The Indian Institute of Freight Forwarders (IIFF), the training arm of the Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations of India (FFFAI) has announced a major initiative to help upskill the employees of its member companies across India, as well as to skill and onboard prospective employees for the industry. FFFAI has partnered with 21CC Education to develop and host e-learning modules that will explain the fundamentals of logistics and transportation, as well as the many tasks freight forwarders perform as the linchpins in the industry. 21CC Education is driven by the mission to make learning fast, fun, gamified, and to the point with “Learn anywhere, anytime” being their motto. The transportation and logistics industry in India has been witnessing constant growth at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 5% between 2019 to 2021. This growth is leading to a very strong demand for new employees to enter the industry. Additionally, factors like growing digitization, changing consumer preferences, and the expansion of e-commerce, as well as enabling government policies like the National Asset Monetization Pipeline and PM Gati Shakti Yojana are steering the transformation, modernization, and development of the logistics industry in India. As the guardian of the broader interests of the freight forwarding community in India, the FFFAI plays a critical role in ensuring the long-term health of the industry through a robust skilling and upskilling program. Mr Shankar Shinde, Chairman of FFFAI and Managing Director of Global Express Multilogistics Pvt. Ltd., said: “The transportation and logistics industry is a great industry in which to make a career. The diversity of work is only increasing year upon year, with ample opportunities in India and abroad. In order to make sure …

Air France KLM Martinair Cargo (AFKLMP) and CMA CGM Air Cargo have launched a capacity partnership announced last year. The tie-up, first announced in May 2022, will see the two carriers jointly operate the full-freighter aircraft capacity of their respective airlines, initially including CMA CGM’s six freighter aircraft and AFKLMP’s six freighters. The commercial partnership also covers Air France-KLM’s belly aircraft capacity, including more than 160 long-haul aircraft. The partnership has an initial duration of 10 years. The two partners said the combined offering will allow them to benefit from greater freighter and belly capacity, a more extensive network of destinations, a mix of scheduled and charter flights, and improved transit times and flexibility, as well as tailored connections. CMA CGM’s flights are available to be booked on AFKLMP’s myCargo platform and customers can book and combine flights operated by both carriers. Air France KLM Group executive vice president cargo and cooperation lead Adriaan Den Heijer said: “We are very pleased with the operational implementation of our strategic long-term air cargo partnership with CMA CGM Air Cargo. “It will accelerate the expansion of our cargo business, a strategic activity for the Air France-KLM Group, by opening up a wide range of new opportunities, in terms of offerings, destinations and solutions to our customers. “With our experienced and dedicated teams and a powerful distribution platform, we look forward to further transforming the future through this partnership.” Guillaume Lathelize, chief executive of CMA CGM Air Cargo, added: “Our commercial joint-venture with Air France KLM Martinair is now effective. CMA CGM Air Cargo is France’s leading full-freighter airline, and operates six aircraft. “The company has demonstrated its flexibility and agility with scheduled services …

Air cargo veteran Shankar Iyer has been appointed as Head of Sales and Handling in South Asia at Lufthansa Cargo. Shankar is a native Indian and started working at the Cargo Division for Swissair in Mumbai. Over the years, he has held various leadership positions and gained a vast portfolio of knowledge and expertise in the airfreight business. The regions he has been responsible for include India, Africa, the Middle East and also Israel.

In a bid to boost the growth of its cargo business and provide a more streamlined and efficient service to its customers, SpiceJet Ltd. has completed the hive off of its cargo and logistics division ‘SpiceXpress’ into a separate entity, SpiceXpress and Logistics Private Limited. The hive off is effective April 1, 2023 and paves the way for SpiceXpress to raise funds independently. The hive off would strengthen SpiceJet’s balance sheet, wipe out a substantial portion of the Company’s negative net worth and unlock significant value for the Company and its shareholders. The consideration for the slump sale shall be discharged by SpiceXpress by issuance of securities in the combination of equity shares and compulsorily convertible debentures to SpiceJet for an aggregate amount of Rs. 2,555.77 Crore which will also strengthen the balance sheet of SpiceJet. Ajay Singh, Chairman & Managing Director, SpiceJet, said, “The separation of our cargo and logistics arm is a stepping stone in our growth story which shall unfold in the times to come.” “SpiceXpress will provide greater and differentiated focus to cargo and logistics business and will allow the possibility of raising capital for the business to accelerate its growth. The decision to hive off SpiceXpress is in sync with our long term business plan and will unlock significant valuation of the logistic business. Both SpiceJet and SpiceXpress have great potential and will complement each other well.” “The hive off will not only enable SpiceXpress to raise cash independently, it will significantly reduce SpiceJet’s negative net worth. Having restructured over $100 million, outstanding dues to Carlyle Aviation Partner last month, the hive off will further strengthen and deleverage our balance sheet.” During the pandemic, SpiceXpress …

Vahak has announced a collaboration with SecureNow, a leading tech-enabled insurance platform for businesses, to offer cargo insurance to the Indian trucking community. Vahak, co-founded by IITians Karan Shaha and Vikas Chandrawat, is on a mission to digitise the Indian logistics sector, which contributes over 14% to India’s GDP. This logistics tech company is fostering India’s largest ecosystem of transport SMEs, shippers, and lorry/fleet owners on its website and app, amid the fast-growing $250 Billion logistics sector in the country. Karan Shaha, Co-Founder, and CEO at Vahak, said, “Our vision is to build a trusted transport community platform that addresses the needs of transporters, fleet owners, and truckers for growth. While the Indian trucking business remains fragmented and unorganised, and largely not covered under social security benefits, we want to bring peace of mind to the demand and supply sides, helping them mitigate the financial risks associated with transporting goods.” Discussing the need of the hour, Shaha elaborates, “India transports nearly 4.6 billion tonnes of freight annually, generating transport demand of 2.2 trillion tonne-km, as per NITI Ayog. As this demand grows, associated road freight movement is likely to increase to 9.6 trillion tonne-km by 2050. And as road freight travel grows, the number of trucks is likely to more than quadruple, to roughly 17 million trucks by 2050. And, so will the urgent need to safeguard the transported cargo.” Cargo insurance can protect trucking companies and shippers against losses due to theft, accidents, natural disasters, and other unexpected events that can cause damage or loss of cargo. This can help mitigate the financial impact of these losses and provide peace of mind to both parties. Many shippers and manufacturers …

CargoAi, airfreight’s fastest growing digital enabler, has launched a new feature to support its users with the paperless transition. Starting today, the 9000+ freight forwarders using CargoMART will be able to send FWB and FHL, once the booking is made, to 80+ airlines. While IATA announced the industry goal of achieving 100% eAWB by the end of 2022, this was not yet fully achieved. CargoAi aims to bridge the gap between paper and digital AWBs by facilitating the messaging for small and medium sized freight forwarders. David Rose, Chief Transformation Officer at IAG Cargo commented, “We fully support this move by CargoAi and hope to see wider customer adoption of eAWB – it is a vital step forward for the air cargo industry and offers a considerable advantage in driving operational efficiency and simplifying the process of document handling. “At IAG Cargo, we are committed to achieving 100% eAWB adoption by the end of 2023. The Air Waybill is a core part of the cargo journey, and we absolutely see digitising this element of the journey as one of the many stepping stones in our ‘Destination Digital’ strategy,” added Rose. The launch of the FWB/FHL feature also allows CargoMART users to send all information required for ISC2, to comply with the new European customs standards. The feature is available for all leading airlines available on CargoMART such as Qatar Airways Cargo, Lufthansa Cargo, Turkish Airways Cargo and 80+ other airlines that have been directly integrated. Reiterating the benefits of the eAWB for CargoMART users, Matt Petot, CEO of CargoAi says: “We are excited to launch this new feature to support our users, in addition to the many features already available …

The Federation of Freight Forwarders’ Associations in India (FFFAI) signed an MoU with Myanmar International Freight Forwarders Association (MIFFA) to facilitate the bilateral trade between India and Myanmar. As per the MoU both the associations will record and form the basis of understanding between the Parties to strengthen, promote and develop co-operation between the two associations to benefit Members and trade. The MoU was signed by the FFFAI Chairman Mr. Shankar Shinde and MIFFA Chairman Dr. Aye Aye in presence of other Office Bearers/Executive Committee Members of FFFAI and MIFFA. Major areas of the activities would include: Trade support /networking; technology exchange; women participation and empowerment; youth promotion; Members support; skill development/training; business opportunities and Infrastructure development towards better connectivity opportunities for Members any other areas of cooperation. “By signing this MoU we have agreed that both the associations will work together in the spirit of joint cooperation and will endeavour to assist each other in relation to matters contemplated under this MoU on best efforts basis for the mutual benefit. Thereby we will support the mission and goals of each of the associations to achieve the beneficial objectives agreed by us for our members,” informed Mr Shinde. MIFFA delegates who visited the FFFAI Office were Ms. Hla Hla Yee (Secretary General); Ms. Ohn Mar Maw (Joint Secretary); Mr. Pyei Phyo Aung (Auditor); Ms. Yin Yin Htay (Executive Committee Member); Ms. Moh Moh (Member); Mr.Tun Tun Linn (Member); Ms. Phyo Thanda (Member); Mr. Kyaw Thet Linn (Member) and Ms. Kyipyar Min Tun (Member). MIFFAI extended an invitation to FFFAI for a visit to Myanmar. The MIFFA delegates also had good interactions with the FFFAI Women’s Wing. Lead by Ms. Chaitaly …

Congratulating the Ministry of Commerce, Government of India for unveiling the ‘Foreign Trade Policy-2023 (FTP-2023)’ on March 31, 2023, Shankar Shinde, Chairman, Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations in India (FFFAI) said that it would build trade confidence and would be a way forward for moving India from developing to developed country. In his opinion, the FTP has been well articulated for EXIM trade on long term growth and is progressive in nature. “This will change the mindset of trade to professionalize their business and create strong business foundation through four pillars in terms of recovering in form of remission and not really depend on subsidies, progress with collaboration, cooperation and support ease of doing business It would further create new opportunities covering new untapped geographical areas to meet the exports target of 2 trillion dollars by 2030,” Mr. Shinde observed. He also praised that FTP 2023 introduced a digitalization platform to integrate with single window business platform which aims at process re-engineering and automation to facilitate ease of doing business with codified implementation mechanism in online environment to result in system based paperless, faceless, contactless with seamless processes for creating trust based environment. Moreover, FTP encourages recognition of new towns through “Towns of Export Excellence Scheme” and exporters through “Status Holder Scheme”. It aims at building partnerships with State governments and taking forward the Districts as Export Hubs (DEH) initiative to promote exports at the district level and accelerate the development of a grassroots trade ecosystem. “This will leverage exports through State infrastructure development, Capacity building with state collaboration,” the FFFAI Chairman said. Commending the Government’s initiatives on strengthening the exim trade ecosystem, Mr. Shinde pointed out that the FTP …

Continental Carriers is all set to launch India’s FIRST RA3 accredited Greenfield Air Freight Station, an off-airport common user facility offering services for processing and storage of export goods, among other things. Thanks to the cooperation and assistance of the authorities viz., MoCA, CBIC, BCAS, DIAL etc, the late Shri T.N Vohra’s vision became a reality.

Air Cargo veteran, Ashwin Bhat, who has been associated with Lufthansa Cargo since long, as the carrier’s CCO, has now taken over as the CEO of Lufthansa Cargo, effective from 15 April, following Dorothea von Boxberg’s departure for Brussels Airlines. Bhat has been steadily working his way through the Lufthansa Group’s cargo division, joining Swiss World Cargo under former boss Oliver Evans, before taking over in Zurich in 2015 and joining the executive board of Lufthansa Cargo as CCO in 2021.