Category Archives: Warehousing

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone has ventured into the warehousing business. The company announced that its subsidiary, Adani Logistics, has signed a joint venture agreement with DA Group and its affiliates. The joint venture is a 50:50 partnership, and it will develop and operate logistics and warehousing parks in Ahmedabad and Kolkata, according to the statement from Adani Ports shared with stock exchanges. Adani Logistics will nominate three directors to its board while DA Group will send two directors for the joint venture. In a recent development, the Adani group and its Israel partner Gadot won the tender to privatise Israel’s Haifa Port earlier this year. In this regard, an Indian company winning a tender to privatise Haifa Port, a strategic asset for Israel, is a “wonderful, wonderful signal,” Israel’s Ambassador to India Naor Gilon said and noted that the two countries have excellent bilateral relations.

Om Logistics is currently expanding its warehousing presence to accelerate its door to door express services. In this sequence, the company has inaugurated its warehouse in Dabaspet, Bengaluru. The Dabaspet warehouse was also on the priority list and the company’s director Mr. Raghav Singhal has inaugurated this 41,000 sq ft warehouse on Friday, 9 December 2022 in a grand event. Strategically, company has developed this warehouse to meet the increased business demands. Many of the company’s regional key customers are located in the Dabaspet Industrial Area and operate from there. For them, the company has been working for a long time at Dabaspet. The company is currently handling 800 to 1000 tonnes of cargo per day which is expected to be 1500 tonnes shortly. In terms of transportation advancements, we can load and unload nearly 50 trucks at the same time. Here, the company has developed a spacious parking lot as well as rooms for the drivers to rest and stay. The company always takes care of the food and accommodation of the drivers and considers it as the first priority. The company has also developed an office in Dabaspet itself, where proper arrangements have been made for the employees to work, currently a large operation team is handling all the documentation work there. Singhal said, “The construction of Om Logistics warehouse at Dabaspet was pending since a long time and it was also the need of the hour considering the increasing commercial potential. We see the Dabaspet add-on as a great benefit for the future.”

Emiza, a new-age 3PL startup has established its footprint in the major trade center of MMR by moving into a 70,000 sq.ft. standalone facility at Welspun One Logistics Park’s (WOLP) flagship industrial and logistics campus in Bhiwandi. This facility will seamlessly serve 120+ direct-to-consumer (D2C) and business-to-business (B2B) brands across the broad spectrum of beauty, personal care, cosmetics, fashion, lifestyle, electronics, appliances, home, kitchen, food and nutrition. With this committed 5 years strategic partnership and handover, Emiza will have access to a best-in-class IGBC Platinum pre-certified Grade A logistics park at Bhiwandi. The highly functional premises is energy-efficient, solar-panels enabled and has a zero-discharge facility set as part of its amenities. Further, its strict adherence to global standards, 100% compliance to stringent safety norms, legal and health will help maximize its business efficiency. The campus is a model for today’s green economy with sustainability integrated into its design and development. It focuses on customized utilities which are built-to-suit as per the evolving needs of new-age businesses. Stratigically located in close proximity to Kalyan – off NH3, Mumbai-Nashik highway; in the micro-market between Mankoli & Padgha, the warehousing park is suited for occupiers who intend to serve the 26MM consumption base and is well-connected to Thane and Mumbai via NH3 and Navi Mumbai via NH4 and Thane Belapur road.

Deepak Tiwari, COO, KSH Logistics, while sharing his expectations from the upcoming budget 2023-2024, which will be presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, said, “In 2023, we need the government to address some crucial issues like rising rental prices, fuel prices, and infrastructure cost which has significantly increased the operational cost for any logistics company. There should be an incentive-based system where people building warehouses are rewarded, and the tenant gets the place at a much cheaper rate/sq. ft. The government should also consider investing heavily in automation and incentivizing warehouses that integrate these technologies. On the banking front, interest rates are very high. The interest rate on Capex investment must be decreased. Logistics is a manpower-intensive industry, and while the Skill Council is trying to upgrade the skillsets of human resources, we also need training institutes to train them in the latest technologies and promote R&D and innovation. We also need to bring diversity in the workforce and create equal opportunities for women and 3rd gender individuals. Lastly, with all the infrastructure development that the government is doing in tier 2 and tier 3 cities, if that gets expedited, then we get a better landscape to work. Today the metros are saturated. It’s time to focus and build the rest of India.”

Geodis officially put a newly built multi-user logistics facility into operation in Aurach, in the district of Ansbach. The new facility has direct transport links to the Nuremberg metropolitan region. It has 26,757 Euro pallet spaces in the high-bay warehouse and 9,000 m² of block storage space and is equipped with a photovoltaic system. With the new logistics center, GEODIS optimizes its market access to one of the economically strongest regions in Bavaria and continues its Europe-wide expansion as a global transport and logistics service provider. With 28 loading ramps and 4 ground-level gates, the new logistics center offers GEODIS’ e-commerce customer a wide range of services for the distribution of, for example, large electrical appliances, consumer electronics and furniture. Antje Lochmann, Managing Director of GEODIS Contract Logistics activities in Germany, is delighted with the successful start of operations at the logistics center. The first two halls were already equipped and began test operations in October. The 3rd and 4th halls were commissioned at the beginning of November. “In terms of transport links, our new logistics center in Aurach is directly connected to the A6 federal motorway, which is part of the important Paris-Prague long-distance connection. The project development and the construction of the new plant took place in close cooperation with more than ten companies. Added to this was the expertise of GEODIS colleagues from locations in France, Italy and Germany, who provided excellent support to the team in Aurach by adding their knowledge and experience during the planning and technical setup of our new WMS system,” said Antje Lochmann.

Safexpress has launched its ultra-modern Logistics Park in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. This state-of-the-art facility is strategically located near Mappedu in Thiruvallur district. The logistics facility in is spread over a land area of 6.5 Lakh square feet, enabled with ultra-modern transhipment and 3PL facilities, which will boost storage & warehousing needs of the businesses in this region while providing for faster connectivity. The new Logistics Park is cross-dock, equipped with loading and unloading of over 200 vehicles simultaneously. It has a column-less span of over 80 feet, which facilitates uninterrupted movement of goods within the facility. To enable all-weather loading and unloading of goods, the facility is equipped with 16 feet wide Cantilever Shed. The Logistics facility has the required firefighting equipment and trained manpower to deal with such exigencies. It is equipped with an integrated rainwater harvesting system, has a dedicated green zone and will be using sunlight during the daytime to conserve energy. Operations at the Logistics facility is highly streamlined, which ensures the country’s fastest transit-time from Tamil Nadu to all destinations across India. Safexpress Logistics Park at Mappedu intends to help greatly in minimizing the infrastructural gaps and serve their supply chain & logistics requirements needs effectively and efficiently.

Due to globalisation, dynamic market and consumer behavior, the warehouse management systems (WMS) should be integrated with the external systems for accurate and timely data communication and effective business collaboration, says E-Handbook on Warehousing Standards in India released by the Warehousing Association of India (WAI). Managing these systems integration becomes complex and tedious when the business runs on different industry verticals and on different platforms. Hence, it becomes very important and necessary for the logistics service providers to standardize the systems with integrated solutions when it comes to WMS implementation, it adds. Different aspects of WMS are Training and deployment, Project management, Business requirements, Configuration, Integration and Testing. The WMS should be deployed after detailed evaluation of the functionalities that exists in the system and are relevant to the processes and flows adopted in a warehouse. The WMS should be able to provide all reports and performance dashboards that show the health of the operations like productivity, efficiency, work done and pending, time taken for various activities etc., adds handbook. The broad functionalities of the WMS are to: (a) Process fresh receipt and return of goods, (b) Putting away of goods to storage (c) Sampling, inspection & grading (d) Picking, checking and packing of goods (e) Dispatch of goods (f) Integration with Transportation Management System (TMS) (g) Inventory count and reconciliation (h) Inventory management and its visibility to clients (i) Seamless integration of advance inward shipment notices, dispatch notes, outbound orders, triggering of alerts and notifications. (j) Integration with Warehouse Control Systems (WCS) between equipment like sorters, diverters, put to and pick to light systems, advance storage equipment like ASRS, pallet shuttles and robotics.

Damco India, a subsidiary of international container shipping and logistics giant AP Moller-Maersk, has taken a warehousing facility spread across 243,000 sq. ft. on lease for five years. The facility is in Bhiwandi on the outskirts of Mumbai, documents accessed by CRE Matrix showed. The starting monthly rent is Rs 47.62 lakh. The company has paid a security deposit of Rs 1.90 crore for the property, the documents showed. The leave and licence agreement was registered on October 21, 2022. The lock-in period is for three years and the rent escalation provision states that there would be a 4 percent increase in rent at the end of every 12 months, the documents showed. Damco, a separate brand earlier, has now been integrated with the Maersk brand. In September, Maersk India inaugurated its fifth warehousing facility this year spread over 250,000 sq ft, in Bhiwandi taking its total footprint to over 2.1 million sq. ft., including the warehouses from the recently completed acquisition of LF Logistics, a company statement said. Maersk’s new facility in Bhiwandi is the fifth to go live in 2022 after one each at Sikandrabad in Uttar Pradesh, Kolkata in West Bengal, and Pune and Bhiwandi in Maharashtra. Being strategically located on the Mumbai-Nashik highway, it provides excellent connectivity to manufacturing hubs and the Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Mumbai, it said.

As part of its expansion plan and to tap rising demand from e-commerce and third-party logistic companies, Macrotech Developers, which markets its properties under the Lodha Green Digital Infrastructure (LGDI) platform, has acquired around 8 acres of land in Kurla, Mumbai, the company said in a statement. The land will be used for the development of about 4 lakhs square feet of Grade-A in-city fulfilment centre to provide the last mile warehousing infrastructure to 3PL, e-commerce and quick-commerce companies. “The development will involve a total investment of around Rs 330 crore and is expected to be completed in the next 12-18 months in phases,” it added. Shaishav Dharia, Director, Lodha Green Digital Infrastructure, said this is the second acquisition in Mumbai. “We see that there is a huge demand for Grade-A digital infrastructure in our country and we are aligned with our aim to develop industrial and logistics parks as well in-city logistics assets across multiple cities in India,” he said. This is the second acquisition by the LGDI platform in Mumbai and it seeks to acquire more such assets in the city and other key consumption/manufacturing hubs across India like Pune, Bangalore, NCR, and other cities.

Warehousing and logistics supplies are likely to double to cross 700 million square feet by 2030, for which more than USD 20 billion additional investment is needed, CBRE Group’s latest report stated. According to the report, the first nine months of 2022 saw the sector getting only about USD 144 million across greenfield and brownfield assets from global investors. The report said that leasing activity in the segment grew 40 per cent to 9.2 million square feet in the third quarter over the second quarter. The warehousing and logistics sector requires at least USD 20 billion of fresh investments by 2030 to develop incremental warehousing spaces, most of which will be needed in tier-II and III cities, said the report. It is also estimated that the warehousing and logistics stock will double by 2030 to cross 700 million square feet as occupiers continue to expand across segments such as e-commerce, third-party logistics, and engineering & manufacturing. Further, the share of grade-A warehousing and logistics stock is also expected to rise from 35 per cent now to more than 50 per cent by 2030. During the first three quarters of 2022, leasing remained stable, with around 22 million square feet of space getting leased. Third-party logistics players led the leasing activity with a 50 per cent share, while the total supply addition in the period stood at 13 million square feet, according to the report. Cities like Lucknow, Nagpur, Indore, Kochi and Coimbatore are driving supplies and these demand centres are also expected to witness stronger leasing as several occupiers prefer to locate their warehouses closer to consumption hubs to reduce transportation costs.