Considering the pandemic situation getting worse in the country, Indian Railways has formulated a policy for the transportation of liquid medical oxygen in cryogenic tankers after a plea by the government of Maharashtra, one of the worst affected states by the coronavirus pandemic. The policy said the cryogenic tankers will be transported as a paid-for roll on-roll of (Ro-Ro) service to various destinations across states. The circular said Maharashtra’s health secretary had requested for the transport of medical oxygen in cryogenic containers. “The matter has been examined. Competent authority has approved the transport of liquid medical oxygen in cryogenic containers,” it said, detailing the charges to be levied for the service. The circular said the staff accompanying liquid oxygen trucks to be loaded on the Ro-Ro service will be charged second class ticket for the journey and only two persons will be allowed to accompany the truck. The empty flow direction of the containers will also be charged by the railways The circular said the staff accompanying liquid oxygen trucks to be loaded on the Ro-Ro service will be charged second class ticket for the journey and only two persons will be allowed to accompany the truck.

According to the data provider WorldACD, air cargo’s final March figures show a year-on-year (YoY) worldwide growth of 21 per cent. The YoY change in the period March 1-15, 2021, stood at -0.2%, but the YoY growth in the second half of the month was +44%, making March the most two-faced month in air cargo living memory. “A clear reminder that the first lockdown started to bite air cargo by mid-March 2020,” says the data provider. “We looked at volume developments for the 30 largest markets first. For six of them (the origins USA Atlantic South, USA Midwest, Taiwan, Thailand, Belgium and Kenya), March 2021 was simply the best month since January 2018. The same was true for the destination markets China-East, South Korea, Japan, Belgium, the Netherlands and USA-Midwest. Other top-origins, notably China North East and Central, France, UK, India, and Australia, have not yet recovered. Their month of March remained more than 20% below their best month over the past three years. This is also the case for the destinations Australia, Canada East, China Northeast, Spain, South Africa and USA Northeast. Worldwide, March 2021 was only marginally lower than the same month in 2018 and 2019. This is the more remarkable when taking into account the enormous reduction in cargo capacity. YoY load factor improvements in each of the three first months of 2021, range between 15 and 20 %-points: airlines are clearly able to use their cargo space much more efficiently than in the past,” says WorldACD.

To develop on product innovation and to meet customer demands, KLM Cargo has introduced the Cargo Seat Bag, The carrier has carried out the first operational flight using 172 Cargo Seat Bag, carrying 950 boxes of medical relief goods like Corona test equipment, from Shanghai to Amsterdam in the cabin of our Boeing 777 on April 13. The user-friendly, easy-to-install and remove Cargo Seat Bag (CSB) was designed in collaboration with product developer and supplier Trip & Co. These bags not only protect the interior, seats, and entertainment systems but also double loading capacity on the seats, decrease physical strain during handling and prevent plastic waste. With this ‘quick change solution´, the cabin is ready again to welcome passengers within one hour. It can be used in our Boeing 777-200/300, Boeing 787-10 and Airbus A330-200 aircraft. Since the aviation industry was heavily hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and freight capacity remained low, KLM has been operating over 150 Cargo in Cabin (CiC) flights, carrying over 130 million medical relief goods and PPE material on seats. The Cargo Seat Bag is another example of creating innovative solutions by joining forces in this difficult time.

International logistics service provider Dachser has received the Center of Excellence for Independent Validators in Pharmaceutical Logistics (CEIV Pharma) certification from IATA for its Shanghai organisation including its PVG airport branch in March 2021. This marks the finalisation of a project of extensive preparation, complex procedures and detailed auditing, despite additional challenges caused by the global pandemic. With this certification, Dachser Shanghai now joins the very close circle of few logistics companies in the region to be recognized by IATA for temperature-controlled and time-sensitive products transportation. CEIV Pharma Certificate ensures that infrastructure, equipment, operations, and personnel are complied with the standards and regulations expected by pharmaceutical manufacturers. “A resilient and reliable logistics network for Life Science and Healthcare (LSH) products has proven critical in light of current events,” said Yves Larquemin, Managing Director ASL Far East North. “The professionalism and hard work put in by our colleagues to achieve certification by IATA will allow Dachser to play our part in the LSH industry.” Responding to growing global demand, Dachser has been expanding its LSH capabilities in its logistics network for years. The logistics service provider received its first CEIV Pharma certification in 2018 for its Frankfurt branch in Germany and by 2019 was also certified for its Atlanta branch in the US and its two Indian branches in Mumbai and Hyderabad. The Shanghai certification marks the company’s commitment on LSH and its excellence in handling such commodities which are extremely sensitive to time and temperature. In addition, with the Chinese government’s “Health China 2030” directive to invest in the health and well-being of its people, Dachser Shanghai’s accreditation makes it well poised to fill the increased demand in transporting medical …

SkyCell has partnered with Virgin Atlantic to contribute to its safe, secure, and sustainable shipment of valuable vaccines and pharma products. Virgin Atlantic will use SkyCell containers covering the full range of biologics transit temperature requirements: -80°C, -25°C to -15°C, +2°C to +8°C, and up to +15°C to + 25°C. The partnership will give customers confidence that their pharmaceutical shipments will arrive at destination safely, as the innovative hybrid containers – which have an average runtime of 202 hours – have a failure rate of less than 0.1 per cent. This is compared to an industry standard failure rate of up to 12 per cent, which cost the pharma industry $34.1 billion in 2019 alone. SkyCell’s containers have a number of additional innovative features, including shock absorbent feet to reduce vibrations and double doors system to eliminate potential humidity damage to the cargo. These containers also save large amounts of CO2, thanks to their lightweight, environmentally friendly material, design and efficiency. This partnership will further enable Virgin Atlantic to deliver pharmaceuticals through its Pharma Secure service, which was introduced for all urgent, valuable, and vulnerable pharmaceutical and life sciences shipments last year. Meeting the rising needs for pharmaceutical and life science products, Virgin Atlantic together with SkyCell offers end-to-end compliance and assurance of vaccines and other vital medicines. Dominic Kennedy, Managing Director at Virgin Atlantic Cargo, comments, “Our partnership with SkyCell takes our already well-established pharmaceutical offering to the next level. We want to offer our customers peace of mind so they can book confidently with us, knowing their precious cargo will arrive safely, securely, and on time. It will allow our customers to lease self-charging, temperature-controlled containers to boost …

A global air services provider, dnata, has been awarded IATA’s Centre of Excellence for Perishable Logistics (‘CEIV Fresh’) certification at Singapore Changi Airport for achieving the highest quality and standards in the temperature-controlled handling of perishable products, including fresh fruits, meat, fish, dairy and flowers. The transport of perishable goods by air increases constantly with growing consumer demand for healthy products all year round. The most important aspects of air transportation of perishables are time and temperature management to prevent food loss. The CEIV Fresh program meets these exacting requirements primarily based on the IATA Perishable Cargo Regulations (PCR) which combines professional regulatory and operational input from industry and government experts. Sam Gould, Head of Cargo – Singapore, dnata said, “There is an increasing demand for safe air transportation of temperature-sensitive goods. We constantly invest in infrastructure, training and process improvement to ensure that these delicate products reach the end-customer in perfect condition. IATA’s CEIV Fresh certification demonstrates the quality and reliability of our services, and supports Changi Airport’s positioning as the preferred cargo hub for time-, and temperature-sensitive shipments.” In addition to the CEIV Fresh certification, dnata holds IATA’s Center of Excellence for Independent Validators in Pharmaceutical Logistics (‘CEIV Pharma’) accreditation which demonstrates its ability to move pharmaceutical products under the strictest standards across its operations.

B Medical Systems, the Luxembourg-based pharma cold chain solutions provider, has signed up an agreement with SpiceXpress to open pharma logistics centres of excellence at Indian airports to facilitate transportation of vaccines, pharma preparation and biological specimens. B Medical Systems manufactures medical-grade vaccine refrigerators, laboratory freezers, ultra-low freezers, and transport boxes that can store and transport any vaccine in the temperature range of -86 °C to 8 °C. B Medical Systems has been working closely with governments across the world to strengthen their national vaccine cold chain for the roll-out of the Covid-19 vaccine. Sanjiv Gupta, CEO, SpiceXpress, said, “For the first time that the cold chain industry can lease the boxes from the pharma logistics centre of excellence which will be operated by SpiceXpress. We have not only tied up with one of the world’s best companies to give the best packaging solution but also a very new concept to the Indian manufacturers to save money and time while using these packets.” B Medical Systems will provide medical-grade transport solutions to SpiceXpress for the transportation of the Covid-19 vaccine and various pharmaceutical preparations across the country. The collaboration also covers the opening of several pharma logistics centres of excellence across several airports in India. Jean Claude Kugener, the ambassador of Luxembourg to India, said “This new cooperation will strengthen our bilateral cooperation and contribute hugely to the strong partnership between both countries that the prime minister Narendra Modi and prime minister Xavier Bettel had highlighted during their bilateral virtual summit a few months ago.’’ Jesal Doshi, CEO of the B Medical Systems’ India operations, said, “We are excited that our transport boxes that are also manufactured in India will …

Okinawa Autotech has announced a strategic partnership with Welectric, a company engaged in the business of providing electric two wheelers on lease rental to various corporations and individuals. With this partnership, Okinawa and Welectric will collaborate to focus on working with companies involved in last mile delivery operations across India to help them switch their two wheeler delivery fleet to electric vehicles. Welectric already has a fleet of over 150 electric two-wheelers and plans to scale up its fleet to over 2,000 in the next 12 months. With this partnership, Welectric will procure electric scooters from Okinawa including the latest – Okinawa Dual – India’s first customisable B2B Electric two-wheeler – launched in January this year to propel ‘services on wheels’. This partnership will not only allow businesses to pledge for the environment and social responsibility by using electric vehicles instead of ICE ones but also result in reduced operating costs and improved employee riding convenience. Commenting on the partnership, Jeetender Sharma, MD & Founder, Okinawa Autotech, states “We are thrilled to partner with Welectric, a digital enabler in the sales, finance, maintenance, and aftermarket services for electric two-wheelers. With the rise of ecommerce and last-mile deliveries fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic, it has become imperative for businesses in the delivery segment to consistently innovate, reduce operational costs, and increase efficiency, especially amidst rising fuel prices. I believe that our electric two wheelers will be a superior solution and a good alternative to the people involved in the last mile delivery. This year, we are expecting a mass transition of two wheeler users to electric scooters and this partnership is one step ahead in this direction.” Vikas Jain, CEO & …

Etrio has joined hands with Zypp Electric to scale up the latter’s last-mile delivery with a 3-wheelers fleet. Under this association, 100 Etrio flagship brand Touro three-wheelers are going to be operational soon and this will scale up to 1000 three-wheelers in the next six to eight months. Zypp will deploy Etrio’s Touro Mini in Delhi NCR i.e Delhi, Noida, Gurugram, Ghaziabad & Faridabad. This will further be bolstered by presence across geographies in India. Etrio will provide end-to-end service support through its dealer network along with a dedicated relationship manager for maximum uptime. Commenting on the announcement, Deepak MV, Co-founder & CEO, Etrio said, “Since the launch of Touro early this year, we have seen a phenomenal response coming in from both institutional and retail customers. Touro Mini sets a new standard in the e-rickshaw/ e-loader category and the positive feedback on the product has bolstered our efforts to build best-in-class products for the last-mile delivery market. Our association with Zypp Electric is a major stride in our mission to electrifying intra-city logistics. We are delighted to partner with Zypp Electric with this product offering and are committed to providing the best of service to upscale their three-wheeler fleet and to our overarching goal to become an undisputed market leader in this category.” Akash Gupta, Co-founder & CEO, Zypp Electric said, “Zypp is a leading and largest two-wheeler logistic brand, boosting last-mile deliveries through its robust fleet and cutting edge technology via App and dashboards to all its partners. Having said that, Zypp wanted to go a step further and do an alliance with a strong OEM in the three-wheeler segment where partnering with Etrio has been a great …

Wan Hai Lines has launched a new weekly service between South China – Vietnam and West India (China West India no.8, CI8), further expanding on its already extensive intra-Asia and West India network by. The service will be operated by WHL independently and is composed of four container vessels with a capacity of 2,100 TEU. The maiden voyage is scheduled to arrive in Hong Kong on April 30, 2021. The CI8 is the sole service in the market offering direct link between Vietnam and West India and shall provide clients with faster transit time and more service options. It will also strengthen Wan Hai Lines’ current service deployments to better serve customers’ needs. Port rotation of the service is as following: HONG KONG – NANSHA – CAI MEP – PORT KLANG NORTH PORT – NHAVA SHEVA – COLOMBO – PORT KLANG NORTH PORT – DA NANG – HAIPHONG – HONG KONG