By delivering it’s first-ever shipment of butter from Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh (part of the Delhi National Capital Region) to Turkey, Maersk has opened a niche cargo category encouraging the shipping of an array of commodities within the reefer segment. Butter exporter VRS Foods exported an initial six containers of their brand, Paras Dairy Butter, through Maersk’s First Mile Delivery reefer service which helps businesses with intermodal, customs clearance, and documentation needs to enable seamless trade. This. Commenting on this end to end delivery story, Steve Felder, Managing Director, Maersk South Asia, states, “We believe that India’s trade growth lies in our hinterlands. Most of the small and medium enterprises and traders who engage in trade with this segment often face connectivity and infrastructural challenges limiting their scope for growth. Limited cold-chain infrastructure is one of the prominent factors that lead to the loss of produce. Through our endeavour with Paras Dairy and VRS Foods, our assurance was to provide them with an efficient logistics partner, and in doing so, we can now look to win the confidence of other exporters, given that we can successfully handle end-to-end logistics of refrigerated cargo for all proof of delivery.”

JNPT (Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust) has inaugurated its new Container Terminal Data Centre equipped with the state–of-the-art technical infrastructure. It is a significant move towards seamless integration of technology into port operations, in order to be a future ready port. The port is constantly looking at enhancing their operational efficiency to provide quality service and ease of doing business for the EXIM community. Sanjay Sethi, Chairman, JNPT, said, “It is imperative for ports to integrate new technology trends and automation into their processes to stay relevant and connected in this digitalised global business environment. But the backbone of these automated services is a robust and efficient data system network providing real time data-support and enhancing the operational efficiency. Our new Container Terminal Data Centre will also play the same role in our port modernisation and digitalisation of services, which will not only benefit the EXIM community but also drive our next phase of transformation.”

To attract new entrepreneurs in exports and bridge the gap in availability of qualified skilled manpower in Exim trade, Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Prin. LN Welingkar Institute of Management Development and Research (WeSchool) to launch a post-graduate programme in foreign trade management (PGP-FTM) at Mumbai. The MoU was inked by Khalid M Khan, Regional Chairman, FIEO (WR) and Dr Uday Salunkhe, Group Director, WeSchool. It aims to jointly develop and deliver the programme, which will help develop human capital for meeting the growing demand in the international trade ecosystem.

Hilti has tied up with FarEye to gain real-time visibility of goods movement, predictability with actionable insights, and build a digital integrated ecosystem with third-party vendors. Working with various 3PL partners across the country, a major pain area for Hilti was to manage these partners, map them against each other, track individual shipments, and keep the customers informed on the status along with actionable insights. Additionally, manual processes and lack of proper communication between transporters and logistics managers resulted in manpower wastage and high wait time at warehouses for loading and unloading of products.

Mumbai International Airport (MIAL) has become the first Indian airport and third in Asia to receive International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) Center of Excellence for Independent Validators (CEIV) Pharma certification. MIAL has achieved this quality milestone for pharma logistics following successful completion of training courses, on-site assessment, and complex validation processes. Acknowledging the importance of this initiative, MIAL has initiated the certification process with a community approach, together with its air cargo supply chain partners. The IATA CEIV Pharma certification has been introduced to prevent temperature excursions of pharma products during air transport, with the key objective of patient safety and reduction of losses attributed to logistical issues. It aims to improve the handling of pharmaceutical cargo by complying with existing national and international regulations.

Bahri, the leading direct, full-liner service provider from US East and Gulf Coast ports and Canada to Jeddah, Dubai, Dammam and Mumbai (including way-port calls along the liner service route in the Mediterranean and Europe), has announced the expansion of its market presence in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region’s maritime industry. The stronger presence will help the company gain deeper insights into market trends as well as customer needs in chemicals and logistics sectors in Singapore and the wider APAC region. The expansion will also enable Bahri Logistics and Bahri Chemicals, two of five business units of the company, to market their offerings, acquire new clients, serve existing clients, and channelise communications. The company also plans to expand the services of its other business units to the APAC region in the future. Bahri’s global network of destinations already includes ports in China, India, Singapore, and South Korea.

Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPT) registered an all-time high in bulk cargo throughput, touching 8.5 million tonnes (MT) in 2018-19. This was a 5.58 per cent increase over 2017-18. JNPT’s overall throughput was over 70 MT in the just-concluded fiscal, inclusive of bulk and liquid. Meanwhile, in its core competency, the port ended FY2018-19 on a high note by handling 5.13 million TEUs, which also included 4.71 lakh TEUs in March 2019, the highest in a month. It had handled 4.83 million TEUs in 2017-18. As part of its effort to automate procedures and digitalise processes, JNPT has also discontinued manual Form 13 and Form 11, and now has e-versions. It also has RFID-enabled gate automation systems in order to provide faster and efficient entry and exit for container trucks. The port plans to further enhance efficiency with the addition of three mobile scanners and a drive-through scanner equipped with the latest technology.

DHL Express has launched the ‘Yellow Yatra’ programme, a multi-city series of events focused on equipping entrepreneurs from micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in different Indian cities with the know-how to succeed in international e-commerce. Commenting on the launch, RS Subramanian, Country Manager, DHL Express India, said, “MSMEs are crucial to the Indian economy because they contribute over eight per cent to India’s GDP and constitute more than 70 per cent of our business here in India. The launch of ‘Yellow Yatra’ is part of our ongoing commitment to promote the growth of Indian SMEs through participation in cross-border e-commerce trade. Our extensive local, regional, and global network is a key enabler for SMEs who want to venture out of their cities.” At the event, entrepreneurs had the opportunity to hear from industry experts, share best practices with e-commerce players, and most importantly, build important business networks.

E-booking platform Freightos WebCargo has acquired India’s Air Freight Bazaar, a regional air cargo rates and sales platform based in Chennai. “This acquisition combines WebCargo’s advanced air cargo rates, sales and e-booking platform, used by over 1,400 leading forwarders, with Air Freight Bazaar’s market share of 300 leading regional air forwarders,” said a Freightos WebCargo spokesperson. Air Freight Bazaar customers will receive access to WebCargo’s existing platform, including access to on-demand air rates, dynamic pricing, and e-booking with airlines like Lufthansa Cargo. Vinay Sethia, Co-founder, Air Freight Bazaar, said, “With WebCargo by Freightos, we can offer our customers improved technology, direct access to over 300 airlines, and e-booking. We’re also excited to represent WebCargo and Freightos in India.” Zvi Schreiber, Chief Executive Officer, Freightos, said, “Air Freight Bazaar has been a regional leader in freight digitalisation, making them a natural fit. Our initial focus in India will be on further automation for local air freight forwarders and collaborating on dynamic pricing and e-boking with regional airlines.”

Maersk Trade Finance has announced its global loan disbursement projection of US $500 million for the year 2019 with US$ 200 million target for India. The company has disbursed a total of US $0.7 billion globally, till date, since its inception in 2015, with over 150 million in India in the year 2018, a 53 per cent Y-o-Y increase as compared to 2017. Vipul Sardana, Global Head, Maersk Trade Finance, said, “Indian Small & Medium-sized Enterprises (SME) sector continues to play a significant role in India’s economic development. As the sector is gearing up for its digital transformation, the rapid technological advances are putting trade finance in the spotlight and playing a significant role in changing the way global supply-chains are managed and monitored.”