Focusing on the need for the digital air freight corridors in India, C K Govil, Vice President ACAAI and CMD, Activair Airfreight says, “These digital pathways optimise the flow of large volumes of cargo data between two nations or air cargo authorities. This innovation can promote a real-time exchange of information on shipment visibility between two parties. A step was taken in this direction when Kale Logistics signed an MoU with Cargonaut in 2018 to facilitate a digital air corridor between Mumbai and Schiphol airports. The industry needs digital air freight corridors. While other challenges include, inadequate government support and infrastructure to handle transhipments and perishable goods. Imposition of GST on export freight is also detrimental to the growth of air cargo and impact the Indian air cargo industry’s momentum towards achieving 10 million tonnes by 2030. Even the frequent breakdown of ICEGATE results in goods not being cleared/missing deadlines/additional terminal charges and airfreight rates.”

Logistics unicorn Xpressbees has acquired the courier firm Trackon in an all-cash transaction to enter the SME courier space. The deal would leverage Xpressbees’ existing network to scale up Trackon nationwide, said reports. Trackon has primarily focused on the northern and western parts of the country, serving around 5,000 pin codes. Xpressbees is present across 15,000 pin codes. “We will expand Trackon using our network and also look at cross-selling our existing services through the franchise network of Trackon,” Amitava Saha, the CEO of Xpressbees, said in a statement. “I firmly believe it will empower our respective businesses, change consumer experience for the better, and enable us to build significant synergies across the two organisations,” added Saha. As part of the deal, Prabhat Kumar Anand, founder and CMD of Trackon, will continue to lead the business for at least the next two years. Cofounders Pramod Kumar Singh, Dinesh Rautela and Yoginder Kumar Dabas will move on as part of the acquisition. “Our partnership with Xpressbees enables us to scale up our business and reach quite significantly. By combining our experience with the capabilities of Xpressbees we will be able to expand our service lines to our existing clients while continuing to offer best-in-class services,” said Anand.

Block your dates for India’s highly anticipated and power-packed show on cold chain storage and transportation. Being organized by WIZ, Cold Chain Unbroken (CCUB) 2023 will be held on 14-15 September at Taj Bengaluru. The key points of discussion will include cold chain storage, handling and transportation, adequate infrastructure and skilled manpower for ground handling and transportation of products such as pharma and perishables, tech integration, government policies to facilitate EoDB and a lot more. Several industry stalwarts and stakeholders, including airports, airlines, freight forwarders, shipping lines, trucking companies, custodians are expected to take part in the show. The two-day event will provide a platform to meet and exchange ideas and collaborate.

Çelebi Delhi Cargo Terminal Management India was felicitated as ‘Best Air Cargo Terminal Operator’ award at the recently concluded India Cargo Awards 2023 in New Delhi. Piyush Srivastava, IES, Senior Economic Advisor graced the occasion as the Chief Guest. Known as the “Oscars of the Cargo Industry,” the India Cargo Awards 2023 hosted by Cargo Talk (DDP Group Publication) serves as an all-India platform created with a vision to recognise excellence in the Cargo-Freight-Logistics Industry across various domains, including Rail, Road, Air, Sea, Allied Services, Warehousing, Technology, 3rd Party Logistics, and more. Our world-class awards ceremonies are known for their formal Black-Tie affair, filled with glitz and glamour, attended by the most influential personalities in the Cargo Industry.

The Federation of Freight Forwarders’ Associations in India (FFFAI) organised a meeting to discuss on the role of Inland Waterways and Land Ports with an objective of promoting cross border trade by effective utilization of multimodal transport systems. The meet held on August 4, 2023, in Kolkata, was addressed by Shankar Shinde, Chairman, FFFAI; Aditya Mishra, IPS, Chairman, Land Port Authority of India; Arvind Kumar, Director, Inland Waterways Authority of India; Dushyant Mulani, Chairman Elect, FFFAI. Sudip Dey Vice Chariman FFFAI elaborated on the importance and recent developments on Inland Waterways and land ports in facilitating international trade, especially in the East/Northeast region of India. “The initiatives of the Government of India in promoting inland waterways and land ports to increase cross border trade are highly commendable. FFFAI is committed to support the Government’s initiatives in this regard for the larger interest of the EXIM trade,” said Shinde. He also pointed out the government’s initiatives on creating the infrastructure, connectivity, and bilateral talks to increase EXIM trade with the South Asia & ASEAN countries. And such initiatives are not only limited to expanding our Indian trade but also support the 3rd country transshipment cargo facilitation with land lock countries providing Indian Gateway ports,” he said.

C K Govil, Vice President, ACAAI shares that the world looks up to India for a constant supply of pharmaceuticals and several crucial consumables like rice. A focus on infrastructure and air cargo related policies can help make India a global air cargo hub. For instance, an Open Skies Policy, lower taxes on air exports, focus on reducing ATF prices to improve the air logistics costs, and pushing digitalisation and embracing artificial intelligence in processes are some steps that can work wonders for the Indian air cargo industry. Besides, the idea of digital air freight corridors has been floating in the global air cargo industry for a while now. These digital pathways optimise the flow of large volumes of cargo data between two nations or air cargo authorities. This idea can promote a real-time exchange of information on shipment visibility between two parties. A step was taken in this direction when Kale Logistics signed an MOU with Cargonaut in 2018 to facilitate a digital air corridor between Mumbai and Schiphol airports.

To cater to rising demand, led by improved connectivity and government’s supportive policies, IndoSpace is planning to deploy over $1 billion to acquire new warehousing and logistics assets across India over the next two-three years, said reports. The joint venture between Everstone, Singapore-headquartered logistics facilities provider GLP and industrial real estate firm Realterm, will also be developing additional 30 million sq ft warehousing properties in the country, the reports added. “With the improved connectivity and recent government initiatives, we believe that modern, large, best-in-class logistics and grade A industrial warehousing facilities will continue to be in demand. The booming e-commerce sector and evolving consumption patterns are driving demand for modern logistics and quality warehousing facilities,” Rajesh Jaggi, Vice Chairman-Real Estate, Everstone Group was quoted as saying in reports.

SriLankan Airlines Cargo was named as the Best International Cargo Airline at the recently concluded India Cargo Awards 2023, which has been dubbed the ‘Oscars of the Cargo Industry’ and determines winners via a transparent voting system. SriLankan Cargo offers direct air cargo services out of the nine Indian cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kochi, Trivandrum, Chennai, Trichy and Madurai, with connections to Colombo and beyond. With over 70 direct weekly flights from India, combined with worldwide logistics partner solutions, SriLankan Cargo offers easy connections for Indian shippers to a global network of cities, servicing popular trade routes between India and the Middle East and the Far East. During the past financial year alone, SriLankan Cargo transported nearly 10,000 metric tons worth of shipments from India. Chaminda Perera, General Manager – Cargo of SriLankan Airlines expressed his delight at the win stating, “As excited as I am about this incredible honour from the Indian cargo trade, it did not really come as a surprise as I know my team’s commitment and the effort that they put in to deliver on our promise of a reliable service to the Indian market. India is very important to us, and we will ensure to build on this momentum and keep raising the bar for our Indian customers.” SriLankan Cargo has been providing connectivity across Europe, the Middle East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, the Far East and Australia. Leveraging on road and partner networks, SriLankan Cargo is able to provide customers the flexibility to move cargo beyond the points which SriLankan Airlines directly serves. With superior storage facilities and cargo handling equipment to manage customers every requirement, SriLankan Cargo is a one-stop solution …

Sanjiv Edward, CEO, Cargo and Logistics at GMR Group highlights the need for prioritising air cargo in FTA Policy and building Special Economic Zones (SEZ) near the airport to facilitate ease of doing business. He also addressed the need to implement efficient freighter strategies to ease the process of freighter registration in India at PHDCCI National Logistics Summit in New Delhi on Friday. “We should have SEZs closer to the airports, it will reduce dwell time and cost and enhance trade. Countries like Hong Kong, Dubai and Singapore have it. We should also have Open Skies Policy for Air Cargo. Govt should prioritise air cargo in Foreign Trade Policy too. There’s also a need to promote air cargo as a product. There’s need for global branding and marketing of air cargo. I urge associations like ACFI to take this forward with the government.”

IT and Industries Minister K T Rama Rao inaugurates Telangana Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Cooling and Cold Chain to promote food and health security, empower farmers and boost exports near GMR Hyderabad Airport. The CoE is a joint initiative between the Government of Telangana (Telangana State Trade Promotion Corporation), Centre for Sustainable Cooling (CSC), University of Birmingham, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and the GMR Group. It is the outcome of an MoU singed between Government of Telangana and University of Birmingham in 2022. University of Birmingham will serve as the knowledge partners and will help develop the centre into a state-of-the-art research and innovation hub that will help deploy needs-driven and equitable system-level cooling and cold-chain solutions in Telangana and India. The centre was inaugurated in the presence of H.E. Gareth Owens, British Deputy High Commissioner in Hyderabad, Professor Toby Peters, Director, Centre of Sustainable Cooling, University of Birmingham, Sri M Bikshapathi, Chairman, TSTPC, Sri Jayesh Ranjan, IAS, Principle Secretary (IT and Industries), Dr. E. Vishnu Reddy, Special Secretary (Investment Promotion) and JDM, TSPTC, Sri SKG Kishore, Executive Director, GHIAL, Mr Jimmy Washington, Director Sustainability, Carrier Group and other senior officials and industry representatives.