Air Cargo Forum India (ACFI) recently held a conference on ‘India – Future Air Cargo Leader in South East Asia’, in New Delhi. Addressing the gathering, Vandana Aggarwal, Economic Advisor, MoCA, Government of India, said, “In the last few years, we have emphasised on the fact that the entire value chain is important and we cannot work in silos. The result was laudable; air cargo, in terms of volume, has not only grown double-digit in the last two years, but we have also improved performance. Dwell time, which used to be more than 100 hours, came down to 13 per cent in the first year and 25 per cent in the second year. Today, we are stand at less than 39 hours for imports and less than 24 hours for exports, but there is more to be done.” Aggarwal also urged the air cargo community to take measures to strengthen itself to such a degree that these little blips, which were beyond their control, did not adversely affect the overall growth. Pradeep Singh Kharola, IAS, Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India, was the chief guest at the conference. The conference brought together ministry officials and expert speakers from the industry, as well as leaders from both India and abroad to debate on the National Air Cargo Policy that has been outlined and circulated by the government.

Container Corporation of India (CONCOR) has inaugurated its first distribution logistics centre at Ennore, Chennai. This is the existing facility of NOR Infrastructure, which has been selected as the company’s partner for Distribution Logistics Facility at Ennore, Chennai. The first-of-its-kind facility will act as a fulfilment centre for the customers of different manufacturers and importers. CONCOR is a Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) under the Ministry of Indian Railways, which was incorporated in March 1988 under the Companies Act and commenced operation from November 1989, taking over the existing network of seven ICDs from the Indian Railways.

Recognising the export potential of Madhya Pradesh and its ability to attract export-centric FDI in pharma, auto components, machinery, textiles, processed agriculture products, etc., Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) has submitted to Kamal Nath, Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, its proposal to assist the government in working towards an increase in the state’s share in the country’s exports from the current 1.6 per cent to over three per cent in the next five years. Ganesh Kumar Gupta, President, FIEO, emphasised the need for identification of more products under GI, and marketing of such products through exclusive shops in the departure area of international airports, beginning with Mumbai and Delhi. FIEO has also requested for inland freight subsidy for all products, as the cost of carrying cargo from MP to JNPT, in many cases, works out to be more than overseas freight. In response, the minister assured that he will proactively look into the issue of freight subsidy and exclusive showrooms for GI products at India’s international airports.

New technologies such as Big Data, telematics systems, and alternate fuel technology can help drive efficiencies in the transportation sector by optimising routes for efficient delivery sequence, maximise asset utilisation, and improve fuel efficiency. According to Shamsher Dewan, Vice President & Sector Head – Corporate Ratings, ICRA, the profit margins of fleet operators are highly volatile as compared to agents and third-party logistics companies. “The profitability margins of fleet operators are especially sensitive to fluctuations in diesel prices and frequent increase in vehicle ownership cost, toll charges, and other overheads. The sharp increase in diesel prices in Q2 and Q3 FY2019 had a significant impact on profitability indicators of fleet operators as freight rates didn’t move in a similar fashion owing to overall surplus capacity in the trucking system. In such an environment, gradual adoption of new technologies can help fleet operators improve their cost structure and bring down some of the fixed costs.”

To provide contract and express logistics services, Future Supply Chain Solutions (FSC) has signed a multi-year agreement with Benetton India. As per the agreement, FSC will manage Benetton India’s supply chain requirements from a large built-to-suit, multi-customer distribution centre in North India. This will cater to its pan India requirements, including reverse logistics. This is in addition to the express logistics services that FSC has been offering to Benetton India for the past few years. Apart from Benetton India, the company has signed multiple new contracts, including those with Voltbek Home Appliances, Haldirams Products, and Crompton Greaves Consumer Electricals in the past one year.

Navayuga Container Terminal (NCT) reached an important milestone by handling 500,000 TEUs for the first time in 2018-19. The half-millionth TEU was handled on vessel MV SSL Kutch. NCT witnessed stellar volume growth of almost nine-fold increase in the five-year period starting from a modest 58,577 TEUs in FY 2013-14. Anil Yendluri, Director & CEO, Krishnapatnam Port, said, “NCT has taken giant strides in getting established as a transhipment hub on the East Coast of India and we are working towards making it the hub port in the Bay of Bengal.” Jithendra Nimmagadda, Chief Operating Officer, NCT, added, “We are further expanding our terminal capacity from 1.2 million TEUs to 2 million TEUs by the end of 2019 to be ahead of the demand.”

Adani Logistics has announced that it would acquire Innovative B2B Logistics Solutions from private equity firm True North for an enterprise value of ₹331 crore. The transaction will be an all-cash deal and is expected to be completed by Q1 FY19-20. Adani will acquire 97.03 per cent of shares from True North and its affiliates, and balance shares consisting of up to 2.97 per cent will be held by other shareholders. Innovative B2B Logistics Solutions provides integrated logistics services for domestic cargo movement and is considered to be a prominent operator with circuits connecting eastern and northern hinterland. The acquisition enables Adani to expand its total addressable market, enhance network coverage, and create a value chain to handle the dry cargo segment.

To process increasing consignment volumes faster and better serve customers, Spoton recently opened new service centres in Bangalore, Kolkata and Vijayawada. The Bangalore service centre, located at Soukis Road, is spread across a sprawling 17500 sq. feet. The Kolkata service centre, located in Narayanpur, covers an area of 12000 sq ft and the Vijayawada SC covers an area of 39500 sq ft. The company has enhanced their hub and service centre infrastructure by over 50 per cent in terms of size and geography.

Set up at the Indian plant of US-based Cargill at Kurkumbh near Pune, Maharashtra, the state-of-the-art and technologically advanced warehouse will operate on the automatic storage and retrieval system (ASRS) technology. Avvashya CCI (ACCI) has commenced operations at its first hi-tech food warehouse. “The successful setup of the warehouse reiterates our commitment to deliver bespoke warehousing solutions to our clients. It is also a perfect synergy of operational excellence and technical skills of the CL team and business leadership team of ACCI which oversaw the roll-out and implementation of the project,” stated V.Raju, VP-Chemical, Food & Pharma division, ACCI.

FM Logistic has announced its plans to invest US$150 million over five years, as part of its strategy to grow in India. Jean Christophe Machet, Global CEO, FM Logistic said, “India is one of the key strategic markets for FM Logistic. The company is planning to make strategic investments in India to support its long-term growth.” “The company plans to strengthen its position in India by delivering on its post GST strategy of focusing on developing multi-client facilities (MCF) in the most important Indian Economic Zones. The successful opening of company’s first MCF in Mumbai (with extension in progress) will be followed by another MCF in Delhi NCR (near Gurugram), which is expected to commence operations from April 2019,” he informs.