An agreement has been signed by DSV and Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) for a long-term European Gateway cargo handling contract for Liege Airport in Belgium. This latest agreement adds to a growing partnership between WFS, which was acquired by the SATS Group in April this year, and DSV. WFS also provides air logistics services for DSV in Amsterdam and at Huntsville International Airport in Alabama in the US. “Further network collaboration is under review”, WFS opined positively. WFS is resourcing and operating DSV’s hub facility in Liege, providing warehouse handling of cargo carried onboard the all-cargo charters and commercial freighter services that are operated by various airline partners of DSV. The DSV Liege Gateway consolidates and deconsolidates cargo for all European DSV businesses moving cargo along the company’s most frequently used trade lanes, including to/from Hong Kong, Johannesburg, Dubai and New York JFK. WFS operates 25,000 sq m of warehouse space, split over two facilities, and handles approximately 200,000 tonnes of cargo a year at Liege. WFS has direct airside access and also operates ramp services at Liege. Further development As well as handling general cargo, the hub will be developed for special cargo types, including pharmaceuticals and perishables, which WFS is already equipped to support.

The Samakhiyali Tollway, an SPV and Wholly-owned subsidiary of IRB Infrastructure Developers Ltd. (IRB Infra) has executed the Concession Agreement with National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) for an upgradation of existing 4 lanes to 6 lanes of NH27 stretch of 90.90 Kms from Samakhiyali to Santalpur in the State of Gujarat on Build-Operate-Transfer (Toll) mode. Virendra D. Mhaiskar, Chairman & Managing Director said, “Executing the Concession Agreement is an important phase for any project that enables the developer to proceed to the next step, i.e., arranging finances for the project. We will excel ourselves to meet the expectations of our stakeholders on developing this project as one of the best world class quality and safety infrastructure with our rich in house domain expertise and experience in executing large projects” Key highlights of the Project are as Project length is 90.90 Km, Project Cost Total Project Cost – Rs. 2,132 Crores, Concession Period is 20 years from the Appointed Date including 2 years of construction period and the company endeavors to execute this Project through its Associate viz. IRB Infrastructure Trust.

EXZOD India will enter the Middle East and South East Asian markets as it expands into new geographies to cater to the ever-increasing market for pallets. At present, the company has four manufacturing units in Punjab, Maharashtra, Haryana and Telangana. The units are equipped with state-of-the-art automatic pallet manufacturing machines. According to Nitin Kalla, founder & MD, EXZOD India, “Increase in trade across industries has led to demand for pallets worldwide and we have established our presence in India with our four plants. As we foray into overseas markets, we have decided to set up our presence in the Middle East and South East Asia.” He further added, “Dubai, Indonesia, and Vietnam are key hubs for generating business in the respective regions, and establishing a state-of-the-art manufacturing unit in these key hubs will allow us to be in proximity to our clients in the region.’’ The company also plans to expand its Annual Maintenance Contract services for pallets in these regions as this will enable logistics companies and manufacturers to focus on their business. The company’s expertise in the supply chain space allows it to provide customized solutions as per requirement. The company provides technology-embedded AMC Services which is the only organized player present in the industry. Exzod has seen the demand for pallets growing exponentially.

FedEx Express India receives the Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) Program accreditation in categories including Logistic Service Provider, Courier, Custodian, and Customs Broker. “We are honored to be recognized by the Indian Customs in compliance with the World Customs Organization SAFE framework of standards. We remain committed to strive for excellence in delivering what’s next for better future trade,” said an official press release. In another development, FedEx Express (FedEx) has teamed up with Social Alpha, a multistage innovation curation and venture development platform for science and technology start-ups to launch the ‘FedEx and Social Alpha Accelerator for Sustainable Last-mile Logistics’ – a unique program thoughtfully curated to nurture and support innovative ventures that are working towards creating a vibrant mobility space to serve marginalised and underserved communities.

Hermes Logistics Technologies (HLT) and Awery Aviation Software have announced a partnership agreement and launched a new joint software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution for airlines. The new SaaS product is called h2A. Powered by Awery and Hermes, this cloud-based, end-to-end solution is designed to enable airlines to manage, monitor and automate all aviation business processes and cargo operations on an integrated IT platform. h2A is said by the partners to be “the only comprehensive platform to manage all processes across the entire lifecycle of [a] shipment, from warehousing to flight management and commercial activities, as well as all HR [human resources] and business processes behind the scenes”. It digitises key processes across flight scheduling, fleet management, track and trace, imports and exports, ULD control, and invoicing and accounts, whilst also offering flexibility to suit the specific needs of its users. “This partnership responds to an industry need to synchronise numerous, disparate workflow processes, something that can only be achieved through true integration and digitalisation,” said Vitaly Smilianets, Awery’s chief executive. “This will enable greater process control and simplify operations for airlines, who can find everything they need in one place.” By combining Awery’s knowledge of creating scalable aviation software platforms and HLT’s experience as a leading provider of cargo management systems, the pair have – they said – created a first-of-its-kind product that offers airlines twice the technical expertise in a single solution. “At HLT we believe that collaboration between tech partners offering best-of-breed solutions is key to truly optimising air cargo management, and our joint venture with Awery marks a significant step in our strategy to help digitalise the industry,” remarked Yuval Baruch, HLT’s chief executive. “h2A brings the best of …

Mahindra Logistics Ltd. (MLL) announced commencement of Cargo Charter operations in the Middle East, headquartered in Dubai. With this launch, the company will augment freight forwarding with cargo charter operations partnering with customers in Electronics, Consumer Durables, Pharma and Engineering. The choice of Dubai, UAE as the hub for its global charter operations bears strategic importance. Over the past few decades, UAE has emerged as India’s third largest trading partner in the year 2021-22. Dubai has also emerged as a global and regional trading hub. Mahindra Logistics will service the large Middle East region from its Dubai operations. As a neutral player entering the global air cargo charter business, the company will offer dedicated aircrafts, enhanced transit time, and the expertise in end market solution development, integration with other logistics services and a strong technology interface. Rampraveen Swaminathan, Managing Director & CEO, Mahindra Logistics, said, “In line with our vision of enhancing our services, we are pleased to launch our Cargo Charter operations, based in Dubai UAE. This also marks the first international foray for Mahindra Logistics. With increasing complexity in global supply chains, cross border supply chain services have become critical to supply chain resilience. The business expands our cross-border logistics business, in addition to our current freight forwarding business, providing our customers enhanced service options. The UAE, and Dubai, provide us a great launchpad to develop the business”. Saurav Chakraborty, Head – Global Cross Border Solutions at Mahindra Logistics Limited commented, “We have chosen Dubai as the location for our air charter brokering business due to the unparalleled access and connectivity it provides. The charter business will be an independent division serving customers and partners across multiple vertical …

Tushar Jani, Group Chairman, Cargo Service Center said, “I believe 70 – 75 percentage of generic drugs today are exported to the Europe and US from India. I think that’s very critical. Our pharma manufacturing industry has been doing a fantastic job and getting regular FDA approvals from the US Drug administrators, during inspection. Today you go to any pharmacy abroad you will find many Indian generic drugs. The important factor is if this development enables us to build cross border pharma e-commerce capabilities out of India. As a company, our vision now is to develop pharma e-commerce capabilities and increase our world share. Around 31 % of depression drug is in fact transported from India to US. If we develop the capability of giving pharma e-commerce services, the world would recognize us and that’s what’s needed. Domestic pharma industry would also benefit greatly from this vision. We have to develop our skills for product delivery to Europe and US in a most controlled manner. We need to immediately take action on temperature excursions at any point in supply chain and also need to have infrastructure controlled by us on the destination. In my company our workers are being trained about variety of drugs being loaded/ off loaded. We need to have a robust supply from starting point to the destination. That’s where investment is needed from the Indian service providers to give good reliable pharma to the world.”

The global air cargo market may have to ‘hang on until October’ for signs of recovery after a flood of summer bellyhold capacity on major lanes and a -4% drop in demand in April indicated a challenging 4-5 months ahead, according to new weekly analysis from CLIVE Data Services, part of Xeneta. Airfreight spots rates dropped -41% versus April 2022 as a 7% rise in cargo capacity resulted in lower load factors and a fourteenth consecutive month of falling volumes year-over-year. CLIVE’s ‘dynamic load factor, measuring global volume and weight perspectives of cargo flown and capacity available, dropped -5% pts versus 2022 to 57% in April, continuing a more than year-long decline. Summer capacity had its traditionally profound impact on the air cargo market from Europe to North America, with capacity up 26% in comparison to March 2023. Data showed a 10% pts decrease in load factor across the North Atlantic to 57% last month, compared to the 67% level recorded to major North American airports in March. This pushed the general airfreight spot rate on this westbound lane down to USD 2.29 for April. While air cargo market performance in April recorded a level of seasonality expected for the time of year, volumes were also impacted by the Easter, Eid, Pesach, and Ramadan public holidays all coming together so closely – but, this didn’t disguise the dwindling market conditions, says Niall van de Wouw, Chief Airfreight Officer at Xeneta. “This is a market that will test companies. If you look at Europe-North America, what other industries see supply increase from one month to the next by 26%, very much outside of their control. This is a tremendous jump in …

India Post signed an MoU with Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) and Tripta Technologies for operationalisation of a portal called ‘Bharat EMart’, which will provide the facility of pick-up of consignments from the premises of traders and will ensure delivery at the doorsteps of the consignees across the country, said reports. It will benefit eight crore traders associated with traders body CAIT, a release from Ministry of Communications stated. India Post in the recent past has entered into similar agreements with Government e-Marketplace (GeM), Regional Centers of Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India Limited (TRIFED), to provide pick-up and delivery of parcels at the doorsteps of the consignees. Shortly, India Post will onboard itself on the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) platform, being developed by Ministry of Commerce as a logistics service provider. Today, India Post provides banking, insurance, and the last mile delivery of benefits of several welfare schemes run by the Government to every village through its network of 1.59 lakh Post Offices. The Minister expressed hope that the MoU with CAIT and Bharat e-Mart would provide much needed logistics support to small traders in the country which would increase their businesses and also the opportunities for employment.

Kale Logistics Solutions in its latest study on airport sustainability titled Kale Shaping Sustainability at Airports stated that technology can save $9 billion for the industry with approximately 16,000 gallons of carbon emissions being cut per airport. Cargo Community platforms have the potential to save 2000-3000 gallons of fuel being saved with lower truck wait times annually at an airport and a hector of forest saved every year with paperless operations. The report was launched at the Air Cargo Europe (Transport Logistic) 2023 event in Munich, Germany. This is the first study by the organization which is committed to drive a sustainable future for the logistics industry. Kale conducted an industry-wide study to understand the impact of technology on airports and its allied community sustainability outcomes. The global study measured improvements at airport level on operational efficiency, visibility, truck congestion, carbon emissions and physical paper utility. Amar More, CEO and Co-Founder of Kale Logistics Solutions said, “Sustainability matters more than ever, our technology enabled strategy is helping power the logistics industry to march forward on the path of sustainability.” “The study’s promising outcome gives us hope that the industry is moving in the right direction. Some exciting facts mentioned in this report will surprise industry patrons and stakeholders.”