MYCRANE, the world’s first digital platform for the search and selection of cranes – has announced the appointment of an exclusive pan-India franchisee. The free-to-use MYCRANE service will be operated in India by Mumbai-based Sahil Freight Express Pvt Ltd. Established in 1986, the company has extensive experience in the freight and logistics sector. As an exclusive distributor for Scheuerle in the past, Sahil was responsible for introducing the manufacturer’s globally-renowned SPMTs, modular platform trailers and semi-trailers to the Indian market. In addition, Sahil has handled a number of heavy lift projects, and was the pioneer in establishing the concept of NVOCC/ LCL (less-than-container-load) consolidation as a service provided by freight forwarders in India. The franchise partnership agreement was signed at Expo 2020 Dubai, currently taking place in the United Arab Emirates, by MYCRANE founder and director Andrei Geikalo and Suhail Shaikh, the chairman and managing director of Sahil Freight Express Pvt Ltd. Andrei Geikalo said: “India has one of the fastest digitising economies in the world, as well as a very positive outlook for the Indian cranes and construction sector, so we are delighted to be opening the MYCRANE service in the country. In Sahil Freight, we have the right partners who have a proven track record of introducing new products and services to the market. I have no doubt MYCRANE will be a big success in India.” The crane market in India is expected to grow strongly in the coming years. The ongoing expansion of roads and metro railways and the routine maintenance and upgrading of oil refineries, cement and power plants are all driving demand for cranes.

Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations in India (FFFAI) and its training arm Indian Institute of Freight Forwarders (IIFF) in association with Myanmar International Freight Forwarders’ Association (MIFFA) organised a webinar to explore trade opportunities between India and Myanmar in line with the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC). The webina, “Best Practice in Trade & Transport between India and Myanmar” focussed on multimodal connectivity and logistics challenges as well as facilities opening up between the two countries. It is pertinent to mention that BIMSTEC is an international organization of seven South Asian and Southeast Asian nations including Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. Shankar Shinde, Chairman, FFFAI and Dr. Aye Aye, Chairman of MIFFA delivered the inaugural speech highlighting growing importance of bilateral trade between India and Myanmar. They welcomed the trade and appealed to explore new business opportunities concerning logistics services. The panel speakers were Aung Khin Myint – Former Chairman, MIFFA; Kyaw Lwin Oo – Vice Chairman, MIFFA; S Ramakrishnan, Advisor, FFFAI and Sohel Kazani –Executive Committee Member, FFFAI.

The all-inclusive trans-Pacific container shipping rates to North America stayed afloat in the week to Dec. 17 by a renewed push to restock retail inventories in the period between the calendar year-end and Asia’s Lunar New Year celebrations beginning Feb. 1, which will curb factory and transport operations. August-September-peak season approach to the holiday shopping season saw more acceptance of premium service fees in addition to ocean freight rates by the shippers as compared in the week to Dec 17. Sources said that some shippers were shopping around the market for the best rates or deferring cargoes until after Lunar New Year, where possible. But demand has increased from a lull in October-November and Asian export hubs have come face to face with a growing shortage of empty equipment as the holiday import rush places more equipment out of position. As carriers impose General Rate Increases with expectations of higher demand, the premium rates for Southeast Asia-to-North America cargoes have seen a hike this week.

Qatar Airways and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced that Qatar Airways became the first carrier to make a transaction on the IATA Aviation Carbon Exchange (ACE) using IATA Clearing House (ICH). The IATA Aviation Carbon Exchange (ACE) is a centralised marketplace where airlines and other aviation stakeholders can trade CO2 emission reduction units for compliance or voluntary offsetting purposes. IATA and Qatar Airways reach another landmark milestone that encourages carbon markets to respond to the needs of the aviation sector. This initiative enables opportunities to simplify processes to ensure the successful implementation of Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) adopted by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), while also supporting the successful implementation of voluntary offsetting programmes. With Qatar Airways making the ACE transaction using IATA Clearing House (ICH), it benefits from the IATA Settlement Systems and Clearing House for seamless and risk-free settlement of funds.

Abu Dhabi received the first global shipment of AstraZeneca’s Evusheld, long-acting antibody medication, after gaining Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the UAE’s Ministry of Health and Prevention. The long-acting antibody medication is designed to prevent severe infection and death amongst immunocompromised patients. This medication will be in addition to the existing COVID19 medications that are already available within Abu Dhabi and the UAE to ensure the continuity of world-class care in the country. Under the leadership of the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi (DoH), the first doses of Evusheld have arrived in Abu Dhabi on December 20th following a collaboration of key partners including Rafed, the UAE’S Primary Group Purchasing Organization and the procurement arm of the UAE, along with Etihad Cargo, the national cargo carrier of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, in addition to AstraZeneca, the British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company, and Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC). The breakthrough medication will be stored at Rafed’s Distribution Centre, the region’s largest cold-chain storage facility, and then distributed from there to various destinations.

Atmos Systems, leading name enabling widespread warehouse automation, has introduced Atmos A42N – an autonomous case handling robotic (ACR) system that can significantly enhance both inbound and outbound efficiency of a warehouse. Following thorough research and development, the A42N robots comes with an increased load capacity of 150 kg and is engineered to support cases of various size and material. The system is loaded with easy to use features, thereby providing higher flexibility for warehouse location. Speaking about the innovative product, Atmos Systems co-founders Khursheed Alam and Faraz Alam said, “The idea behind the development of Atmos A42N is to boost the storage density of a warehouse by at least 80-130%. It connects with the warehouse’s business management systems, it supports both operations and analytics. Also, as it is based on reinforcement learning and deep learning, it ensures optimized scheduling of multiple robots along while ensuring real-time monitoring and pre-alert malfunction.”

Redefining logistics to explore new business opportunities, India Warehousing Show (IWS), concluded on a suuccessful note with an overwhelming response from the visitors from the industry. Happening after a forceful break of two years due to pandemic, it is more than India’s leading exhibition on logistics and supply chain. India Warehousing Show in this edition offered all its participants an enriching business platform with a wider networking opportunity. The show offered a unique platform to find insights, seek relevant information, explore advanced technologies, network and generate valuable contacts, all under one roof. The event showcased highlights of the business calendar for the entire Supply Chain industry in India in the Logistics & Transportation industry.

Union minister for road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari while addressing the National Conference on Investment Opportunities in Highways, Transport and Logistics invited investors and urged them to take advantage of the diverse opportunities spanning asset classes in the infrastructure sector, including highways, multimodal logistics parks, wayside amenities, ropeways, and warehousing zones. At the conference, Gadkari said, “The internal rate of return in the road sector is very high and, hence, there is no need to worry about economic viability.” He informed that the government has addressed the early delays due to land acquisition, and now, projects are not awarded before 90% of land acquisition is complete and environment clearances are obtained. Highlighting the benefits of projects under the Bharatmala program Gadkari said, “Travel time from Mumbai to Delhi, via road, will go down from 48 to 12 hours in one year; road and multimodal infrastructure projects will reduce logistics costs and boost manufacturing, increase exports and help the economy grow.”

Japan Airlines (JAL) and CHAMP Cargosystems have extended their partnership for next five years. By extending their partnership with CHAMP, Cargospot will remain the IT keystone of JAL’s cargo business, enabling the airline to take advantage of the solution as it continues to evolve for the benefit of CHAMP’s large and growing customer community. The carrier has been using CHAMP’s acclaimed Cargospot solution to manage its day-to-day cargo business processes since 2014. Since then, JAL has partnered with CHAMP in a series of ground-breaking digital transformational projects built around the Cargospot ecosystem, including the launch of a cargo business platform that enables a fully digitalized end-to-end process across the airline’s domestic operation and a unique API-based solution that allows the airline’s customers to compare and book against multiple air-to-air and ground transportation options.

In its latest joint report with Indospace titled ‘Electric Mobility in Full Gear’, Colliers estimates that the Electric Vehicles (EVs) segment in India is likely to witness investments of USD12.6 billion or INR94,000 crore across the automotive value chain, over the next five years. The investments are likely to benefit the Indian real estate sector in the form of setting up new or augmenting manufacturing units, industrial parks, and clusters with focus on last mile delivery by E-commerce firms and 3PL companies, government push for electrification of public transport, tax benefits and incentives for first time buyers amongst others. Tamil Nadu is the frontrunner accounting for about 34% share in total planned investments for EV, followed by Andhra Pradesh and Haryana with a share of 12% and 9% respectively. Currently, 15 Indian States have either approved or notified EV policies, with 6 more states in the draft stage. States like Delhi, Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Meghalaya are focusing on demand incentives, whereas southern states and Uttar Pradesh are focusing on manufacturer-based incentives. States like Maharashtra, Delhi and Gujarat having strong demand side incentives should have provisions to set up industrial parks/clusters for EV or manufacturing of ancillary components with plug-and-play.