Cathay Pacific has signed an agreement with Aemetis for the supply of 38 million US gallons of blended Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) to be delivered over seven years beginning in 2025 from San Francisco International Airport. “The SAF purchased can reduce more than 80,000 tonnes of lifecycle carbon emissions, equivalent to the amount of carbon sequestered by more than 1.3 million tree seedlings grown for 10 years. The agreement is also part of the joint procurement initiative for SAF by the oneworld alliance, of which Cathay Pacific is a founding member,” said an official release. Augustus Tang, Chief Executive Officer said, “Cathay Pacific continues to reaffirm its commitment to addressing climate change despite these challenging times. In the past few years, we have announced our carbon net-zero by 2050 target and our goal of achieving 10 percent use of SAF by 2030. In doing this, we have built a robust SAF procurement strategy to help meet our goals. We are pleased that this agreement with Aemetis will contribute to that effort, and we hope it will also send the right signal to the SAF industry to encourage the much-needed investment and scaling up of its supply chain.”

US based National Airlines announced the arrival of a fuel-efficient freighter to its fleet. Boeing 747-400 ERF is an extended range freighter. With registration N663CA (MSN 35237), it features a nose door and a large side door, the aircraft is a logical choice globally for sophisticated cargo movements across long distances, said release. “The induction is part of National Airlines’ current global fleet and network expansion approach to meet the massive demand to move huge shipments worldwide.” The release added, “The aircraft has a maximum gross payload of an incredible 128 metric tons (about 282,000 pounds). The nose door loading capability, a unique feature of this type of aircraft, gives National the capability to move customers’ shipments of any length, which is not possible with the B777 freighter. This aircraft is also particularly suitable for pharmaceuticals, seafood, perishables, and other cold chain shipments.” https://www.stattimes.com/aviation/b747-400erf-joins-national-airlines-fleet-1346507

Yashpal Sharma, President, Air Cargo Forun India shares key action plans and areas which will be covered under the National Logistics Policy. He said, “Integrated Digital Logistics Systems – a unified logistics interface to link multiple data sources and develop cross sectoral user cases for logistics stakeholders. Standardisation of physical assets and benchmarking service quality standards: Enhance interoperability, minimize handling risks, undertake process optimisation, and improve ease of doing business, through standardisation of physical assets and benchmarking of service quality standards in logistics. EXIM Logistics: Addressing infrastructure and procedural gaps in India’s EXIM connectivity and create efficient and reliable logistics network, with transparent and streamlined cross-border trade facilitation, for improved trade competitiveness and greater integration of India with regional and global value chains and facilitation of development of logistics parks” He added, “We at ACFI are very excited on the focus of the Government of India on Logistics over the last few years and these intitves like PM Gati Shakti and National Logistics Policy will surely convert this excitement into action road-map. We will work on key aspects related to Air cargo and collaborate with MOCA and other ministeries and regulatories to achieve the key targets of NLP and PM Gati Shakti.”

tate the seamless movement of airfreight in India, PM Narendra Modi launched the National Logistics Policy on September 17. Commenting on the same, Xerrxes Master, President, Association Of Multimodal Transport Operators of India (AMTOI) said, “The National Logistics Policy is a revolution in the logistics industry. It will ensure a substantial reduction of logistics costs in India and improve logistics performance index ranking among the top 25 countries by 2030. In addition, it creates an efficient logistics ecosystem to ensure a resilient supply chain. The policy will be implemented through a Comprehensive Logistics Action Plan (CLAP) via Integrated Digital Logistics Systems, Standardisation of Physical assets and benchmarking service quality standards, Logistics Human Resources Development and Capacity Building, State Engagement, EXIM (Export-Import) Logistics, Service Improvement Framework, Sectoral Plan for Efficient Logistics and Facilitation of Development of Logistics Parks. This well laid out strategy will ensure the desired results within the stipulated period.”

M Afzal Malbarwala, President, Air Cargo Agents Association of India shared his views on the recently launched National Logistics Policy and said it is a great gift to the logistics industry. “PM’s vision and his thoughts are very inspirational. He has given us the policy and now as a sector, we have to perform and show the progress and results. PM also praised the work done by the logistics industry during the pandemic which is a great booster. As mentione by the PM, logistics industry needs to perform at cheetah’s speed ensuring fast deliveries in the coming times and we have government’s support. It was an honour and inspiration to hear from such a great person. Today, with this policy, we are at par with any other country.”

Sanjiv Mehta, President, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) said, “NLP has the potential to significantly reduce costs and improve industry competitiveness in consonance with the Gati Shakti programme. The resultant unified policy environment would substantially strengthen the logistics sector through optimum inter-ministry coordination and deployment of resources. We believe that combining the strengths of different modes of transport, adopting technology, and digitisation will give a major fillip to the industry. The National Logistics Policy and the PM Gati Shakti would significantly help to reduce costs and augment competitiveness.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the much-awaited National Logistics Policy in the National Capital on Saturday. Commenting on the same, veteran freight forwarder, Cyrus Katgara, Partner, Jeena and Company said, “The National Logistics Policy will accelerate the growth of the sector in the coming years as it aims to promote seamless movements of goods across the country and addresses the infrastructure, procedural gaps in India’s EXIM connectivity by creating efficient, reliable and streamlined cross border trade facilitation. The sectoral plans for cost effective logistics aligned with Gati Shakti initiative is poised to be a game changer and we look forward to its unfolding in the near future.”

Air Canada has become the first airline to be re-certified by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) for the safe transport of live animals by Air Canada Cargo. The carrier has been honoured with the IATA’s Center of Excellence for Independent Validators for Live Animals Logistics (CEIV Live Animals) recertification following the successful completion of the verification process. Jason Berry, Vice President, Cargo at Air Canada said in an official release, “We are very proud to be recognized for our work in operating to the highest global standards for the worldwide transport of all live animals and being the first airline to be re-certificated continues to position Air Canada Cargo as an industry leader. Every year, we expertly and safely handle thousands of complex shipments, from rescued dogs to endangered animals transported in conservation efforts and family pets. Air Canada Cargo’s dedicated employees handling animals are specially trained, and I thank them for their diligence in treating all animals as precious cargo while in our care.”

To increase its revenue contribution to 20-25%, from single digits, in addition to synergising passenger routes with airlines in its group to improve efficiency as airfares rise, AirAsia X plans to ramp up its cargo service. Air Asia X is the long-haul affiliate of AirAsia and Unilode Aviation Solutions. Tony Fernandes, acting group chief executive of AirAsia X, said cargo services will make up a bigger proportion of total revenue over the next few years. In addition to its current wide-body Airbus A330 fleet, AirAsia X might also use the narrow-body Airbus A321 for cargo flights. The company is planning to add 362 A321 jets from the second quarter of next year until 2035, and the plane could be more efficient for shorter routes than the A330.

WIZ Tracks flagged off its fleet of trucks for temperature-controlled shipments at the recently concluded Cold Chain Unbroken 2022 event in Hyderabad. Guhan murty, Director, Land transportation Solution Wiz Truck said, “We operate a fleet of over 1600 trucks. We currently operate around 25 reefer trucks and we have plans to scale it up to 50 trucks by December. We see a lot of growth opportunities in this segment because it’s highly fragmented and there are very few big players who are supplying cold chain products pan-India. We have plans to cover all the pin coded in India.”