To further meet the demand for its specialist aerospace logistics services award-winning B&H Worldwide has moved its New Zealand operation to a new on-airport site at Auckland Airport. The company has been operating in the country since 2012. Now located in the Airport Industrial Precinct, a highly desirable industrial area, the B&H team will be situated alongside some of the world’s largest freight and logistics companies, and will have easy access to all facilities at the largest and busiest airport in the country. In addition to warehousing and offices, the new site also has ample yards for devanning. Alongside manned 24/7 global AOG and aerospace logistics, the experienced B&H team in Auckland led by Country Manager, Lee Hedges will also offer specialist Dangerous Goods services. Says B&H’s Head of Operations, Oceania – Colin Kaltner: “Auckland is becoming an important forward stocking location for a number of our customers and the move to this on-airport site enables us to cater to their ongoing requirements. And of course, they will be able to have global visibility of their inventory through our unique, cloud-based track and trace platform FirstTrac.” The new operation is located at: B&H Worldwide Unit D, 6 Percival Gull Place Mangere Auckland 2022 New Zealand

Recently, Jeena Criticare, the critical healthcare division of Jeena & Co., India’s trusted and reliable logistics company, recently announced having completed a milestone of 100 tonnes of COVID-19 vaccine deliveries across the country in the last year.  Throughout 2021—the year when the nation was on a fast track to completing COVID vaccination after a devastating 2nd wave—Jeena Criticare was at the forefront of these efforts. Be it as an appointed distributor of Serum Institute of India’s (SII’s) COVISHEILD vaccine deliveries for private hospital supplies across the country or as a part of the strategic collaboration for Asia’s first drone-based vaccine delivery project for the Telangana government, Jeena Criticare has played a pivotal role.  Apart from the above milestone, during the peak pandemic time till the end of 2021, Jeena Criticare has been instrumental in clearing and moving 3,000 MT of COVID care equipment that includes oxygen concentrators, RT PCR kits, PPE kits, hospital beds, medicines, and critical care drugs, masks, vaccines, and ventilators. Jeena’s Pharma Division has also been instrumental in getting fast-track import clearance, from the normal 24 hours to a special 5 hours flat, for COVID Care Aid and other healthcare transportation from countries like South Korea, Germany, USA, Taiwan, China, Italy, and also the WHO. With their global logistics support, Jeena has also been a part of India’s export chain, enabling healthcare to various countries and also for customers like the WHO (World Health Organisation). Jeena & Co., an over-100-year-old logistics company, has always been at the forefront of innovation in end-to-end logistics solutions and continues to be a trusted and reliable supply chain partner.  Speaking about the milestone achievement and the strong thrust on critical healthcare …

Wiz, a tech-enabled full-stack freight forwarding platform for the modern-day, has announced the start of a new business entity exclusively for handling bulk cargo. The business division, headquartered in Singapore, will cater to the niche market of dry bulk shipping. Wiz has also announced that Punit Oza has been appointed as the CEO of Wiz Bulk. He will start his new assignment on April 11, 2022. Punit is a veteran of dry bulk shipping and comes with over 29 years of rich experience in the industry. Over the years, he has held senior management positions in some leading shipping and trading companies. In his previous assignment, he spearheaded the digital transformation of Klaveness Dry Bulk before moving to the board of Klaveness Asia. We are extremely excited to announce Wiz Bulk, a new business entity of Wiz that will cater to the dry bulk cargo market, and we will utilise our tech expertise to improve the customer experience for this market,” said Ramkumar Govindarajan, CEO, Wiz. It was immediately clear that Punit was the right choice to lead Wiz Bulk. I am looking forward to working with him to develop Wiz Bulk as a leading name for dry bulk cargo movements.” Punit Oza said, “I am extremely excited to join the Wiz family and look forward to building a sustainable and customer-centric bulk shipping solution to provide greater transparency and value, leveraging technology to the maximum possible extent.” I am extremely impressed with what Wiz has achieved in the container freight solution space, and I hope that we can achieve the same success in the bulk freight solution space as well. Punit will work with Wiz founders Ramkumar Govindarajan and …

APM Terminals Mumbai (GTI-Gateway Terminals India Pvt. Ltd.) and Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPA) have signed a Settlement Agreement to reach an amicable solution and resolve a decade-long pending issue on tariff-related matters pertaining to the year 2012. The principles of the Settlement Agreement were formulated by the Conciliation and Settlement Committee (CSC) as per the guidelines issued by the Indian Port Association (an apex body of major ports under the administrative control of the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways) for the settlement of pending issues between the operators and the port authorities at major ports in India. The principles of the agreement have been settled in the framework. The tariff differential will be calculated after the court orders have been issued. The signing ceremony was attended by various dignitaries, including H.E. Freddy Svane, Ambassador of the Royal Danish Embassy to India, Sanjay Sethi, IAS and Chairman of JNPA, Jonathan Goldner, Head of Terminal Asia and Chairman of GTI, Gopal Krishna, Chairman of CSC, Dr. C. Chandramouli, and Shambhu Singh, members of the CSC, and key personnel from JNPA and GTI.  On this momentous occasion, H.E. Freddy Svane, Ambassador of the Royal Danish Embassy, mentioned, “Today’s milestone is an important development in the logistics sector of India. It could not have been possible without the role played by the Conciliation and Settlement Committee, JNPA, and APM Terminals. This is a progressive step in creating an environment of trust and ease of doing business for investors. We are moving towards a future where logistics will play an important role in India’s becoming a major player economically and politically.” He further added, “The need to find a resolution to this issue …

Berlin-based log-tech start-up InstaFreight successfully closes Series B funding round of more than US$ 40 million. With the new investment, the company will make supply chains strained by the pandemic and Ukraine war more resilient. Using its digital business model InstaFreight is making more capacity available and will handle land transport more efficiently. InstaFreight, one of Europe’s fastest growing log-tech start ups, is announcing the successful closing of a $ 40 million Series B funding round. The financing round is led by Heliad and the European Investment Bank (Europäische Investitionsbank [EIB]). All previous investors of InstaFreight have also participated in the new financing round. The commitment of the investors and the current events in logistics and beyond show the outstanding potential that lies in an efficient and sustainable shaping of European land transport. With its digital solutions, InstaFreight offers efficient and digital transport services as well as transport management solutions – holistic digital logistics concepts for industry and trade that are unique in Europe in terms of their simplicity and transparency. “The truck logistics market is vast, highly fragmented and still dominated by non-digital players and overall inefficient, often paper-based, processes. InstaFreight, through its freight forwarding solutions and Transportation Management product, has seen tremendous growth over recent time, having made the company an integral part of this essential industry. Its fully digital and holistic platform solution empowers carriers and shippers equally. We are very excited to create together with the stellar team behind Philipp Ortwein and Maximilian Schäfer and among a strong investor base, a market leading solution to improve the logistics industry”, says Falk Schäfers, CEO of Heliad. EIB-Vice President Ambroise Fayolle emphasizes: “Transportation still remains a major obstacle …

Logistics platform FreightFox recently announced a partnership with Yale researchers to develop a responsive index-based pricing model that facilitates dynamic transportation decisions. The new freight contract and pricing model will take into account the most important factors that influence truck placement, such as seasonality in industry and agriculture, significant skewness in month and dispatches, and limited trucking inventory. The contract model will be designed to ensure best placement of trucking fleets at different times to minimise movement disruptions and maximise truck dispatch fulfilments. This will not only keep operations flowing but also support better visibility, allowing manufacturers to plan shipments better and have contingency options in case of failures elsewhere along the supply chain. At the same time, both manufacturers and transport partners can be assured of fair pricing. With reference to the partnership, Dr Ryan, Assistant Professor of Economics, Yale University and an affiliate of the Economic Growth Centre said: “Failures in shipping and trade are a major concern for firms in India, and offering improved contracts could make shipping more reliable, lower-cost, and raise people’s incomes. The intention of the project is to innovate in new contracts and see if that reduces the costs of trade.” “We are delighted to collaborate with researchers at Yale to develop such innovative freight contracts and are committed to deliver superior logistic contracting methods by leveraging technology, data and the know-how available at Yale,” said Nitish Rai, CEO and Co-founder of FreightFox. A memorandum of understanding guiding the research was signed in January 2022. Given the fragmented nature of the Indian economy, manufacturers often encounter logistical issues when it comes to procurement and freight contracts. Most freight contracts are static one-year affairs …

The International Air Cargo Association (TIACA) has elected Kamesh Peri, Chief Executive Officer, Celebi Delhi Cargo Terminal Management as their Board of Directors in order to broaden the Board’s sector knowledge and efficiently serve the air cargo industry. Kamesh brings more than 30 years of senior leadership experience in the aviation industry encompassing South Asia, the Middle East, Europe, Africa, and North America in various geographies. In his previous stint he has been with reputable organisations like Lufthansa Cargo AG & Menzies Aviation and as a consultant for large clients in the aviation business, providing advisory, strategy & implementation. Commenting on the development, Mr Kamesh Peri, CEO, Celebi Delhi Cargo said, “I am thrilled to be given the responsibility of being a part of the TIACA Board of Directors. TIACA’s vision is a safe, profitable and united air cargo industry that embraces modern technologies and practices to sustainably and fairly serve trade and social development worldwide. Through collaborative efforts, I look forward to helping shape TIACA’s vision and promising future.” TIACA has also appointed Kai Domscheit, CHI Handling; Dan Sheehan, UPS; Tushar Jani, Cargo Service Center India; Roos Bakker, Schiphol Airport and Massimo Roccasecca, Verona-Brescia Airport as board members in order to bring their perspective and experience across the industry sectors to ensure every sector’s view is well represented within the group. Çelebi has been in India for more than a decade now and has been successfully carrying out comprehensive ground handling operations at the major airports of the country – Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Cochin, Ahmedabad and Kannur, and is planning to expand its operations into other airports. In addition to the ground handling services, the company also started …

The International Maritime Organization (IMO), in collaboration with the Women’s International Shipping & Trading Association (WISTA International) and Maritime SheEO, is delighted to announce the launch of the Maritime SheEO Leadership Accelerator Programme 2022. The programme was launched on Tuesday March 8, 2022 during a live webinar focussing on “The Next Generation Of Women Leaders In Engine Rooms, Bridges and Board Rooms”. The webinar also marked the UN International Women’s Day 2022, which this year is being held under the banner of “Gender Equality Today For A Sustainable Tomorrow” and a key message to #BreakTheBias. The Maritime SheEO Leadership Accelerator Programme launches at a time when the industry recognises that it needs more women leaders. It was specially curated and designed to provide management knowledge and skills to help women in the maritime industry move into leadership roles. Kitack Lim, Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization addressed the webinar and said that the maritime industry is working to transition to a more sustainable future. He acknowledged that diversity in leadership is good for business and that woman leaders are vital for the future of maritime. The IMO has been working to facilitate gender equality in maritime since 1988 and is committed to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals, including Goal 5 to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. The IMO gender and capacity-building programme is dedicated to helping achieve “Training-Visibility-Recognition” of women in maritime. During his speech, Lim also mentioned the 18th of May, when the IMO celebrates the inaugural International Day of Women in Maritime. The day will provide an annual platform to recognise women in the industry, promote the recruitment, retention and sustained employment of …