Sharing how the stakeholders are more than ever excited to embrace digital solutions, Tigist Eshetu, Regional Director – Indian Suncontinent, Ethiopian Airlines, explains, “The digital solution has helped the airline in handling the increased demand and traffic. Sales are getting completed in record time too. It has also helped us to renovate some of the facilities of our PAX aircrafts to fit for cargo operations and to handle the wide global demand of freight transportation especially of the COVID-19 combating equipment.”

Mesa Air Group has announced to start providing air cargo services for DHL Express using Boeing 737-400F cargo aircraft. Under the agreement, Mesa will operate two cargo aircraft from DHL Express Americas global hub at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport for a five-year term. The company will lease the aircraft from DHL with the first scheduled to be in service this October. “We are very excited to enter the cargo market and diversify our business. Flying under contract on behalf of DHL is essentially the same business model Mesa has operated under for over 20 years,” said, Jonathan Ornstein, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Mesa Air Group. “Cargo transport plays a critical role in the health of communities and economies around the world. Mesa is well-suited for this new mission and this is just the beginning of what we believe will be a long and productive relationship with DHL.” “This new cargo operation opens new doors for Mesa,” added Brad Rich, Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer, Mesa Air Group.

Adani Logistics has moved its first-ever containerised cargo export from India to Bangladesh utilising inland waterways and it has reached its destination Pangaon International Container Terminal, Dhaka on July 12, 2020. The success of landmark container export cargo consignment has provided importers and exporters of India and Bangladesh an alternative to roadways and railways. Currently, majority of the exports and imports through West Bengal region to Bangladesh is taking place through Petrapole (India) and Benapole (Bangladesh). In fact, Petrapole is one of the largest Land Customs Station (LCS) in Asia handling a trade of more than US$ 2.5 billion. “Since last year, our team is working on offering commercially viable logistics solutions using Inland Waterways. Previously, we have successfully completed the domestic containerised movement between Haldia – Patna on NW1 and Haldia – Guwahati on NW2 (using IBPR). The success of containerised movement from Haldia to Guwahati on NW2 (using IBPR) has generated keen interest with the importers/exporters of both India and Bangladesh to extend its usage for EXIM cargo movement. One vessel movement is equivalent to 64 or more trucks. Thus inland waterways provide a competitive alternative to current road based movement of goods through Petrapole ICP. Containerised movement of sponge iron is a safer alternative as compared to carrying the cargo in bulk/break bulk which has also been appreciated by industry.” says Anil Kishore Singh, CEO – Inland Waterways, Adani Logistics.

Delhi International Airport (DIAL) has remained functional during the COVID-19 lockdown and handled more than 20 million pieces of essential medical supplies from April to June 2020. The airport has recorded highest volume of air cargo in India during last three months. In the month of June 2020, Delhi Airport recorded 1850 freighter aircraft movements. This comprises of 1,091 scheduled and 759 non-scheduled freighter movements. Videh Kumar Jaipuriar, CEO, DIAL said, “During the nationwide lockdown, Delhi Airport relentlessly worked in collaboration with Ministry of Civil Aviation and all its stakeholders for timely and smooth supply of medical equipment and relief material to and from Delhi to various destinations in India. In this challenging time, DIAL has played a very crucial role in fight against COVID-19 by round the clock handling of international and domestic cargo movement. The air cargo terminal at the IGI Airport has been operating 24*7 to support the country in handling and processing essential commodities, especially healthcare and medical supplies. We ensured that essential medical kits reached not only in the big cities, but in far flung destinations of the country.”

As part of its efforts to reduce waiting times at airports, Jan de Rijk Logistics, the road feeder firm, has signed up with Trucking CDM for to manage slot allocation planning mechanism between truckers and handlers. The industry is under pressure to reduce costs but also achieve faster transit times between European airports, because much of the trucking operation is spent waiting at airports. Stefan Pieters, Manager of Operations & Development, Jan de Rijk, says, “Our biggest challenge boils down to the waiting hours spent at cargo handling facilities, caused by lack of communication and transparency. As there is often no contractual relation between the trucker and the handler both parties operate on behalf of the airline but not directly connected to each other. If we could share data about when the freight is available, the status of vehicle combined shipment information we could communicate much better with the handler thus creating, insight and data sharing for all parties involved.” The Trucking CDM platform provides transparency, predictability and a slot allocation planning mechanism between truckers and handlers. It allows data sharing between the involved stakeholders in regard to the truck movement.

Embarking a ‘1 Million Kilos’ campaign, from July to the end of December, Qatar Airways Cargo will enable charities to use its services to transport humanitarian aid and medical supplies all over the world, free of charge. The airline is donating one million kilograms of freight to selected customers around the world to give to the charities of their choice. This will allow the movement of medical equipment, humanitarian relief and essential products to where they are most needed. “This action was triggered by the Covid-19 crisis. The pandemic is a tragedy for millions of people, and we looked for ways how we, as an airline, could help those in the greatest difficulty. This solution – shipping one million kilos of cargo free of charge – is a firm commitment for QR Cargo. More than just words, we wanted to act and to adopt a comprehensive approach based on actions for the future,” said, Guillaume Halleux, Chief Officer for cargo at Qatar Airways.

Maruti Suzuki India has announced that it has transported more than 6.70 lakh cars via the Indian Railways over the last six years, witnessing a CAGR of over 18 per cent. In this process the company offset nearly 3,000 metric tonnes (MT) of CO2 emissions. Avoiding more than one lakh truck trips on the National Highways has significantly helped reduce carbon footprint and save 100 million litres of diesel, the company claims. In the last financial year, Maruti Suzuki dispatched over 1.78 lakh cars by rail mode, marking 15 per cent increase over previous year. As it further claimed, this accounted for nearly 12 per cent of total sales of the company in the year. Kenichi Ayukawa, Managing Director & CEO, Maruti Suzuki India, said, “Considering the increasing volumes, our team felt the need for large scale logistics flow. We realised, that not only for expansion but also for risk mitigation we have to look beyond road mode logistics.”

This pandemic is a good wakeup call not only for the logistics industry but for all businesses. Logistics and supply chain industry is used to of managing and dealing problems related to driver shortages, bad weather, etc with a proper backup plan. But no one was prepared for this pandemic and it is an unfavorable outcome. Once through this, we have certainly learned our lesson which is never hesitate to embrace and invest in technology as we can see techno savvy companies turned out to be winners in the pandemic. We have also learned to not put all your eggs in one basket. Logistics companies who specialised in specific industry faced the maximum heat during the pandemic. We also need to work on ‘Disaster Management Plan’; there is an urgent need to invest in worst case scenario management planning.

Turkish Cargo has launched a new artificial intelligence chatbot, called CARGY, to provide customers round-the-clock updates about the status of their cargo shipments. The artificial intelligence based chatbot ‘Cargy’ gives information about available dates and flights for shipments. Cargy will offer the opportunity to inquire the rate details at its second phase in September and will provide other details related to the cargo at its third phase which will go live in December. The airline has added that it is enhancing and digitising its technological infrastructure to enhance its service quality.

With an aim to offer customers an additional option to pay for their shipments’ destination charges, Delta Cargo has partnered with PayCargo and Unisys. PayCargo’s system has cost benefits directly for Delta Cargo’s customers as it automates data flows, eliminates the need to send paper checks and enables same-day release of cargo. To use the system, customers must first register via the PayCargo website. Customers will then receive updated charges information and efficiently process payments due at the destination. Once payment is made, Delta Cargo is notified in real-time to process the shipment and expedite shipment release. “As we strive to become the airline of choice for our customers, we know that offering secure payment options is one way we can achieve this. We are focused on making it easy to do business with us and our new collaboration with PayCargo and Unisys does just that,” said, Shawn Cole, Vice President, Delta Cargo.