from over 27,000 pin codes, can deliver any product across European markets and beyond. Shypmax automates processes related to compliance with current regulations in the European Union. As India’s first Import One-Stop-Shop (IOSS) ready facility enabling centralised declaration and payment of VAT by European customers at the point of sale, Shypmax is saving Indian companies and the European customers from the hassles of navigating through different tax systems in Europe. The services also include customised labels, pickup, packaging, and door-to-door delivery via more than 100 connected carriers across Europe and beyond by B2C Europe.

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Reducing carbon footprints to set the trend for 2022

WebXpress has identified a few key trends in the logistics sector which will be trendsetter in 2022. Covid-19 has shaken the roots of the well-oiled world of Logistics. Before Covid-19, most companies assumed seamless movements, stable freight rates, unlimited capacity, and minimum buffer. But an even bigger disruption is on the way as major economies enforce climate commitments and consumers force companies to comply with them. Key tech trend that would drive logistics industry in managing climate goals: * Climate Measurement / Monitoring Tools * Localized Climate Data * Optimum EV Asset Utilization Tools * Carbon Trading Apurva Mankad, CEO and Founder, WebXpress adds, “World is entering a new phase of energy challenges. There will be a gap between cutting fossil fuel dependence while ramping up green energy sources. Logistics is one of the biggest emitter and its also technically easier to solve the issue of excess emission when compared to cement production. All you need to do is convert all vehicles to EV and run all warehouse on Solar energy. Of course, the reality will be far more complex and it will vary across nations. Companies need to offset emissions in one part of the supply chain with initiatives in distant locations. Here, technology will play a crucial role to track every movement, every km and measure its impact. The coming decade belongs to Global Green Tech.”

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New lubricants to ensure smooth transition to alternative fuels

Ship operators must work alongside the companies they charge with maintaining engine condition in order to ensure a smooth transition to using alternative fuels. That is the challenge laid down by Lubrizol’s Technical Manager for Marine Engine Oils, Ian Bown, as the company explores how it must adapt lubricants to protect ship engines burning alternative fuels. Shipping’s long-term environmental targets are propelling the industry’s quest for new, cleaner fuels. But while the big target – cutting greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50 percent compared with 2008 levels – is still 29 years away, time is short for the task at hand. Engine technologies for many of the candidate fuels have yet to reach even the pilot stage in commercial shipping, but the lifespan of vessels means that fuel choices will need to be made very soon for newbuilds that will likely still be trading by 2050. The long development cycle for cylinder oils is another challenge. “It is well recognized within the industry that while changes come quite quickly in some areas, lubricant development is sometimes not as fast,” says Bown. “That’s because we have to understand the impact of these fuels when they’re in service.”

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