Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge), says, “A coastal shipping Bill which is expected to be tabled in Parliament will see an increase in the demand for manufacturing of inland vessels. “We are bringing a separate Bill in Parliament in the coming days to promote coastal shipping. So that coastal movement and transportation increases,” informs Mandaviya while speaking at the foundation stone-laying ceremony of the Konkan Maritime Cluster, first such project in the country for building maritime industry-related infrastructure. The Union Minister lamented that India was lagging behind in shipbuilding globally. He also said that his Ministry was geared towards making the shipbuilding sector more competitive in the international market. “Why are we not moving ahead in the shipbuilding sector? First, we are not competitive in the international market; second, there is no domestic demand. How do we increase domestic demand and become more competitive in the international market?” Mandaviya asked, adding that a thrust on coastal shipping will encourage domestic demand. “This will see an increase in the demand for inland vessels and through increase in coastal movement, demand for coastal shipping will also increase,” Mandaviya also said.

To accommodate high demand during peak season, DSV Air Charter Network has increased the airfreight capacity by adding charter services. The company has added New York as a destination with part charters twice weekly from Belgium in Europe, beginning the week of October 19. Trucking connections from New York supports reliable feeding and distribution within the USA. It has also added an additional weekly round trip between Luxembourg and Huntsville. The company said its airfreight charter service is ideal for handling special cargo such as pharmaceuticals, electronics, oversized oil and gas equipment, helicopters, cars, radioactive and explosive cargo, as well as high-value goods. Mads Ravn, head of global airfreight procurement at DSV, commented: “Production is picking up across the transatlantic, and with belly capacity down by 50% year on year, we are again expanding the DSV air charter network to meet demand. “New York will be added this week with twice weekly part charters, and we are expanding our capacity on the legacy DSV Panalpina route from Luxembourg to Huntsville and back with a third weekly rotation.” DSV uses less congested airports — such as Luxembourg and Huntsville — in its air charter network “to ensure faster turnaround on the ground and reduce the risk of delays”.

IAG Cargo has restarted its direct service from the United Kingdom to Tokyo. The service will run year-round, three times per week from London Heathrow. Restoring the London – Tokyo service, which was paused due to coronavirus, will be welcomed by IAG Cargo’s customers on both sides of the Pacific. Tokyo is particularly significant for the export of pharmaceutical goods, which can be moved seamlessly using IAG Cargo’s Constant Climate service. This state-of-the-art cold chain product is specially designed to process time and temperature sensitive pharmaceuticals. Last year, the route played an important role in supporting the British Museum to transport over 200 pieces from Japan for a special manga exhibition, with the help of IAG Cargo’s Secure product. Alec Rayner, Area Commercial Manager for Japan & Korea, IAG Cargo, said, “Japan is an important part of our network and we are pleased to be reopening London Heathrow-Tokyo Haneda for our customers. The route is vital for them to stay connected with their trading partners worldwide, allowing the movement of Japanese pharmaceuticals, automotive and manufacturing goods to reach hundreds of destinations.”

With an aim to improve the sustainable transport of perishables and pharmaceuticals, The Cool Chain Association (CCA) and IATA have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). As partners, the two groups will develop joint programmes including temporary task forces and round tables, for specific initiatives such as the transport of vaccines and life science products. They will also share feedback, experiences, knowledge, and best practice. As a first step, CCA took part in IATA’s recent webinar on the industry’s readiness for the transportation of vaccines and life science products. Nicola Caristo, CCA secretary general and airline partner manager, SkyCell, said, “Both CCA and IATA have a common interest in ensuring the secure handling and transport of perishables and pharmaceuticals by means of robust standards. “Through this agreement we are establishing a formal basis of collaboration to better assist the global industry to improve, as well as increasing sustainability and reducing waste. “We will be working together to promote the implementation of methodologies and quality criteria such as the Center of Excellence for Independent Validators (CEIV) Fresh and Pharma programmes.” Meanwhile, CCA members are planning a new series of data sharing tests, under a project called the LAX Initiative, to monitor perishable shipments on global trade lanes in a bid to improve supply chain management and reduce food loss.

Hardeep Singh Puri, Civil Aviation Minister said he has requested Aviation Secretary P S Kharola to call a meeting on the issue of boosting cargo flight operations at the Amritsar airport. India follows a very liberal air cargo policy, the minister said on Twitter, adding that foreign and Indian carriers can operate scheduled international cargo flights from any point in India, including Amritsar and Chandigarh. “However, there was insufficient cargo aggregation at the Amritsar Sahib airport. I have requested the Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation to call a meeting on this issue and provide all necessary assistance to the state,” he said. In order to promote agricultural exports, the government launched Krishi Udan scheme in August under which landing and parking charges are waived by the AAI for each such cargo flight wherein agriculture product is more than 50 per cent of the total chargeable weight carried. Amritsar Sahib, Adampur, Bathinda, Pathankot, Chandigarh and Ludhiana airports are included in the Krishi Udan scheme, Puri said. Spicejet has undertaken 14 cargo flights on Delhi-Amritsar-Moscow route since April 2020. India’s decision to restrict foreign carriers’ non-scheduled cargo flights to major cities in India was taken to provide a level playing to the Indian airlines at a time when COVID-19 has significantly affected the aviation sector, Puri had said on Twitter. Indian aviation regulator DGCA had on September 18 said that foreign carriers can operate their non-scheduled cargo flights to and from six Indian cities; Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad, only.

In pursuance of ‘Make in India’ policy of the Government of India, Ministry of Shipping has reviewed the ROFR (Right of First Refusal) licensing conditions for chartering of vessels/Ships through tender process for all types of requirements. In a major boost to shipbuilding in India, the government has amended existing norms and now the first priority in chartering of vessels will be given to ships built and flagged in India as well as owned by Indians, Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said. “To boost shipbuilding activities in India, the Ministry of Shipping has amended Right of First Refusal (ROFR) licensing conditions. Now, it has been decided that for any kind of charter of a vessel undertaken through a tender process, the first priority for RoFR would be given to Indian built, Indian flagged and Indian owned vessels,” Shipping Minister Mandaviya. The second priority will be given to foreign built, Indian flagged and Indian-owned vessels while the third priority will be given to Indian built, foreign flagged and foreign-owned ships, he said and termed the policy change a “bold step” in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi”s vision to promote the domestic industry. “India mostly handles four types of EXIM cargo – crude, gas, coal and fertiliser. Government of India floats tenders for bringing these from foreign. So far Indian flags were given priority in tender irrespective of where the ship is built. Now we have changed that in addition to Indian flag it should be ‘Made in India’. Government PSUs used to give priority to Indian flags till now but now Indian make has also been included,” Mandaviya said. The ministry has already disbursed an amount of Rs 61.05 crore till …

Continuing to serve numerous destinations worldwide in the coming half-year from its home hub in Frankfurt am Main (FRA), Lufthansa Cargo has published the winter schedule for its cargo aircraft. “We look forward to again offering our customers an extensive and dense network of freighter connections in the coming winter period. It perfectly complements the some 150 worldwide destinations currently offered to our customers via the belly capacities of Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Eurowings and SunExpress. In order to optimally meet demand, we will continue to manage our freighters flexibly in the coming months,” said Dorothea von Boxberg, Lufthansa Cargo CCO and Board Member Product and Sales. Between Europe and Asia alone, an average of 35 freighter connections a week are scheduled. Here, the focus will be on the Chinese metropolis of Shanghai (PVG), the South Korean capital Seoul (ICN), Japan’s capital Tokyo (NRT) and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKG). Also, scheduled destinations are China’s capital Beijing (PEK) and the West Chinese metropolis Chengdu (CTU), as well as several destinations in India, including Mumbai (BOM), Hyderabad (HYD), Chennai (MAA) and Bangalore (BLR). There are also scheduled flights to the Japanese conurbation of Osaka (KIX), the Thai capital Bangkok (BKK), the Vietnamese metropolis Ho Chi Minh City (SGN) and the Uzbek capital Tashkent (TAS). Cargo aircraft are scheduled to operate 34 times a week between Europe and North America. Chicago (ORD), New York (JFK), Los Angeles (LAX) and Atlanta (ATL) are among the most frequently served airports. In addition, Houston (IAH), Seattle (SEA) and Dallas (DFW) in the United States, Mexico City (MEX) and Guadalajara (GDL) in Mexico and Toronto (YYZ) in Canada are also included. The Norwegian …

Stepping up its readiness to handle the logistical complexities of distributing a potential COVID-19 vaccine globally, Emirates SkyCargo is creating the world’s first dedicated airside cargo hub for the vaccine in Dubai. The air cargo carrier has announced that it will be re-opening its Emirates SkyCentral DWC cargo terminal in Dubai South to serve as a dedicated anchor hub for cold chain storage and distribution of the vaccine. The freight division of Emirates has also set up a dedicated rapid response team to coordinate requests from the various partners involved in the international vaccine distribution ecosystem and to streamline the carrier’s response to vaccine transportation requests. HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive, Emirates said, “Dubai is well positioned to serve as a gateway and distribution hub for COVID-19 vaccines to the rest of the world. We have the infrastructure and logistics connections, and a geographic location that puts markets representing more than two-thirds of the world’s population within an 8-hour flying radius. Over the years, through our continuous investment in capabilities and processes for the transport of temperature sensitive pharmaceuticals, Emirates SkyCargo has managed to position Dubai amongst major global pharmaceutical customers as the year-round preferred point of transit for their valuable cargo. Setting up a dedicated airside hub for COVID-19 vaccines is a keystone project harnessing our network, reach and competencies to positively impact the lives of people around the world.” The Dubai hub will allow the air cargo carrier to fly in vaccines from manufacturing sites globally, store and prepare shipments for regional and global distribution. Emirates SkyCentral DWC has over 4,000 square metres of temperature controlled GDP certified dedicated pharma storage area …

Uplifting a whopping 57616 kgs, Air Logistics Group with its partner Alitalia Cargo have surpassed their own record, within a week, of 54 tonnes from Delhi (DEL) to Rome (FCO) on October 3 and 53 tonnes from Mumbai (BOM) to Rome(FCO) on October 4. This is notably the highest ever tonnage for any airline to have achieved on a newly reconfigured B777-300ER. The selection of an optimum mix of high density cargo comprising of heavy auto parts & engineering goods together with pharmaceuticals, garments & spare parts carefully planned by the highly experienced and professional sales team, with efficient ULD planning, ensuring the ground handling and loading was done with great precision is the secret behind this mammoth achievement of 58 tonnes of freight on a single sortie ex DEL-FCO. Alitalia will now fly directly into Malpensa (DEL-MXP-JFK) effective October 23, thus giving a seamless & swift service into Milan & the United States for their customers in Delhi. Commenting on the achievement, Vikramjit Singh Ahluwalia, Managing Director – India, Air Logistics Group, says, “The milestone loads of 58 tonnes is a testament of the dedicated and committed efforts of the skilled ALG team, both sales & operations to select the correct freight mix, plan and execute the same with perfection and the overwhelming support we get from our esteemed freight forwarders.” “It is a moment of pride for Air Logistics Group & Alitalia Cargo who have been operating their weekly P2C flights from Delhi & Bombay since June 2020 and we shall continue to serve our customers in these challenging & ever changing pandemic times” adds Mr Ahluwalia. In current scenario of COVID-19, when passenger traffic seems to be …

The air cargo tonnage handled by Germany’s Cologne Bonn Airport (CGN) rose by 17 per cent in September to 77,000 tonnes, the highest volume ever handled in a month. The freighter movements increased by 8 per cent to more than 3,000 flights. Torsten Wefers, Director – Sales Cargo, Cologne Bonn Airport said, “All CGN-operating scheduled cargo airlines registered higher traffic results and additionally, based on their recently launched freighter friendly initiative, a rapidly increasing number of cargo carriers are moving their (ad-hoc) cargo charters via Cologne Bonn Airport.” He further added that the international airport in Cologne still offers plenty of capacity, unrestricted 24/7 operation/handling and customs services, perfect market location and access, dedicated incentive programs for all-cargo carriers and tailor-made solutions for your business.