Yashpal Sharma, Managing Director, Skyways Group and President, Air Cargo Forum India (ACFI) says, “It is a pleasure for me to be a part of the TIACA event this year. The regional conference of TIACA is happening in India for the 1st time. Over the years TIACA has remained committed to ensuring the safety and security of air cargo while maintaining the viability of the air cargo supply chain. Coincidentally, its composition of members and industry focus areas are similar to that of ACFI, so the twining is more natural. ACFI is actively engaging with TIACA on this event and will have good representation from the Governing board and members. This year’s engagement will bring out more extensive deliberations in the domains of International custom procedures, Aviation Security challenges, E-Commerce, Environment concerns, Airfreight market penetration and growth. It will be a great opportunity for the entire Indian Air Cargo fraternity to participate at this event and voice out their thoughts that will be amplified across the globe to resonate and transform desired policy, process and related capacity issues.”

Continental Carriers Pvt Ltd announced the launch of India’s First RA3 accredited Greenfield Air Freight Station. Continental Carriers Pvt Ltd has been approved as RA-3 by European Council (EU) and UK. It is the first Air Freight Station (Off Airport Location) in India to be RA3 certified, duly qualified for transportation of air cargo into the European Union and UK directly from a Third Country Airport (India). The designation of ‘Continental Carriers Pvt Ltd’ as an RA-3 for EU is given on basis of the Danish National Civil Aviation Security Program (NASP) and the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/1998 of 5 November 2015 laying down detailed measures for the implementation of the common basic standards on aviation security & by Department of Transport, Great Minster House, London for UK. M/s Continental Carriers Pvt Ltd, in accordance with conditions laid down in ‘Handling of Cargo in Customs Area’ Regulations 2009, will commence its cargo handling operations shortly from 76-77, Kapashera, Bijwasan Road, New Delhi -110037.

Dushyant Narayandas Mulani, President, Brihanmumbai Custom Brokers Association (BCBA) says, India is aspiring to grow to a US$5 trillion economy; it will require a different mindset of growth, which will have to be instilled in the trade and the department. Achieving this will be dependent on the tenets of transparency and predictability. The TFA articles of which India is a signatory lays down the principles of transparency and predictability, and yes, the authorities are working on it. The National Logistic Policy shows the importance that our nation is addressing it. In the custom clearance scenario, we have urged CBIC to lay down time limits for custom clearance—12 hours for shipments coming by air and 24 hours by sea. The trade will have to follow it with timely submission of the Bill of Entries and Shipping bills with customs, timely custom duty payments and the like. This kind of benchmarking will surely help creating centralized feedback and escalation mechanisms with CBIC that will help the trade and industry to intensify any issues they are facing and right from the top, CBIC has given progressive feedback towards it, and I am sure, they will be implementing it soon. The logistics sector is currently facing a lot of issues with other stakeholders. They need to embrace this doctrine of transparency and predictability and digital working in total. Lot of these stakeholders such as custodians, the airlines, and the NVOCCs, shipping lines need to come onboard and ensure that performance benchmarks and digital working are embraced in totality. Lastly, the government agencies such as FSSAI, ADC, and animal quarantine, plant quarantine must also go digital. The parallel manual paperwork needs to be stopped immediately, …

India will spend a whopping 1.7 per cent of its GDP on transport infrastructure this year, around twice the level in America and most European countries, the logistics update that will set stage to achieve a USD 5 trillion economy, said reports. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has hiked capital outlay on infrastructure to USD 122 billion for the fiscal year starting April as it looks to provide a strong impetus to job creation and boost economic activity amid a global slowdown. According to official data, the Modi government has allocated Rs 2.4 lakh crore for railways capital expenditure, nine times higher than the amount in the financial year 2013-14. The funds will mostly be spent on building tracks, new coaches, electrification, and developing facilities at stations. Allocation for roads has jumped 36 per cent to Rs 2.7 lakh crore for 2023-24. There is also the focus on reviving 50 additional airports, heliports, water aerodromes and advance landing grounds for improving regional air connectivity, said reports. The government has identified 100 critical transport infrastructure projects for last and first-mile connectivity for the ports, coal, steel, fertiliser, and food grains sectors, where it intends to ramp up investments.

WestJet Cargo has recently announced that it has received Transport Canada’s approval and official certification of its four 737-800 Boeing Converted Freighters (BCF). Following the certification, WestJet Cargo and the GTA Group will expeditiously implement three freighters into service, as dedicated aircraft that will fulfill the large-scale needs of businesses, freight forwarders, shippers and individual customers across North America. The fourth of WestJet Cargo’s dedicated freighters is expected to join the accompanying fleet later this year, following the completion of its conversion. “Today is a long-awaited milestone for WestJet Cargo and the GTA Group, that will now enable us to disrupt the air cargo industry in Canada by providing our customers with more choice, competitive prices and the exemplary customer service synonymous with the WestJet brand, but unique to the air cargo industry,” said Kirsten de Bruijn, WestJet Executive Vice-President, Cargo. “We thank Transport Canada for its dedication to certifying these aircraft, which will serve to better support Canada’s national transportation supply chain through increased competition and capacity within Canada’s air cargo market.”

Freighter operator Aeronaves TSM has ordered an additional B737 conversion from Aeronautical Engineers, Inc as it continues to expand its cargo fleet. The additional B737-400SF freighter conversion (MSN 26308) will commence modification in May with work carried out by authorised AEI Conversion Center, Commercial Jet, Alabama. The additional conversion bring the total number of AEI B737-400Fs ordered by Aeronaves to eight. The carrier has plans to operate 20 of the type and is currently in the process of purchasing more freighters to reach its expansion target. AEI said that since its B737-400 conversion programme had been launched, it has re-delivered more than 132 freighter conversions. AEI’s 11 pallet position B737-400SF provides up 21 tonnes of payload and an Ancra cargo loading system capable of carrying multiple ULDs.

The International Air Cargo Association (TIACA) is all set to organise its regional symposium in New Delhi at ITC Maurya from March 27-29. The Regional Events aim to bring together local members and the air cargo community to identify and discuss specific issues that affect the industry at the regional level. The event will focus on key important topics like increasing freighter capacity, drones, pharma, digital innovation, perishable growth, sustainability, ground handling, GSAs and e-commerce. Many important people from the global air cargo fraternity will be participating in the event.

Kuehne+Nagel has opened its third Transport Operation Centre (TOC) for Asia Pacific in India. The centre is located at the National Office in Gurugram and has been established to provide a centralised approach for pan-India distribution management. The TOC facilitates a comprehensive view of the supply chain network in order to streamline operations, increase efficiency and ultimately reduce costs through a tactical planning process. Our transport operations centre currently offers customer support for more than 30 sites with optimised route and network planning which will also help to reduce the CO2 footprint within the customers’ supply chains. Our team of experts will support our customers with a range of transport services available 7 days per week along with ancillary functions including live information updates while simaltaneously monitoring our entire supply chain network. Coen van der Maarel, Managing Director, Kuehne+Nagel India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives said, “We are pleased to announce the opening of our third Transport Operations Center in Asia Pacific as part of Kuehne+Nagel’s contract logistics service. Our ambition for Kuehne+Nagel is to continue our investments in India that will allow us to support all our customers, regardless of industry, in the overhaul of their supply chain. The Transport Operation Centre, supported by Kuehne Nagel Contract Logistics team, places Kuehne+Nagel more than ever at the heart of the country’s economic development.” “It is our intention to bring all existing customers on-board while also offering this service to new customers. Our transport operation centre will not only optimise transport but also focus on enhacing safety and compliance”, said Pankaj Dubey, Country Head Contract Logistics India.

IATA’s latest figures for Jan-2023, point out a continuing soft underbelly in the cargo business, with demand continuing to fall in most regions and capacity also falling in half of them. No region has anything to shout about, except perhaps Latin America, where both demand and supply have increased – but that amounts to little in the overall scheme of things. The underlying issue globally is the uncertainty brought about by an amalgam of negative factors that rarely occur at the same time, like a flock of black swans landing on the global runway and refusing to move. Accordingly, we have entered an era where forecasting the future is subject to so many variables that guesswork carries the same degree of credibility, said CAPA.

Locus announced the launch of ShipFlex, a third-party delivery platform that provides businesses with the flexibility to fully outsource their deliveries to a wide range of delivery carriers. “ShipFlex helps businesses expand their reach and achieve break-neck delivery speeds, enabling them to offer same-day and next-day delivery capabilities in new geographies,” says an official release. ShipFlex addresses complexities by automating entire carrier workflows for the optimal price and delivering end-to-end visibility of order-to-doorstep deliveries across in-house, contracted, and outsourced fleets on a single dashboard. The platform also gives businesses access to Locus’ global carrier partners such as FedEx, RPX Logistics, Loomis Express, Shadowfax and SPL, helping them with their delivery orchestration in a much more efficient and cost-effective manner, the release adds. “Predictability and transparency are the two pillars of modern-day logistics operations,” says Nishith Rastogi, Founder and CEO, Locus. “To efficiently manage the colossal order volumes, achieve lightning-fast deliveries, and consistently deliver an exceptional customer experience, businesses need to have full control of their last-mile operations. ShipFlex is a result of our years of logistics industry experience and customer feedback. Through the integration with our dispatch management platform, ShipFlex will solve industry pain points by streamlining the entire last-mile fulfilment cycle, reducing costs, and improving the customer experience. ShipFlex is a game-changer for businesses that need fast, predictable deliveries to stay competitive.”