Maersk Line has added Pipavav as an additional port of call for its ME1 service. The ME1 will now have three gateway ports, Pipavav in addition to Nhava Sheva and Mundra. With the Maersk Group strategically placed at Pipavav, there would be no impact on the transit time. This will be beneficial for the customers in northern India as they will have more options to route their ICD cargo to and from North Europe, Mediterranean and West Africa. Franck Dedenis, Managing Director, Maersk Line (India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh) said, “We continue to work towards creating a more efficient business environment. This addition is a part of our continued efforts to provide enhanced global footprints for our customers. With no impact on the transit time, the customers can look forward to a refined supply chain”

Customs brokers and freight forwarders are gearing up to comply with the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, which is likely to be implemented from July 1, 2017. Accordingly, Noida Customs House Agents Association (NCHAA), one of the 28 members of the Federation of Freight Forwarders’ Associations in India (FFFAI), is planning to organise a seminars for its members and trade associates after the meeting of GST Council, scheduled for May 18-19 in Srinagar. “As far as preparedness is concerned, it is not only the logistic sector, I think each sector is prepared or getting prepared for implementation of GST. The logistics sector especially the international players in freight forwarding and custom brokers have challenges which would bother for some time. However, since we as an industry rejig ourselves in adapting the changes fastest ever, therefore our challenges would be very temporary,” said S Ramakrishna, President, NCHAA and Vice Chairman, FFFAI on the recent development on GST and preparedness of Freight Forwards & Customs Brokers. “Noida Association would also be taking similar efforts in organising such seminars locally as well. We are awaiting the Decision of the GST Council meeting scheduled for May 18-19 in Srinagar on the rate structure for both goods and services, which we will cover in our seminars and meetings conclusively in all spheres,” shared Ramakrishna.

APM Terminals Pipavav has reached a milestone of 100,000 automobiles handled at the port’s Roll On-Roll Off (Ro/Ro) facility, 20 months after commencing auto-loading and discharging operations. Ro/Ro services were introduced at the port in August 2015, after NYK Auto Logistics India (NALI) invested in a state-of-the art stock yard and pre-delivery inspection facility. With USD $3 billion investment expected by automobiles companies in Gujarat by 2020, more than two million passenger vehicles are projected to be produced in the region in the next five to six years. Most of the manufacturing in Gujarat is for the Indian export market. “With the Indian government’s “Make in India” initiative, we have seen a surge in automotive manufacturing investment in the Sanand, Hansalpur and Vithalapur belt in Gujarat, and our modern and efficient Ro/Ro facility can play a major role in India’s emergence as a major automotive exporter” said, Keld Pedersen, Managing Director, APM Terminals.

DB Schenker has announced the launch of its LANDbridge product in the Indian subcontinent. The international road service from the company’s road portfolio in Asia Pacific has grown with the recent Bangalore-Dhaka cross-border shipments piloted with Linde Gas India. This 2,000 km road routing involved passage through three different Indian states and clearance procedures at the Petrapole-Benapole border to enter the capital city of Dhaka. The coordination and establishment of the India-Bangladesh route opens the door to more possibilities in the region, enabling DB Schenker to cater to more industries and customers. Commenting on the development, Gregory Loh, Director, LANDbridge product, said, “The company’s focus on cross-border road solutions in Asia is not confined to Southeast Asia or China. DB Schenker is committed to push the envelope further afield and deliver solutions to more companies moving cargo within mainland Asia.”

In a bid to ensure the smooth implementation of GST, the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) constituted ‘GST Working Groups’ to interact with select industry sectors to address their concerns relating to GST implementation issues. J. M. Kennedy, ADG DGR, Working Group, Transport & Logistics-GST had an interactive meeting in Chennai with the logistics Industry leaders from Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations in India (FFFAI), Air Cargo Agents Association of India (ACAAI), Association of Multimodal Transport Operators of India (AMTOI) and Consolidators Association of India (CAI). The associations maintained that there are certain provisions in the proposed GST Law causing concerns for freight forwarding, customs broking, logistics services and manufacturing & exports industry in the country. The joint delegation emphasised on exemption from new tax burden to be levied by GST structure on the freight forwarding, customs broking and logistics industry as a whole, which hitherto have been exempted to make Indian manufacturing & export less expensive and competitive in the international market.

Agility has moved into a new larger office premises in Vadodara. The new office was inaugurated Detlev Janik, CEO, South Asia, Agility, in the presence of various existing customers, partners and senior management of Agility in India. The new office will allow Agility to cater to the ever-growing volumes & business opportunities in the Vadodara market. The facility will also enable the customers to access the various logistics services offered by the company in India. Janik, said, “Vadodara is a very important market for Agility in India. In the coming years, it is the tier 2 & tier 3 cities which will drive the next wave of growth in India. Hence tapping further business in these cities in India is also part of our growth strategy.”

Gateway Distriparks announced the fifth rail linked container terminal of its subsidiary, The company at Viramgam near Ahmedabad has been notified by Western Railway for handling container traffic. The terminal will be a double stack switching hub for the company on the North – West trade route. Gateway Rail has invested over Rs. 100 crores on infrastructure with an ICD facility at this terminal over 35 acres of land. The Inter Ministerial Committee (IMC) of Government of India has already cleared the Inland Container Depot at this terminal. Sachin Bhanushali, Director & CEO, Gateway Rail, said “This Terminal will cater to the needs of the Gujarat region, specifically addressing the EXIM business of Ahmedabad, Sanand, Mehsana and Behchraji industrial area offering multimodal logistics services such as rail transportation, first and last mile road transportation, warehousing and clearance of international containerised cargo.”

Maersk Line has announced key offerings for the NCR region that are aimed at enabling and facilitating trade. These offerings namely, introducing end-to-end carrier haulage for rice exports, bringing reefer imports to the northern hinterland, introducing import store door service are an industry first. Franck Dedenis, Managing Director, Maersk Line (India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh) said, “Our role is to simplify and enable trade through our increased service offerings and constant innovation to help our customers. This is in line with our belief of enabling the India growth story by providing customers with a reliable, cost-effective and viable logistical solution.”

Kale Logistics Solutions has announced a new version CANOPUS 2.0 – Customs Clearance Management (CCM) software incorporating several innovative features like business analytics, full feature mobile app and connectivity to multiple stakeholders and Kale’s community platforms. The role of Customs Brokers (CBs) has evolved in the past decade from customs document filing to connecting with multiple trade partners like airline, shipping line, airports, container depots, government authorities and transporters amongst others. The current technology available poses multiple challenges to the CBs like standalone applications, complex documentation, extensive manual intervention and changing compliances amongst others.

At the 11th World Cargo Symposium opened in Abu Dhabi, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) called on the air cargo industry to accelerate modernisation and focus on delivering high quality service. “Listening to the customer has never been more important. The positive forces currently supporting growth are good news. But our customers are telling us that they expect more. Complicated and convoluted paper-based processes that are basically unchanged from the 16th century is still being used in air cargo today. Our customers pay a premium to ship by air and they rightly expect modern processes and high quality services,” said Alexandre de Juniac, Director General and CEO, IATA.