Hindustan Infralog Private Limited (HIPL), a joint venture between DP World and National Investment & Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) has announced an investment of Rs 1000 crore in developing its Nhava Sheva Business Park (NSBP) Free Trade Zone (FTZ) in Mumbai. NSBP, a Special Purpose Vehicle, is a co-developer for the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) SEZ. The company has signed a lease agreement with JNPT for the project. The FTZ is on a long-term Lease of 60 years, and is located 5 kms away from JNPT. Rizwan Soomar, CEO & MD, DP World Subcontinent, said, “The Free Trade Zone will be ready towards the end of 2021. This investment reinforces DP World’s strategy and commitment to India, and strengthens our integrated logistics portfolio in the country. Alongside DP World’s global network of ports & terminals and inland logistics infrastructure in the region, the FTZ will provide a seamless experience for both domestic and international customers.”

Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal says digital is the way forward. Inaugurating the PHD Virtual Retail Supply Chain Expo, the minister emphasises on how COVID has altered consumers’ purchasing pattern. He says, “More and more people are moving online for purchases. Hence, retail trade will also have to shift to new strategies to align them in the evolving consumers’ preferences. Retail will also evolve by engaging with both the physical and digital world. Smart logistics and better distribution capabilities will built up and supply chain will also progress using modern tools and modern technologies. “Transparency has become very important element in businesses. To build business, both at the production & manufacturing level and distribution & supply chain, we have to look at artificial intelligence, chatbot, augmented reality, virtual reality, IoT, blockchain technology,” he adds.

Commenting on the agriculture ministry initiatives of creating a cell to drive up investment in cold storages and the food supply chain, Sobhagya Ranjanpati, Managing Director, Knostics Infodel believes, “This initiative was long pending and it is going to affect the country’s economy in a big way. Firstly, it will free up the farm trade from all restrictions by providing a legal framework. Adding the value to primary produce, the coordinated network will streamline the supply chain and transportation of farm goods.” The infrastructure in our country is way below than what is required. The condition of cold storages is also not what it should be. Cold storages are refrigerated warehouses that can store perishables for up to six months. Refrigerated old stocks can cool food prices in times of scarcity. Presently, there are stock holding limits and with the new cell this issue will be over. Incentives to improve cold storage facilities will bring investment, cut food wastage and smoothen the supply chain.

To continue accessing CHAMP’s Traxon cargoHUB and Traxon CDMP solutions, Lufthansa Cargo extended its partnership with CHAMP. The airline will be able to gain synergies and cargo insights through its continued use of CHAMP’s Traxon CDMP, a tool that measures over 40 per cent of the worldwide Cargo iQ airline shipments. The carrier will also benefit from being a part of CHAMP’s air cargo digital interchange community – the Traxon CargoHUB. “Traxon CargoHUB efficiently links the entire global airfreight community, irrespective of their IT configuration or systems resulting in higher productivity and lower costs,” explains CHAMP, in adding. “It improves supply chain quality and completeness; bookings, operations, document handling and customs processes can be executed and confirmed in seconds; it can be aligned with and updated to latest industry standards; it enables standard and custom message processing and conversions.”

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Indian Railways has surpassed freight traffic as compared with the corresponding period last year. The national transporter increased the average speed of its freight trains to 46.16 kmph which is more than double as compared to its speed of 22.52 kmph last year. The freight loading was 3.13 metric tonne (MT) on July 27, which is higher than last year for the same period, with an increase of 0.3 per cent. However, the cumulative, overall loading of freight trains remains 18.18% less than last year. On July 27, the Railways loaded a total 1,039 rakes with freight including 76 rakes of food grains, 67 rakes of fertiliser, 49 rakes of steel, 113 rakes of cement, 113 rakes of iron ore and 363 rakes of coal. “Railways has achieved record loading of foodgrains this fiscal which is 80 per cent more than last year, and has also introduced time tabled parcel services – 4,541 services and transported 2.41 lakh tonnes cargo generating a revenue of Rs 86.88 crore,” said VK Yadav, Railway Board Chairman.

To facilitate container truck movement from one bank to another, the Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) is weighing the option of constructing a tunnel under the Hooghly River. This move could potentially free city roads of 700-800 trucks daily. Buoyed by the success of underwater tunnelling work for East-West Metro corridor, the KoPT, rechristened as the Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port, is planning to appoint a consultant to conduct a feasibility study for building a similar structure under the river. Meanwhile, speaking at a seminar organised by CII, Shipping Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said the Centre has waived off waterways charges. The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) had levied the waterway usage charges at a rate of Rs 0.02 per gross registered tonnage (GRT) per km for inland cargo ships and Rs 0.05 for cruise vessels on national waterways.

Explaining the behaviour of truck drivers during the COVID-19 times, Deepak Garg, Founder, Rivigo, says, “We have realised that truck drivers wanted to become relay drivers more than the long-haul drivers. Relay trucking has become an option for our truck drivers, and this has become possible in these times only because we were using technology meaningfully much before. We have deployed lot of censors and converted every truck into IoT device.” “We are using technology to connect with our workforce and to interact with them more seamlessly. Every truck driver, in our case, is on pilot app and everything can be done right from the duty allocation to change-over process, health insurance etc,” he adds.

According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), air cargo demand is recovering slowly from the effect of COVID-19. The association has released data for global air freight markets in June showing improvement, but at a slower pace than some of the traditional leading indicators would suggest. Global demand, measured in cargo tonne-kilometers (CTKs*), fell by 17.6 per cent in June (-19.9 per cent for international operations) compared to the previous year. That is a modest improvement from the 20.1 per cent year-on-year drop recorded in May. However, global capacity, measured in available cargo tonne-kilometers (ACTKs), shrank by 34.1 per cent in June ( 33.9 per cent for international operations) compared to the previous year. This was on par with the 34.8 per cent year-on-year drop in May.

Indian Railways has completed the construction of caving work for the one-kilometre long tunnel of Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC) through Aravalli mountain range, near Sohna in Haryana. The plan is to ply electric goods train with double-stack containers through it in the next 12 months. Once operational, a double-stack container goods train will be able to run at a speed of more than 100 kmph in this tunnel. The tunnel connects Mewat & Gurugram district of Haryana and negotiates a steep gradient on the uphill and downhill slope of the Aravalli range. The D-shaped tunnel has a cross-sectional area of 150 square metres to accommodate double line with higher OHE (Over Head Equipment) to enable double stack container movement on WDFC.

The government is making efforts to attract FDI in infrastructure sector to address liquidity crunch faced by the COVID-19-hit economy. Stressing on the need to bring down the logistics cost, Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of Road Transport, Highways & MSME, said “Rs 1 lakh crore Delhi-Mumbai Expressway will result in reducing the travel time between the two metropolises to barely 28 hours resulting in lesser logistics cost by way of enhanced cargo movement in lesser time.” Gadkari also urged private players to join hands with government. He said the economy, hit by coronavirus, is passing through a crucial phase and requires liquidity. At the same, COVID-19 crisis should be turned into an opportunity as the world is now recognising India as a good place for investment.