Spoton Logistics, India’s premier engineering and technology-driven logistics company, has announced customisable logistics solutions to cater to the niche requirements of SMEs and MSMEs which include the Retail traders in India. With an aim to support small businesses amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Spoton will provide best-in-class services backed by its widest express network covering 22,000+ pin codes and its technology-enabled processes to ensure timely movement of goods across the country.  Uday Sharma, COO, Spoton Logistics, stated, “With digitalization blurring geographical boundaries for businesses today, logistics challenges need to be resolved efficiently so as to sustain business growth. Especially in the case of essential goods, maintaining an optimum supply chain has become the need of the hour for MSMEs and SMEs  so as to be able to meet the rising consumer demand on time and also ensure their own survival. The logistics cost MSMEs and SMEs   has been historically the highest. Spoton is thus bringing these customisable solutions for moving goods across the country – quickly and economically.”

Cold-chain marketplace startup, Celcius, announced that they have received an undisclosed amount as seed funding in a round led by Mumbai based Eaglewings Ventures Alliance Network (EVAN), Venture Capital & Private Equity firms MaGEHold, Keiretsu Forum and other investors. The Celcius platform serves as a unique aggregator platform that offers solutions for both Reefer logistics and cold storage warehousing. With the business model validated, this round of seed funding will be utilized to further scale up the partner base, enhance the tech platform, and expand geographically. “We are ecstatic to announce our seed funding round and are thankful to all our investors. In a short span of six months, we have transported over 2800 tonnes of perishable cargo for sectors like Dairy, Pharma, Fruits, and Seafood across 85 cities in India and have also ventured outside the country. Our aim is to build a technology-driven solution to the problems of the conventional cold-chain network in India.”, said Swarup Bose, Founder and CEO, Celcius

Zipaworld the Logistics e-Mall of India has joined hands with ASYAD Group of Oman which is the centralised and integrated logistics service provider across Oman and GCC countries. The logistics start-up has taken a huge leap into the global arena by venturing into the Middle East and GCC market, as envisioned by Dr Ambrish Kumar, the founder of Zipaworld, during the last quarter of 2020. After the launch of their digital Ocean Freight Module and thereafter the strategic stake in pioneers of domestic logistics Radiant X-Ways Logistic Pvt Ltd., this move comes as a prospective way forward into the global logistics front. ASYAD is Oman’s new integrated logistics provider. It is the centrepiece of Oman’s ambition to reclaim the country’s 2,000-year-old regional trade leadership and establish it as one of the world’s top ten logistics hubs by 2040.

Fairfax Financial Holdings Group has provided the funding to set up COV-AID@BLR, a 150-bed, oxygenated COVID-19 treatment centre at BLR Airport. The facility would be operational on May 18, 2021. The Fairfax-led initiative, in partnership with GiveIndia, is part-funded by Kempegowda International Airport Foundation (KIAF) – the foundation of Bangalore International Airport Limited. The initiative will be managed by Fairfax Financial Holdings Group’s investee companies – KIAF and Quess Corp Limited. The Centre would be equipped with oxygen concentrators, medical equipment, pharmacy, pathology centre, nurses’ station and restrooms. It will be open to the public soon, and is equipped to treat patients with mild hypoxia

The Indian Railways said that the first ‘Oxygen Express’ to Karnataka is carrying six cryogenic containers–a total of 120 tonnes of life-saving gas. Another Oxygen Express carrying around 225 MT of oxygen from Gujarat’s Hapa offloaded in Delhi Cantt on Monday. Karnataka receives its first ‘Oxygen Express’ on Tuesday, May 11. The Oxygen Express has left from Jamshedpur on Monday and is expected to reach Inland Container Depot, Container Corporation of India, Whitefield on Tuesday. Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal also tweeted about this, “Railways fight against Covid-19 is in full swing, as #OxygenExpress with 11 tankers carrying life-saving oxygen via Green Corridor from Hapa, Gujarat, is offloaded in Delhi”. The Indian Railways has so far delivered nearly 4,200 metric tonnes (MT) of liquid medical oxygen in 268 tankers across the country. According to a statement issued by the Ministry of Railways, as many as 68 Oxygen Expresses have completed their journey so far. “Till now, 293 MT has been offloaded in Maharashtra, 1230 MT in Uttar Pradesh, 271 MT in Madhya Pradesh, 555 MT in Haryana, 123 MT in Telangana, 40 MT in Rajasthan, and 1,679 MT in Delhi,” the Ministry said. Yesterday, Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur received its first Oxygen Express, carrying 80 MT of life-saving gas.

IOC is converting 14 LNG tankers of 17 tonnes each into medical grade oxygen carriers to strengthen the medical oxygen logistics in the country. In a statement, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) said it had previously diverted high-purity oxygen used in its Mono Ethylene Glycol (MEG) unit to produce medical-grade liquid oxygen at its Panipat refinery and petrochemical complex. In the face of a massive surge in demand for medical oxygen, the ”throughput of the unit has also been scaled down to serve the more critical cause. Presently, it is supplying 270 tonnes of LMO per day to the hospitals in Delhi, Haryana and Punjab,” it said. “By mid-May, over 20 road tankers and 25 ISO containers of about 820 tonnes combined capacity will be pressed into action by IOC,” the statement said, adding the firm will be manufacturing ten cryogenic road tankers at its Cryogenic Plant at Nasik over the next six months.

India’s largest Container Port, Jawahrlal Nehru Port Trust handled four medical-grade oxygen filled cryogenic containers with total quantity of 80 MT. Each cryogenic container carried 20 MT of Liquid Medical grade Oxygen. These medical grade oxygen containers were loaded in Jebel Ali, United Arab Emirates and reached India. Indian Navy’s INS Kolkata reached New Mangalore Port today carrying 40 MT of oxygen from Kuwait. The cargo also comprised of 5 tons of oxygen cylinders and 4 high flow oxygen concentrators. It may be noted that Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways has directed all Major Ports of India, including the Kamarajar Port Limited, to waive-off all charges levied by Major Port Trusts (including vessel related charges, storage charges etc.) and accord highest priority in the berthing sequence to the vessels carrying oxygen related consignments.

The national cold chain sector is expected to grow at over 20% CAGR by 2025, according to JLL, due to its transformation from conventional cold storage to modern storage space. The estimates are based on the sector’s performance over the past few months, where despite the post-Covid economic impediments, the organised cold chain segment has seen significant growth in country-wide footprint. According to JLL, there is an opportunity for organised cold storage / palettized cold storage in Tier-I cities like Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Bangalore Chennai, Pune, Kolkata, Hyderabad as well as Tier-II cities like Lucknow, Kanpur, Ranchi. Patna, Bhubaneswar, Goa, Aurangabad, Ahmedabad, Kochi, and Coimbatore. An additional 1.5 lakh to 2 lakh pallet capacity (frozen and chilled) may be added as part of temperature-controlled storage space in the next two to three years. “Automation in the logistics sector will only become more pronounced in the coming years and we see innovation in the multimodal and cold supply chain as catalysts for new segments of demand. Both from the equity and lending community, the appetite for the yield in the industrial sector is likely to further drive the investor demand for cold chain facilities,” said Yogesh Shevade, Head – Industrial Services, JLL, India. “The rationale behind the expansion is primarily driven by capturing higher market share by organised cold chain operators, changing consumer behavior for quality products, and securing supply reliability in a pandemic like situation,” he added.

India has been battling a severe second wave of the covid pandemic and hospitals in several states are running short of health workers, vaccines, oxygen, drugs and beds. Emirates has set up a humanitarian airbridge between Dubai and India to transport urgent medical and relief items, to support India in its fight to control the serious COVID-19 situation in the country. The first shipment carrying over 12 tons of tents will head to Delhi on Thursday, 13 May. The first shipment sent as part of the Emirates India humanitarian airbridge is a consignment of over 12 tons of multi-purpose tents from the World Health Organization (WHO), destined for Delhi, and coordinated by the IHC in Dubai. The creation of the humanitarian airbridge between Dubai and India, facilitated by Emirates SkyCargo, Dubai’s International Humanitarian City and UN agencies, to transport urgent medical and relief items. HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Emirates’ Chairman and Chief Executive, said: “India and Emirates are deeply connected, since our first flights to India in 1985. We stand with the Indian people and will do all we can to help India get back on its feet. Emirates has a lot of experience in humanitarian relief efforts, and with 95 weekly flights to 9 destinations in India, we will be offering regular and reliable widebody capacity for relief materials.”

Exports affected as ‘thousands of damaged containers unusable’; gas key to welding process in repairs. The curbs placed on industrial use of oxygen by the Centre to augment availability of medical grade oxygen for hospitals to save lives of critically ill COVID-19 patients, is impacting exporters by exacerbating a shortage of containers. Thousands of damaged containers, which arrived with import consignments on shipping lines, have not been repaired due to lack of oxygen and are hence not available for exporters, said industry executives. “Since mid-January, the situation in container movement was easing, following government intervention. But the second wave of the pandemic and shortage of industrial oxygen supply has aggravated the issue of container shortage,” said Sanjay Bhatia, co-founder & CEO, Freightwalla, a digital freight-forwarding company. “Oxygen is essential for repairs and welding of damaged containers; due to the prohibition it cannot be availed of. It has now become a big issue. There are thousands of empty containers lying unrepaired. This has further added to the crisis for exporters,” he said, adding the problem started from the third week of April.