India’s leading integrated temperature-controlled logistics service provider, Snowman Logistics has entered into a strategic partnership with Hyderabad based Dr. Reddy’s, under which it will provide temperature-controlled end-to-end logistics solutions for the delivery of the two-dose Sputnik COVID-19 vaccine across India. The delivery of the vaccines will be managed by Snowman through its five high-capacity temperature-controlled warehouses in Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Kolkata, Chennai, and Bengaluru. Under the said partnership, the company will offer storage, order processing, shipper packing, and secondary transportation from these locations. The five location that will be leveraged by Snowman is strategically located, which will not only help the 3PL player to take care of the state distribution but the whole of the regional requirements as well.

project44, the leading supply chain visibility solutions provider, has closed a Series E investment of $202 million led by funds managed by Goldman Sachs Asset Management (Goldman Sachs) and Emergence Capital, valuing the company at $1.2 billion. To date, project44 has raised $442.5 million to improve supply chain trust and predictability. Goldman Sachs has a deep history of supporting the global expansion of growth-stage technology companies and guiding them through multiple stages of growth. This financing will accelerate the company’s expanded multimodal carrier network, make significant inroads into Asian markets, expand artificial intelligence (AI) and data science capabilities, accelerate new product innovation, and bolster sales and marketing reach globally. “We’re grateful for the confidence Goldman Sachs and our existing investors have placed in our team as we continue to solve some of the most critical supply chain execution challenges across the globe,” said Jett McCandless, CEO and founder of project44.

Lufthansa Cargo which is in the midst of fleet renewal has ordered another production Boeing 777F, a 103 tonne capacity freighter aircraft, to increase its capacity. The freighter will be delivered by the end of the year and when delivered will be the airline’s eleventh of the model, the airline informed. The aircraft announced by the airline in March is to be stationed at Frankfurt after its arrival in autumn 2021. While the airline is adding freighters and securing its cargo capacity, on the passenger front it has announced non-stop flights between Germany and India, making the travel more seamless. Adds Dorothea Von Boxberg, CEO, Lufthansa Cargo, “We are very pleased that we will be able to offer our customers additional freighter capacity in the future. Another brand-new Boeing 777F aircraft is being added to Lufthansa Cargo‘s highly efficient freighter fleet. Delivery of the aircraft is expected before the end of this year. A total of fifteen full-freighters will then be in service for Lufthansa Cargo’s customers. The Corona crisis has impressively underlined how important these aircraft are for global supply.”

Responding to the trade data for May, 2021, Sharad Kumar Saraf, President, FIEO said that the continuing impressive growth in exports reiterate our assessment that order booking position of our exporters is not only extremely good but also the gradual opening up of major global markets and improvement of situation in the country is expected to push exports growth further. President FIEO said that growing by about 8% even on the base of May 2019 reflects a positive trend for the sector. FIEO Chief added that such a growth during the month has been mainly on account of growth in Petroleum products, Engineering goods and Gems & Jewellery, the major contributors to the country’s export basket, which have shown impressive performance compared to May, 2020. He also said that 19 out of 30 major product groups of exports have either shown a very impressive high positive growth starting with 3-digit defying all the odds when there is still a bit of scepticism persisting in the global economy on the expectation of a third wave of Covid-19 pandemic.

Despite the Covid challenges, the Indian Railways has been outperforming itself and setting new record month after month. Proving itself yet again in May 2021, Railways set a new record of highest ever freight loading and continue to maintain the high momentum in terms of earnings. Freight loading for the Month touched 114.8 MT which is 9.7% more than May 2019 (104.6 MT) for the same period. This earned the Railways a hefty amount of Rs. 11604.94 crores. The Wagon turn around time also showcased exemplary improvement in May and was registered at 4.81days as compared to 6.46 in May 2019, an improvement of 26%. During the month of May, the important items transported by the Railways included 54.52 million tonnes of Coal, 15.12 million tonnes of Iron Ore, 5.61 million tonnes of Foodgrains, 3.68 million tonnes of Fertilizers, 3.18 million tonnes of Mineral Oil, 5.36 million tonnes of Cement (excluding clinker) and 4.2 million tonnes of Clinker. The improvement in Freight speed has saved cost for all stake holders. Freight speed has doubled over last 18 months.

VO Chidambaranar Port Trust (VOC Port Trust), Tuticorin, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with National Technology Centre for Ports Waterways & Coasts (NTCPWC), IIT Madras, for Operation, Manning and Maintenance of Vessel Traffic System & Development of Indigenous Vessel Traffic Software (VTS) at VOC Port Trust. The duration of the MoU for maintenance and updating of the entire system shall be for a period of five years, extendable by another five years, says a press release from VOC Port Trust. NTCPWC would maintain the existing Vessel Traffic Service, develop indigenous Vessel Traffic System software for VOC Port, that would facilitate identification, tracking, analysis of shipping traffic, real-time information for Pilots, monitoring of meteorological warnings, and integration of existing Automatic Identification System (AIS). In addition, NTCPWC will also carry out assessment of the existing VTS functionalities, hardware, software, identify suitable upgrade and provide technical proposal to VOC Port for the VTS system upgrade and maintenance.

Federal Bank launched an exclusive NR savings account scheme for Seafarer segment. This scheme is specially curated and crafted for the mariners and offers best in class services clubbed with state-of-the-art digital banking platforms that allows the mariners to execute banking transactions seamlessly, irrespective of the geo coordinates and time zone differences. The scheme is available in both NRE SB and NRO SB variants. The facilities offered in the scheme are preferential exchange rate for monthly inward remittances, premium debit card with domestic airport lounge access, linked zero balance NRO account and bespoke financial planning and customized wealth management products and services. Officially launching the account scheme, Shalini Warrier, Executive Director of the Bank remarked “Federal Bank has always been a pioneer in the Non Resident customer segment. With a market share of over 6.6% in this business, along with a market share in excess of 17% in personal inward remittances to India, the Bank lives by the mantra of “Digital at the fore, human at the core”.

DHL Global Forwarding is joining United Airlines sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) programme as it continues to ramp up its green strategy. The world’s largest airfreight forwarder said that as part of United’s Eco-Skies Alliance programme it will contribute towards the purchase of 3.4m gallons of SAF this year. The reductions in carbon footprint are then allocated by DHL to its customers. DHL Global Forwarding, Freight chief executive Tim Scharwath said: “Through this partnership we will be able to show how a market mechanism for SAF can help airlines, freight forwarders, and shippers work together to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon, ultimately zero carbon emissions transport sector.” The forwarder also plans to launch a ‘book and claim’ system to enable customers to ramp up their use of SAF and be allocated SAF certificates to validate the corresponding reduction in their carbon footprint. Christoph Wolff, head of shaping the future of mobility, World Economic Forum, said: “The ‘book and claim’ mechanism is an essential element of SAF certificates. We need frontrunners like Demand Signal group participants United Airlines and DHL Global Forwarding to put concepts into practice so that it can be validated and turned into a formal standard.”

Chennai Port crossed yet another milestone despite the ravaging pandemic, when the container vessel MV CMA CGM BERLIOZ berthed at Chennai International Terminal Pvt. Ltd (operated by PSA international) and handled 8,819 TEUs comprising 4,645 import TEUs and 4,174 export TEUs. This surpassed the previous record of 8,397 TEUs handled by MV APL ENGLAND on December 8, 2020. Port Chairman Sunil Paliwal and Deputy Chairman S. Balaji Arunkumar, lauded the workers and management of Chennai International Terminal as well as the officials and workforce of Chennai Port for the achievement and wished them more such landmarks in future, informed a port release.

Spicejet becomes first scheduled airline to promote cargo from smaller airports across India. In its pioneering initiative, Spicejet shipped 965 kgs of Litchis from Darbhanga to Mumbai as a part of regional connectivity scheme. Farmers can benefit greatly from this initiative and ship highly perishable Litchis to the major consumption centres in India with ease. Spicejet can also provide additional capacity by deploying its q-400 aircraft, if required. On the occasion, Hardeep Puri, Minister for Civil Aviation said, “As part of Krishi Udan Scheme, fresh Litchis were loaded on a flight to Mumbai from Darbhanga Airport in the Mithila region.” Spicejet has been actively involved in the transportation of goods since the pandemic. Commenting on the successful transportation, Usha Padee, Joint Secretary, Civil Aviation said, “Happy to see the expected outcomes. #UDAN has played a positive role in boosting the local economy. Darbanga is a successful example.”