SF Airlines has launched its second freighter service between Shenzhen and New Delhi. Airlines’ B747-400F, the new route will see two flights per week, providing a weekly round-trip capacity of 400 tonne. The company has added a new flight between Shenzhen and New Delhi in addition to its Shenzhen–Chennai service launched earlier in 2019. ““As the capital of India, New Delhi is an important location for Chinese companies to invest, develop and expand their business in the country,” said, Sam Sun, Head, SF Express India, in adding, “To leverage these advantages, SF Express has launched an all-new direct air freight route to New Delhi to fully penetrate the Indian market and provide comprehensive cross-border logistics coverage.”

Delhi International Airport (DIAL) has announced that it has been chosen as the exclusive cargo transshipment centre in India by China. As per this significant development, Chinese cargo to the central Asian countries is now being routed through Delhi airport’s Transshipment Excellence Centre (TEC). Expressing happiness over the development, Videh Kumar Jaipuria, CEO, DIAL, said, “Delhi has emerged as a cargo hub for businesses in North India and neighbouring countries.” An Air Asia X (D7) freighter, carrying garment and accessories, brought the consignment from Beijing to Delhi for onward delivery to Ukraine in the last week of 2019. This was the first instance of international-to-international movement of China’s cargo via Delhi Airport. “This new movement of international transhipment cargo connecting China to Ukraine via Delhi Airport will give a significant impetus to the air cargo and regional logistics sectors,” said Jaipuria.

The DHL Global Trade Barometer predicts mildly positive growth for Indian trade with the country’s index rising five points to 54. According to data from the DHL Global Trade Barometer released by DHL, the positive outlook is driven primarily by an uptake in ocean imports of basic and industrial raw materials and chemicals and products, coupled with a gradual revival in air exports of consumer fashion goods. In total, ocean trade grew by 10 points, maintaining India’s positive outlook even as air trade forecasts experience relative weakness. The strong growth in ocean import and export will sustain India’s trade growth over three months in 2020. “India has the strongest trade forecast this quarter and the highest index value of all countries in the latest Global Trade Barometer survey, followed closely by the United Kingdom and Japan,” said Niki Frank, CEO, DHL Global Forwarding India. He adds, “This highlights the underlying potential of India’s economy, which will benefit from the government’s plan to invest US$ 1.39 trillion (€ 1.26 trillion) in infrastructure projects. The country’s commitment to establishing itself as a strategic maritime hub with initiatives and investments in coastal infrastructure appear to be supporting the index’s positive ocean trade outlook and will likely also contribute positively to longer-term trade growth.”

Adani Logistics has signed an agreement to acquire a majority stake of Rs296 crore in Snowman Logistics from Gateway Distriparks to enter the cold chain logistics. The acquisition gives Adani Logistics platform to double its capacity in next five years. Karan Adani, Chief Executive Officer and Whole Time Director, APSEZ said, “The acquisition is in line with our strategy and vision to be a leader in providing integrated logistics services in India and moving from port gate to customer gate. Cold chain is key product in customer gate strategy given India’s consumer driven demand. With focus on increase in utilisation, higher realisation from product mix and operational efficiencies, this vertical will help further improve returns of logistics business”

India’s merchandise exports during April-November 2019 are down by about 1.99 per cent. Commenting on the same, Sharad Kumar Saraf, President, FIEO, adds, “Despite having moderate share in global trade, India’s exports have always followed the trend in global imports. Therefore, when global imports are declining, our exports are also likely to take a hit. With 1.99 per cent decline in Indian merchandise exports, we feel our goods exports may touch US$ 330-340 billion in the current fiscal.” “Fortunately, the order book position of Indian exporters is very encouraging. The less volatility in our currency has also been a positive factor. The liquidity is also improving though we still have a lot of distance to cover. The infrastructure improvement and initiatives on the logistics front will impart further competitiveness to our exports. If the global situation improves, which is likely in the first half of 2020, we may look for 15 per cent growth in exports during the next financial year,” added FIEO President.

Indian Railways conducted a trial run of double stack cargo train on Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC) on the 306 km long Rewari -Madar Section. With this trial run, Indian Railways’ cargo carrying capacity is all set to receive a major boost. Indian Railways will run freight train at the maximum speed of 100 km/per hour against the current maximum speed of 75 kmph on tracks. The average speed of freight trains will also be increased from existing speed of 26 kmph on Indian Railways lines to 70 kmph on Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFC). Railways has already done a trial run of BOXNS cargo wagons at 110 Kmph, trial runs are being conducted on the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India (DFCCIL) tracks. The Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) infrastructure is made in such a way so that it utilises the carrying capacity of these freight wagons. At present, Indian Railways’ freight trains can carry 61 -71 tonne weight per freight carriage at an approximate speed of 60 kmph.

Flipkart has led a US$ 60 million investment in Shadowfax to strengthen its logistics network in the nation. “We have seen strong synergies with Shadowfax through our existing engagement with them, and their investments in tech-enabled innovations will help us significantly reduce delivery time and provide superior customer experiences across product categories. By leveraging kirana stores and the deep delivery capabilities of Shadowfax and other Flipkart-led innovations, we are building a strong foundation to make inroads into a dynamic hyperlocal consumer market,” said Kalyan Krishnamurthy, Chief Executive Officer, Flipkart. The Series D funding round also saw the participation of Eight Roads Ventures, NGP Capital, Qualcomm Ventures, Mirae Asset Naver Fund, and the World Bank-backed International Finance Corp.

According to Maersk India Trade Report Q3 2019, India’s import and export container trade remained flat as compared to global growth of 1.5 per cent in in Q3 2019 (July-September). The slowdown is aligned closely with the weaker domestic demand, as well as a reflection of the broad-based cyclical weakening of the economic environment in all the main global economies. The negative effects from escalating trade restrictions also weighed on trade growth in the quarter. The trade restrictions have reduced bilateral trade between the United States of America and China, and led to shifts in trade structures, with global importers having shifted sourcing from China to other countries such as Vietnam, Taiwan, Bangladesh and Korea, with Thailand, Mexico and India also showing early signs of being next in line to benefit. Specifically, in India, the economic uncertainty, tight liquidity, decline in global export orders and evolving domestic political scenario also affected the flow of investments and added to currency volatility. While imports into the country witnessed a subdued growth, the overall fiscal impact was nullified by an identical contraction in exports.

Jabil Circuit India has leased approximately 60,000 sq ft of customised modern facility for light manufacturing and assembly at IndoSpace Ranjangaon, Pune. KA Lee, Senior Vice President and Chief Operations Officer, Jabil Green Point, said, “This facility will help Jabil Green Point, a division of Jabil Inc, in leveraging the growth potential of the Indian market which is continuing to emerge as a key manufacturing hub for our global customers.” Rajesh Jaggi, Vice Chairman, Real Estate, Everstone Group, said, “We are very pleased to have Jabil as a tenant and look forward to working with them on future expansion endeavors in India. Our global industrial real estate experience along with local execution capabilities enable us to anticipate the needs of Jabil and structure solutions that support their business plan.” Spread across 104 acres, the IndoSpace facility in Ranjangaon is a fully integrated industrial park located in MIDC Ranjangaon. The park consists of more than 2.4 million sqft of modern warehouses and light manufacturing facilities that are designed to meet the manufacturing, logistics and supply chain needs of global companies.

The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) has revised the cargo handling target to 100 million tonne (MT) on national waterways by 2021-22, as against its earlier estimation of 150 MT. The Centre declared 106 national waterways in 2016 in addition to the existing five, taking India’s total navigable inland waterways to 20,000 km. According to the latest projection, traffic on national waterways is expected to increase from 72 MT in 2018 -19 to 100 MT by FY22. Earlier this year, the IWAI had stated that about 55 MT of cargo was handled on national waterways in 2017-18 and given the trend, the 150 MT target for 2021-22 was likely to be achieved before the deadline.