Kool-ex has partnered with IndoSpace to build customised, Good Distribution Practice (GDP)/and Good Warehousing Practice (GWP) compliant, temperature controlled, Pharma Distribution Centres across the country. The spread of services will include warehousing, secondary distribution, passive packaging and blockchain for end-to-end tractability of pharma products, apart from its core existing business of providing temperature-controlled transportation. IndoSpace has pan-India network of Grade A warehouses, and the partnership with Kool-ex will enable IndoSpace to venture into pharma warehousing. As part of the deal, Kool-ex and IndoSpace will jointly design and set up three warehouses in Phase-I by 2021 in proximity to Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru. Kool-ex has plans to setup 10 to 11 warehouss by 2023, making it the largest Pharma storage footprint in the country.

Strengthening its pharmaceutical logistics expertise, Etihad Cargo has launched PharmaLife, a specialised pharma and healthcare product which replaces the carrier’s TempCheck product. The dedicated product aims to move the anticipated global demand for Covid-19 vaccine. It will available at 54 stations on the Etihad network and will focus on key gateways including Abu Dhabi, Barcelona, Chicago, Paris, Dubai, Frankfurt, Hyderabad, London, Milan, Melbourne, Mumbai, Shanghai, Singapore, and Sydney. Andre Blech, Head – Operations & Service Delivery, Etihad Cargo, said, “The pandemic prompted a reassessment of our top-level services to ensure we can address the specific requirements for shipping high volumes of in-demand product in very short timescales. To avoid last-minute pressure once a vaccine is approved, we have established a dedicated Covid-19 vaccines workforce composed of a steering committee and a working group to manage all anticipated elements.” “Our intention is to continuously expand our Pharma trade lanes, which requires collaboration with industry partners. By working with equipment suppliers, general handling agents, and associations, we can share knowledge and build trust across the industry that will result in the highest quality industry standard for sustainable quality that our customers deserve,” he said. “A core part of this is through working with our GHAs to offer cool dollies or thermo trucks for key destinations; dependent upon viability, we could look into an advanced lease model for this kind of equipment as currently, due to tarmac constraints, cool dollies and thermo trucks are quite rare and expensive,” added Blech.

Commenting on what is stopping the industry from keeping pace with the government and who can take the responsibility to create more awareness on going contactless, Cyrus Katgara, President, Air Cargo Forum India says, “Associations do need to take the responsibility and we will take the responsibility. It is the time for collaboration between all the associations, be it, ACFI, ACAAI, AMTOI, CHAA, etc. ACFI has already started training programmes on how we can go contactless. It’s all about the mind-set and will power of people to avoid contact and forget our old system of interacting with people for work. We need to have interaction for every other thing except for work. Today, also at the ground level we have examination and other queries where there is contact.

Locus has announced a partnership with Vinculum to offer brands & retailers best-in-class routing, omnichannel commerce solutions, and supply chain management under one roof. Locus and Vinculum will together provide a seamless solution for brands to manage everything E-commerce, right from global marketplace listings, data consistency, real-time view of inventory in stores, BOPIS (buy online, pick up in-store), BOPAK (buy online, pick up at kerbside), Returns across channels, to last-mile routing. “Locus is continuously increasing its presence in Southeast Asia, Middle East, and India. In these markets, the relevance of E-commerce and Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) has skyrocketed in the recent past. Companies are looking for solutions to go online and reach more customers,” said Krishna Khandelwal, Chief Business Officer, Locus. “We work with all parts of the Omnichannel ecosystem including brands, 3pls, marketplaces and retailers. Smart logistics solutions are a problem area for many of our customers. The partnership with Locus will help our customers to be more efficient and enable them to scale faster,” says Venkat Nott, Founder & CEO, Vinculum Group. Locus uses deep machine learning and proprietary algorithms to offer smart logistics solutions to customers. The company presently works with top clients across Southeast Asia, North America, Europe, and India. It has offices in the USA, India, Indonesia, and Vietnam. The top management of the company includes executives from Amazon Web Services (AWS), Barclays Capital, Google, and BlueDart (a DHL company), and data scientists with PhDs from the Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Illinois, among others. Locus has so far raised $29 million from tier-1 investors like Tiger Global, Falcon Edge, Blume Ventures, Exfinity Venture Partners, & growX ventures, among others.

Spread over more than 2 lakh square feet area, Amazon has launched third Fulfilment Centre (FC) in Ahmedabad. The expansion in Gujarat is a part of the company’s plans announced in July to add 10 new fulfilment centres and expand seven existing sites, across India. With this infrastructure expansion, Amazon now offers a storage capacity of more than 1.5 million cubic feet across three fulfilment centres to its more than 80,000 sellers in Gujarat. Amazon recently launched a new sort centre and expanded the capacity of an existing sort centre to ensure faster and reliable deliveries for customer orders in Gujarat. Prakash Kumar Dutta, Director of Fulfilment Centres & Supply Chain, Amazon India, said, “Gujarat is an important market for Amazon India and we are delighted to further invest and expand our infrastructure in the State. With this expansion, SMBs in Gujarat will benefit both in terms of economic growth and reach to a wider customer base. With the new launches, we will be able to continue to seamlessly cater to the growing demand from customers so they can stay home and stay safe while creating thousands of job opportunities in the state.”

AirBridgeCargo Airlines (ABC) has completed the transportation of 12 SkyCell containers from Hong Kong (China) to Amsterdam (Netherlands). The transportation was organised in partnership with UPS Healthcare with the SkyCell 1500C containers shipped from Europe to Asia in pre-conditioned mode. Once they arrived in Hong Kong, they were loaded with vaccines to be flown back under temperature range 2-8°C. According to the ABC Airline, the SkyCell 1500C containers, weighing more than 10,500 kg, occupied six lower forward deck positions and approached an almost maximum possible number of containers per section, which is 14. “We are now analysing and mapping out all possible scenarios for vaccine transportation, even using technical capabilities of An-124-100 and Il-76TD-90VD,” said Yulia Celetaria, Pharma Director, AirBridgeCargo Airlines. ABC has transported over 40,000 tons of temperature-sensitive pharmaceuticals for the first seven months of 2020 which is more than 150% up compared to the same period of 2019.

Talking about the future of warehousing industry, John Thomas, Group Director, Realistic Realtors & Reach Promoters and Director at CIRIL (Commercial Real Estate Advisors), says, “Warehousing has always been a centre of many sectors, whether it is FMCG, retail, fashion or 3PL companies. Warehouse will not go anywhere, it’s here to stay and become stronger. This entire COVID-19 disruption has made us think on various innovations, initiatives which we should do for our better future such as Grade-A warehouses with better facility and automation for more supplies. Today, we are facing a difficulty of getting a good and ready Grade-A warehouse in a decent location. In Delhi, we don’t have a legally compliant warehouse, the government needs to get in line and give that support and make it smoother for a warehouse to get legally compliant.”

To address a variety of storage facilities for both new and existing typologies such as logistics parks, warehouses, cold storages and other storage spaces, CII-Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) has digitally launched the IGBC Green Logistics Parks & Warehouses Rating System. Being the 27th rating of the Indian Green Building Council, the rating system addresses the national priorities and is developed in congruent with national & several state policies. It is developed aligning the requirements with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. By adopting the rating tool, the projects would achieve various tangible and intangible benefits including energy & water savings and health & well-being of occupants. The rating system was launched by Leena Nandan, Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs, Government of India, V Suresh, Chairman – IGBC & Former CMD, HUDCO and A M Visvanathan, Chair – IGBC Green Logistics Parks & Warehouses, Executive Vice President and Business Head – Godrej Storage Solutions, Godrej & Boyce. Suresh said, “The rating system is a ‘first-of-its-kind and exclusively developed to address Logistics Parks, Warehouses, Cold Storages and other storage facilities in India. The rating addresses unique green concepts such as design of docking bays and dock levellers, electric vehicles for indoor material handling, GHG inventory & mitigation measures, transport modal mix, vehicular routing, parking for service vehicles, green packaging and basic amenities for staff & drivers”. He adds, “Considering the present demand in the logistics sector, the sector is expected to contribute one billion sq ft of registered green footprint by 2022. The aspiration for the Council is to have 10 billion sq ft of registered green footprint by 2022.” According to Visvanathan said, “The objective of the rating system is to …

To accelerate growth across Africa’s vast logistics ecosystem, Allcargo is leveraging its global expertise to undertake trans-country movement of big project cargoes in the world’s second-largest continent. Building close collaborations with partners, customers and stakeholders within Africa, the company has exuded a spirit of innovation while tackling complex projects like ODC transportation, water pipelines and power transmission lines. “Allcargo’s global aspirations are driven by its aim to create opportunities, drive partner progress, and lend its expertise to projects across geographies that transform economies and boost growth. It is this futuristic approach that has led the company to create a niche in Africa. Committing to the highest standards of safety and zero compromise on compliance, Allcargo is set to prove its mettle as a trusted logistics partner in helping Africa scale new heights of growth,” said Rahul Rai, Business Head – Projects & Engineering Division, Allcargo Logistics, on the sidelines of the 15th CII – Exim Bank Digital Conclave on India – Africa Project Partnership. With a network of 300 offices across 160 countries and a wholly-owned global subsidiary ECU Worldwide, Allcargo has a presence in most African trade hubs. The company worked on key infrastructure projects across six African countries during the Covid-induced lockdown. In Tanzania, Allcargo handled follow-ups with Government Procurement Services Agency (GPSA) for payment of shipping line charges, exemption regularisation, TAN road permits for oversized project cargo, customs clearance, loading permits, pickup and delivery of shipments for the regional Rusumo Falls hydropower project. In Burundi, Allcargo took care of follow-ups with OBR (Burundais des recettes) for exemption regularisation, clearance through single customs territory and payment of shipping line charges. The company also arranged border clearance and empty …

In order to conduct a feasibility study for a proposed Hyperloop corridor from Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL), Virgin Hyperloop and BIAL signed a first-of-its-kind Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The MoU was exchanged virtually between Sultan bin Sulayem, Chairman of Virgin Hyperloop and DP World, and T.M. Vijay Bhaskar, IAS, Chief Secretary, Government of Karnataka and Chairman of the Board of Directors, BIAL in the presence of Kapil Mohan, IAS, Principal Secretary, Infrastructure Development Department, Government of Karnataka. “We are honored to partner with Bangalore International Airport Limited to explore ways in which hyperloop can become a part of the solution to tackle congestion and support economic growth in Bengaluru” said Sulayem. “Beyond just the transit of passengers, airports are crucial conduit for goods, especially time-sensitive deliveries. A hyperloop-connected airport would dramatically improve the delivery of cargo and create an ultra-efficient supply chain,” he adds. BIAL aims to make BLR Airport a transportation hub that connects people and places together through various modes of transport. In addition to its well-established road network, BLR Airport will soon be connected with the sub-urban railway in few weeks and have Metro connectivity in four years.