Category Archives: Warehousing

EXZOD India is expected to deliver an additional 10 lakh pallets in the next three years from the current delivery of over 8 lakh pallets, which would take the company’s pallets count to 18 lakhs and make the company a leading pallet manufacturer in the country. EXZOD will facilitate this delivery from four of its manufacturing plants located in Punjab, Maharashtra, Haryana and Telangana which are equipped with state-of-the-art automatic pallet manufacturing machines. This makes the company pan India pallet manufacturing and enhances the delivery and servicing capabilities of the company. This would further enable the company to consolidate its position to sign large brands, logistic parks and other 4 PL companies who have pan India presence and this would act as an entry barrier for new entrants. According to Nitin Kalla, founder & MD, EXZOD India, “We foresee a huge demand for pallets from a cross-section of industrial sectors be it pharma, automobile, FMCG, logistics, supply chain and other industries. Our early estimates indicate that over 10 lakh pallets will be required in the next three years. We are confident of meeting this demand.” Kalla further adds, “As Indian businesses get integrated with global supply chains, there is a huge potential from Indian companies, especially Small and Medium Enterprises to scale up and this itself will lead to a demand in pallets.”

Gateway Distriparks is currently in the Inland Container Depot (ICDs) and Container Freight Stations (CFSs) business and we have CTO license where we run our own freight trains pan India. Currently we have five CFSs and five ICDs. We have another ICD under construction in Jaipur,” says Samvid Gupta, Joint Managing Director, Gateway Distriparks Ltd. “With this we will have a network of eleven container locations across India. After this we have plans to come up with two more ICDs in the next two years and in the private space, then we will be the largest player in this segment.” Talking about the investment, he adds, “We have overall done 1500 crore investment since the inception of the company. This includes the investment in Snowman Logistics and buy out of a private equity Blackstone in Gateway Rail Freight Ltd. The company has now merged into Gateway Distriparks Ltd. Going forward, we have plans to invest 500 crore CAPEX which we had announced last year. Out of that 200 crore have been invested. The rest of 300 crore will come in the form of two new ICDs, up-gradation of existing facilities and there will be an increase in the fleet as well as rakes.” Talking about the expansion plans, Gupta shares, “We want to increase our rail network. Right now we are doing 95% of our business on EXIM and 5% on domestic. Going forward, we want to expand on the domestic sector. This will happen in next 2-3 years. We are looking forward to expand in UP, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh for our next projects.”

Gati Ltd., an Allcargo Group company has launched a state-of-the-art and tech-enabled surface transhipment centre and distribution warehouse (STCDW) at Bhiwandi on the outskirts of Mumbai. Spread over an area of over 1.48 lakh sq. ft. the mega STCDW is a Grade A warehouse observing the highest level of construction quality, advanced technologies and a skilled and trained workforce to offer its customers the expertise of express cargo distribution operations, supply chain visibility, reduced dwell time and time definite deliveries. With a workforce strength of 276 people, the Mumbai mega distribution hub is a terminus for Mumbai and Navi Mumbai, to cater to short haul or regional distribution as well as consolidate-sort-dispatch of long-haul loads for the rest of the country. The Mumbai hub has been designed in compliance with the green norms and is equipped with built-to-suit technology-enabled warehouses of global standards and advanced features and material handling facilities along with integrated warehousing and distribution mechanisms and superior safety features. Battery operated hand pallet trolleys have been deployed at the facility to ensure operational efficiency. The Steel pallets instead of plastic or wooden pallets are being used at the facility keeping the environment sustainability in focus. The STCDW has also planned to have solarization facility which will generate 150 KW of power. An AI-powered round-the-clock tracking system at the facility offers real-time visibility of the cargo movements Adarsh Hegde, Managing Director, Gati Ltd. said, “The launch of super hub near Mumbai is a part of the Allcargo Group’s core vision to play an enabling role in the India growth. As India has emerged as a bright spot in the world economy, we are strengthening our end-to-end logistics delivery service …

Mahindra Logistics Ltd. (MLL), an integrated logistics solutions provider, and Ascendas-Firstspace, an industrial real estate developer, announced the setting up of a one million sq ft multi-client warehouse park in Talegaon, near Pune, in Maharashtra. The development will be spread over three phases, with the first phase of 0.5 million sq ft operational by the end of 2023-24, the company said in a statement on March 27. This is the second project in the Ascendas-Firstspace Pune Talegaon-II Logistics Park, spread over 40 acres, in the Ascendas-Firstspace micro-market. Talegaon-II is part of the Chakan Talegaon Industrial Corridor (CTIC), one of the most important manufacturing clusters in India. The area has been a traditional manufacturing base for large auto, engineering, and electronics companies. The CTIC corridor is currently witnessing significant growth on account of the success of the Make in India programme, said the company in a statement. This is an important part of MLL’s pan-India network of multi-user facilities in strategic industrial clusters. In addition to A-grade warehouses totalling one million square feet, the facility will also host MLL’s first Automation Technology Centre that focuses on the development and deployment of automation technologies using artificial intelligence, Internet of Things (IoT), robotics, augmented reality & virtual reality (ARVR), automated guided vehicles (AGV), and block chain, the company said.

Investcorp Holdings BSC, the Middle East’s biggest alternative asset manager, is doubling down on warehouse investments in India, betting the nation’s manufacturing ambitions and e-commerce boom will fuel demand for logistics, said reports. Warehousing currently accounts for almost 16% of the Bahrain-based firm’s $350 million real estate portfolio in India, and it’s planning to boost that share in the coming year, according to Ritesh Vohra, the firm’s real estate head in the nation. “Warehouses could end up being our biggest strategy in Indian real estate,” he said in the reports. Investcorp joins a flood of international capital investing in a sector that’s been buoyed by the government’s plan to transform India into a manufacturing hub, and a steady rise in online shopping on platforms such as Walmart Inc.’s Flipkart and Amazon.com Inc. Institutional capital is flowing in,” said Vohra. “Warehousing is where office space was 7-8 years ago,” added reports. The company, whose Indian real estate portfolio is currently dominated by residential property, last year deployed $55 million to back Chennai-based developer NDR Warehousing Pvt. Ltd. That helped grow NDR’s stock of warehousing space to 14 million square feet from 9 million square feet.

The National Rail Plan envisages that the share of freight traffic by rail should go up from current share of 28% to 44% by 2051. The construction of Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFCs) on the important high density route is an important policy measure by Indian Railways to arrest the trend of falling market share of railways in the country and also will shift the advantage in favour of rail transport. DFC operation will bring-in efficiency in freight operation and enable rail tariff being more competitive because of its following operational/design features: Higher throughput per wagon and per train: Run Heavy Haul trains. Lower Energy Consumption: Reduce Operation and Maintenances Costs Reduction in Transit time: Reduce logistic cost of transportation and better utilization of Rolling stock Moreover Indian Railway has taken number of multi-pronged strategy to increase its modal share in freight segment which includes tariff rationalization and Tariff/freight incentive schemes which includes; diversification of freight basket, Liberalised Automatic Freight Rebate Scheme in Traditional Empty Flow Directions, Rationalization of Station to station rates policy, Rationalization of Merry-Go- Round, Concession in short Lead Traffic, Discount in freight to fly ash traffic booked in Open/flat Stock & covered wagons, Round trip charging for ultra short lead (upto 50Kms) container traffic, Round Trip Traffic (RTT) Policy, Automobile Freight Train Operator Scheme (AFTO), Introduction of Cube Container for two wheeler traffic. A New ‘Gati Shakti Multi- Modal Cargo Terminal (GCT)’ policy has also been launched to facilitate development of cargo terminals on non Railway land, as well as on Railway land (partially or fully) etc. In addition, various other schemes have also been introduced to attract private investment in General Purpose Wagons, Special Purpose / …

Prozo, a full-stack supply chain company, announced the opening of its new fulfillment center in Village Khasarwara, Lucknow. The facility is a built-to-suite (BTS) warehouse with an area of ~23,000 sq. ft and within 5 KMs of the nearest highway, NH27. It has 900 LSS positions which can support 16,200 bin positions, and the facility also has the space for 435 ground pallet positions, providing storage space for around 3 lakh units of apparel, accessories, small electronics, etc. The PEB structure offers a clear height of 12 Meters and has FM2 flooring with a load-bearing capacity of 5MT, said release. The PEB structure offers a clear height of 12 Meters and has FM2 flooring with a load-bearing capacity of 5MT. The facility is fully compliant with all necessary approvals in place, and has 24X7 CCTV monitoring, patrol guards, and fire extinguishers, making it a safe and reliable storage location.

Gati Ltd., an Allcargo Group company has expanded its EV-led last-mile delivery partnership with home furnishings retailer IKEA India for its store in Nagasandra, Bengaluru. In line with Gati’s vision to offer green express logistics solutions and support the government’s goal to cut the net carbon emissions to zero by 2070, Gati has deployed Electric three-wheeler cargo vehicles at IKEA’s Nagasandra store and plans to onboard larger capacity four-wheeler cargo vehicles in near future. Gati aims to increase the EV-led last mile deliveries for store to over 70 percent by 2023. Commenting on the collaboration, Pirojshaw Sarkari, CEO, Gati Ltd. said, “Deploying EVs for express distributions is a part of our sustainability and green logistics initiatives. Both Gati and IKEA are committed to last mile zero emission deliveries . Our association with IKEA is since 2019 and its subsequent extension from IKEA Hyderabad to Bengaluru store is a testament to that commitment. The collaboration is also in line with the government’s initiatives to promote green growth – economic growth keeping sustainability in focus. The EV deployment in logistics transportation is set to grow on the back of increasing ESG awareness among corporates and customer demand for sustainable logistics services. We look forward to extending our support to IKEA in its mission to achieve sustainable and greener deliveries. Saiba Suri, Country Customer Fulfilment Manager IKEA said, “Gati has been a pioneer in supporting IKEA India’s zero emission journey. We are very happy to extend our association with GATI for our Bengaluru store and thank them for the co-creation and smart execution which will surely support us in moving towards our aim of 100 percent zero emissions in home deliveries by 2025.” …

Indicold inaugurated the latest location on its Network at Rai Industrial Area Sonipat on 9th March 2023. The brand-new facility is a completely frozen facility with a capacity of 4416 pallets. The facility is equipped with the latest machineries and technology. It is designed with a view to minimize temperature loss by efficient planning of operations, mechanized movement, computer controlled plant management etc. The facility was inaugurated by Sh. Kalyana Rama, Chairman and Managing Director, CONCOR in the presence of Directors of CONCOR, Sh. Rajesh Goyal – President of Federation of Cold Storage Associations of India, Ms. Pragya Nehru, Director CII FACE, Shri Mukesh Aggarwal, MD, Siddhi Enterprises, Sh. Kartik Jalan, CEO & Founder Indicold. Sh. Kalayan Rama keenly noted the achievement by Mr. Mukesh Agarwal and Indicold is putting up this facility in a timeline of less than 60 days. This is no mean feat and an industry record by any standards. Sh. Mukesh Agrawal, thanked the entire team, vendors and specifically Indicold team led by Mr. Kartik Jalan in driving these seemingly impossible time lines and ensuring early commissioning of a world class facility. The event was well attended by industry leaders and representatives of the cold chain sector across Indicold’s verticals of store, move and prepare. On the day of the inauguration the first trucks of ice cream were unloaded and the facility started operations.

Welspun One Logistics Parks (WOLP) launched its second fund of INR 2,000 crores, including a green shoe option of INR 1,000 crores. Welspun One Logistics Parks Fund 2 is the successor of WOLP Fund 1, a SEBI regulated Alternative Investment Fund or “AIF” offering for domestic investors which it had launched in early 2021. WOLP Fund 1 received a favourable response from investors and successfully raised capital commitments of ~INR 500 crore from a set of high net worth investors including marquee individuals and family offices. WOLP Fund 1 has delivered strong performance with a track record of 100% commitment across a portfolio of 6 investments, aggregating to ~6.5MM sf in a short span of ~1.5 years from its first close. Further, the portfolio has also seen excellent traction on the ground with ~50% of portfolio expected to be physically delivered, leased and operating by mid CY2023. The fund’s performance is reflected in its inception to date gross IRR of ~21% basis its 30 September Net Asset Value (NAV) which is computed based on an independent third party valuation by a leading international property consultant. The Company places a strong emphasis on creating and implementing robust processes for a high level of governance and transparency across its business. A recent initiative on this front is the “WOLP investor portal”, a first-of-its kind offering in the real estate private equity space which provides investors with online access to comprehensive information on their portfolio assets and performance along with a full repository of fund documents, all at the click of a button. Balkrishan Goenka, Chairman, Welspun Group said, “The warehousing industry is now a fully integrated priority sector in India that contributes …