International Cargo Terminals (ICT), through its subsidiary Delhi International Cargo Terminal (DICT) and CMA CGM announce the start of the second weekly block train between Mundra and Sonepat. With this second weekly block train, CMA CGM and DICT assure more efficient dedicated services for their customers based in the region by helping them bring their cargo to locations on time. The two weekly trains will run between Mundra to DICT Sonepat on Tuesday/Wednesday for the first block train and Saturday/Sunday for the second block train DICT started the first block train for CMA CGM in August 2019 and to date, the two companies have jointly handled 86 block trains. This second weekly block train between Mundra port and Sonepat is one of several initiatives the CMA CGM Group has implemented to boost capacity to meet its customers’ needs and make the shipping and logistics supply chain as seamless as possible. CMA CGM is developing sustainable door-to-door solutions to allow customers to reduce the carbon footprint of transported goods significantly. Compared to cargo movement via truck, the block train option reduces CO2 emissions by up to 67%. At the start of the second block train service from Mundra to Sonepat, Atit Mahajan, General Manager, CMA CGM India, said, “CMA CGM Group is on a strategic expansion in India keeping the requirements of our customers as our prime focus. This second train service from Mundra to NCR region will allow our customers to benefit from an extended guaranteed capacity coupled to more flexibility with two departures per week.” Two major Groups are committed to providing reliable solutions for their Indian customers. Present in India for more than 30 years, the CMA CGM …

The Bolloré Group has acquired a majority stake in OVRSEA, a digital freight forwarding company that harnesses technology to simplify and optimise international transport for businesses. The alliance demonstrates the complementary fit between Bolloré Logistics and OVRSEA. Together, the two firms will bring businesses greater simplicity, transparency and responsiveness in the management of their international transport and at the same time contribute to the development of French expertise internationally. The alliance will enable OVRSEA to open up to new markets by relying on Bolloré Logistics’ experience and network of global sites, while preserving its philosophy, management and employees. The people behind the success of the start-up remain more committed than ever to writing this new chapter and the company intends to double its workforce by the end of the year. And by 2025, OVRSEA aims to achieve annual revenue of €200 million.For its part, Bolloré Logistics will be able to expand its range of services and provide its customers with an all-digital experience. “The Bolloré Group is investing in OVRSEA because it is convinced of its potential. In just three years, the French start-up has revolutionised the international freight-forwarding sector by developing a 100 per cent digital platform designed to make global trade easier for its customers. Our acquisition of a majority stake in OVRSEA will serve to step up our digitalisation,” said Cyrille Bolloré, Chairman of the Bolloré Group.

With an investment in long-term partner Aztek International Freight, cargo-partner has established operations with its new office in Manchester. cargo-partner’s service range in the United Kingdom includes air, sea, road, rail transport as well as comprehensive customs services to meet the demands following the UK’s exit from the EU on January 1, 2021. Stefan Krauter, CEO, cargo-partner, explains, “This investment in cooperation with our long-time partner Aztek is our first strategic step towards establishing cargo-partner in the UK. Among other factors, our launch on January 1 was motivated by our desire to optimally support our customers with their challenges surrounding the recent Brexit. In the past month, our experienced teams in the EU and the UK have been very successful in providing express customs services for numerous clients.” Beside supporting customers with post-Brexit customs procedures, the logistics provider has also placed a strategic focus on express solutions for highly time-critical transports. Since opening their office in the UK, the local cargo-partner team has handled several emergency shipments, including a full charter flight of car tires from Thailand and other urgent airfreight shipments for automotive customers. Other key industries the company plans to focus on include Industrial, Aerospace, Healthcare, Retail and Consumer products. “Our new office in Manchester is a game-changing addition to our European network and provides a significant added benefit for our customers,” Krauter is convinced. “With our strong setup in Central and Eastern Europe, we can ensure smooth and efficient processes for imports and exports to and from the UK. At the moment, we are handling a lot of road freight from the EU to the UK as well as from Northern Ireland to the UK and vice …

The CMA CGM Group is stepping up its strategic development in logistics by creating a specialised air freight division CMA CGM Air Cargo. This move into airfreight strengthens the Group’s transport and logistics business, allowing it to offer its customers a new range of comprehensive, agile and customised solutions. To support its expansion into air freight, the CMA CGM Group is buying four 60-tonne-payload Airbus A330-200F freighter aircraft, which came into service between 2014 and 2016. With a range of 4,000 nautical miles, they will connect Europe with the rest of the world. The CMA CGM Group will entrust the operation of its freighter fleet to a European airline. CMA CGM Air Cargo represents a major new component of the CMA CGM Group in both operational and commercial terms. This expansion into air freight is a new milestone in the Group’s strategic development, with the aim of providing Group customers with a complementary range of services covering both shipping and logistics. Rodolphe Saadé, Chairman and CEO, CMA CGM Group, says, “In response to the growing demand from our customers for agile logistics solutions, we are creating a new division within the CMA CGM Group dedicated to air transport: CMA CGM Air Cargo. This division will launch with four Airbus A330-200F aircraft and will leverage commercial partnerships with airlines in order to deliver global coverage. This is a major milestone in the development of our logistics services.”

While noting airport’s significant role in shipping COVID-19 vaccine around the globe, Brussels Airport has highlighted continued growth in its airfreight volumes since last summer. The air cargo volumes have again recorded significant growth, up 21% on January 2020. Brussels Airport continues to do better than the average growth seen in Europa and worldwide which is negatively impacted by the strong decrease in the number of passenger flights operated by wide bodies. In January, air cargo volumes in the full-freighter segment grew sharply by 73% compared to the same month in 2020. Integrator services too recorded strong growth compared to last year (+37%). These strong growth figures largely compensate for the limited volumes of belly cargo carried on passenger flights. And for once, trucked air cargo also records an increase (+10%), after several months of negative growth. The total volume of goods handled by the logistics platform at Brussels Airport grew significantly (+ 18%) in January, totalling to 58,311 tonnes. The transport of COVID vaccines, which is sure to continue all through the year, has found in Brussels Airport a top-notch logistics hub, specialised in temperature-sensitive goods, particularly pharmaceuticals. Imports from Asia and North America are recording strong growth compared to the same month last year. On the exports side, we find that the volumes towards Asia in particular are doing well. We also note a positive impact on air cargo volumes related to Brexit.

Cargo Service Center (CSC) Group has launched the industry’s first real-time temperature monitoring and cargo tracking app, named Turant, which provides real-time temperature tracking of pharmaceutical shipments inside the terminal that departs from Mumbai International Airport (MIAL) offering end-to-end visibility. End-to-end supply chain visibility has always been a concern for pharma shippers and the COVID-19 crisis magnified this need. Addressing this key concern, the TURANT app will provide customers all critical real-time information including temperature of the shipment during transit, all accessible on a mobile phone screen. “This is the first time in history that a cargo terminal is providing its customers with real time temperature tracking and status of shipments. CSC is the first in the world to provide you with this level of transparency. And this is just the beginning; going forward, you can expect a lot more innovation from our team,” said, Tushar Jani, Chairman, CSC. The Pharma Excellence Centre in Mumbai has been temperature-mapped and the temperature of the terminal is being monitored electronically. The TURANT app provides this information right into the palm of your hands. All you need to do is to download the app. Once installed on your phone, you need to select the airport, enter the Air-Way-bill number and the shipment becomes visible through the app. “At CSC, we have used the latest technology and innovation to bring transparency of our operations to our customers. Therefore, we have launched TURANT, which is CSC’s real-time temperature mapping and tracking app. This app will be an absolute blessing for all the quality heads in the various pharma industries,” said Pramod Pereira, AGM-Quality, Training & Procedures, CSC. Applauding CSC for its pathbreaking initiative, Manoj Singh, …

EV maker Hero Electric has created a new hub-and-spoke logistics arrangement for serving its customers in the eastern and north-eastern region of the country. Under this, the company has set up a fully integrated storage and handling facility at Patna, which will serve as the hub, initially catering over 80 dealers and later expanded to spare and warranty parts. Besides, the new facility, which will cater to customers across Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal and north-east region, will also train professionals ensuring the highest levels of after-sales service and solutions to the existing customers, it added. The EV maker already has two such strategic facilities, one each in Ludhiana (Punjab) and Hosur (Tamil Nadu). The setting of a hub at Patna is another step forward in Hero Electric”s plan for expansion to ensure maximum penetration across the length and breadth of the country. “With the doubling of capacity at the plant, and the three strategically located ‘hub and spoke’ distribution arrangements, we will now be able to reach the customers in the farthest corner of the country,” said Sohinder Gill, CEO, Hero Electric India. The company said the move is in line with the government’s vision to promote and foster the adoption of electric mobility in India. The company will further invest in R&D to introduce technologically advanced products that India needs in order to make the switch from internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. The new ‘hub and spoke’ logistics arrangement has been put in place to fulfil customers’ choice of a particular model and colour in the shortest possible time, it said, adding that the hub has been created through a large, fully integrated storage and handling facility at …

Parliament has passed the Major Port Authorities Bill, 2020 focusing on reorienting the governance model in central ports in line with the successful global practices. Mansukh Mandaviya, Minister of State (I/C) for Ports, Shipping &Waterways has moved the bill in Rajya Sabha today and it was passed. Now the Bill will go to the President of India for his assent. With a view to promote the expansion of port infrastructure and facilitate trade and commerce, the Major Port Authorities Bill 2020 bill aims at decentralizing decision making and to infuse professionalism in governance of major ports. It imparts faster and transparent decision making benefiting the stakeholders and better project execution capability. The Bill is aimed at reorienting the governance model in central ports to landlord port model in line with the successful global practice. This will also help in bringing transparency in operations of Major Ports. This will empower the Major Ports to perform with greater efficiency on account of full autonomy in decision making and by modernizing the institutional framework of Major Ports. The Bill is more compact in comparison to the Major Port Trusts Act, 1963 as the number of sections has been reduced to 76 from 134 by eliminating overlapping and obsolete Sections. The new Bill has proposed a simplified composition of the Board of Port Authority which will comprise of 11 to 13 Members from the present 17 to 19 Members representing various interests. A compact Board with professional independent Members will strengthen decision making and strategic planning. Provision has been made for inclusion of representatives of State Government in which the Major Port is situated, Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Defence and Customs, Department of …

Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport (ANC) has seen a 16% increase in 2020 over the record setting volumes in 2019, more than 3.48 million tons of air cargo landed at the airport. “The tremendous surge in cargo volumes through ANC has been fueled by an increase in e-commerce, PPE, and displaced belly cargo,” said Jim Szczesniak, Airport Director, in adding, “The pandemic has left an indelible mark on the e-commerce landscape, accelerating market growth—reaching numbers not forecast to be seen in the U.S. for another two years. We expect our cargo numbers to remain strong into 2021; as the air cargo industry continues to recognize the benefits and efficiencies of ANC; as e-commerce shopping becomes routine; as international travel restrictions continue to displace belly cargo.” ANC is cementing its place as The Center of the Air Cargo World, just 9.5 hours from 90% of the industrialized world, more than 200 widebody freighter operations take place every day. At least 28 wide-body cargo carriers connect ANC to more than 50 destinations across the globe—30 of them daily and another 20 destinations with a frequency of weekly or better. “We continue to grow the benefits of utilizing ANC for our existing cargo customers, and to attract new customers. We have more than $1-billion of private air cargo development proposed for ANC, Alaska Cargo and Cold Storage recently executed a lease for their new 700,000 square foot facility,” adds Szczesniak. “These developments will provide the infrastructure to streamline the global supply chain and make ANC a staple in the cold chain. These warehouse facilities will provide cargo carriers, freight forwarders, pharmaceutical, and other industry partner’s infrastructure required to leverage ANC’s strategic location and …

Unilode Aviation Solutions and MdG Group has signed a long-term agreement for the repair of La Couverture, a unique product developed and manufactured by MdG for the protection of temperature-sensitive products in the aviation supply chain. La Couverture is a hybrid solution between a thermal cover and a temperature-controlled dolly that offers the ease of use of a cover and almost the same protection as a thermal dolly at a much lower cost and without CO2 emission. The innovative material protects temperature-sensitive cargo on a lower deck pallet during the handling phase on the tarmac between a cargo warehouse and the apron, and the product is fitted with a GPS device for location tracking. Unilode will provide extensive services for La Couverture that includes inspection, repair, storage, transport, handling and reporting within Unilode’s global repair network, initially at 17 key airports across Europe, the Middle East, North America and Asia. Marco Del Giudice, Managing Director, MdG Group, said, “As we gain market share with La Couverture, our innovative and sustainable protective solution for temperature-sensitive products, the need for extending its useful life through professional maintenance and repair services and continuing to meet IATA Pharma CEIV certification requirements has increased. Unilode’s expertise gives us confidence that La Couverture will be serviced at the highest standards at the busiest airports across the globe and our product’s three-year lifespan can be significantly increased. We look forward to a successful partnership that will further enhance the value of La Couverture and also make our expansion much easier as we can count on the services of a truly global repair network.” Marc Groenewegen, Chief Commercial Officer, Unilode, adds, “Our new agreement with MdG Group for …