Rizwan Soomar, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, DP World Subcontinent shares his expectations from the upcoming budget. He says, “The Budget for FY 2023-24 is expected to catalyse implementation of efficiency boosting projects under the umbrella of Gati Shakti and National Logistics Policy, that will bring India a step closer to its export vision of $2 trillion by 2030. Adequate budgetary allocation to capital expenditure projects, spread across roads, railways and ports, will be essential for encouraging logistic infrastructure development, creating resilient supply chains and spurring private investments. The Government continues to launch multiple initiatives to facilitate ease of doing business in the country and we are confident that the budget will also propose necessary regulatory improvements to infuse confidence in investors aligned with development of logistic infrastructure in the country.”

To offer enhanced supply chain solutions and to respond efficiently and flexibly to changing supply chains, Silk Way West Airlines has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Japan’s Nippon Express Holdings. The agreement will strengthen Silk Way West Airlines’ presence in the Japanese market, which is has been serving since 2018 with weekly flights between Baku and Kansai International airport. The carrier also started regular flights to Tokyo’s Narita gateway in 2021, and said the deal with Nippon would enable it to “play an increasingly important role in the region’s freight network, constantly improving the quality of air cargo transportation services for both Japanese and international partners”, said an official release. Meanwhile, the agreement will help Nippon Express to expand its business globally through access to cargo capacity on Silk Way West Airlines’ extensive network, which covers destinations across Europe, the CIS, the Middle East, Central and Eastern Asia, and the Americas. The Azeri carrier operates 12 Boeing 747-8 freighter aircraft and 747-400Fs, and also has five new 777Fs, two 777-8Fs and two Airbus A350 freighters on order, the release added.

Godrej & Boyce has announced that its Material Handling business, plans to significantly boost investment in IoT-based technology and data, to enhance customer experience, global footprint and increase market share. The overall intralogistics businesses of Godrej & Boyce include Material Handling solutions, Storage solutions, and intralogistics solutions through a joint venture with Koerber (Godrej Koerber). They have a total turnover of 1800cr, growing at a consistent 12% CAGR, said an official release. The Material Handling division has recently established strategic alliances with tech giants to launch disruptive solutions that are expected to increase customer efficiency. The pilot project has shown an increase of 12-15% in customer efficiency through better utilisation of their assets, monitoring the movement of the assets and monitoring of key performance parameters such as productivity, energy consumption, vehicle performance etc. the release added. Anil Lingayat, Business Head- Godrej Material Handling, Godrej & Boyce said, “The advancement of technology has become a necessity for the intralogistics sector to connect, automate, and analyze the success of operations. Material Handling business has been continuously focusing on digitization and connecting across the value chain. With new connected products, it is going to enhance the customer experience by leveraging the power of IoT, cloud, and analytics”.

T. A. Krishnan, CEO and Co-founder, Ecom Express Limited shared his expectations from the upcoming budget and said, “The logistics industry is one of the foundations of the Indian economy which has experienced immense growth over the past couple of years. With the improvement of logistics infrastructure and post GST regime, there is a significant growth potential in demand generation and job creation from the industry at a steady pace. The expectations from the budget for the financial year 2023-24 would be to create skilled workforce and related platforms for the logistics and transportation segments. We can expect Budget 2023-24 to be taxpayer payer friendly focusing on maximum disposable benefits. There is a dire need to enhance deduction limit to help lower income group salaried individuals such as gig workers to come out of tax net. The gig workers can also expect the announcement on implementation of social security cover, however, keeping this workforce away from taxation ambit will help build higher disposable income in the hands of a fairly large alternate employment pool in the country. Another much awaited ask from the government, given the global slowdown trends, is to consider Fuel and CNG subsidy or further tax reduction for 2023-24 to provide a trickle-down effect to the consumerism in the country.”

The construction of cargo infrastructure at Noida International Airport is likely to start later this year. NIA will cater to a differentiated catchment and several upcoming industrial clusters in Uttar Pradesh. A multi-modal cargo hub (MMCH) will contribute to the vibrancy of the overall ecosystem. . Christoph Schnellmann, Chief Executive Officer, Noida International Airport told exclusively to us, “We expect the cargo ecosystem at NIA to develop with a focus on e-commerce, electronics, textiles, agri-perishables, and pharmaceuticals. With rising e-commerce demands and the auto market gaining traction, we see volumes back in the bellies of aircraft. This is further affirmed by the increase in aircraft orders by Indian domestic carriers. In addition, domestic carriers like IndiGo have introduced freighters with orders of four A321 P2F aircraft. Blue Dart, a well-established freight carrier, is also adding two additional B737s to their existing fleet. DHL and UPS are poised to increase their capacity in India as well. NIA is developing a multi-modal cargo hub across 80 acres, which will become operational in 2024. This will pave the path for a future cargo hub in India. Employing more efficient infrastructure and technology in this greenfield project and digitalization of manual process and documentation will help to address existing pain points in the market. Predictability in operations will be a key differentiator for NIA.”

Logistics technology creator, Fleet Enable announced today it’s expanding into the air cargo market. The software innovator said its automation platform is being aimed at final-mile carriers delivering shipments imported by air. Fleet Enable said it would enter the market with its namesake software this spring. According to Fleet Enable, its technology would allow motor carriers to automate all aspects of air cargo delivery. Everything from order taking and route planning to invoicing and driver pay could be streamlined, the company said. Fleet Enable is already in use by final-mile carriers delivering ground shipments. “We have identified that there is a need in the air cargo market for a modern automated last-mile software solution, which is efficient and cost-effective.” said Fleet Enable CEO Krishna Vattipalli. “Over the last 12 months we have been developing features and functionality that are unique to the air cargo business.” Fleet Enable said its technology could solve the biggest problems afflicting final-mile carriers of air cargo. Those include cargo tracking and visibility, truck capacity planning and manual shipment routing. Automation would make each task more efficient and less costly, Fleet Enable said.

NASA has selected Boeing to lead the development and flight testing of a full-scale Transonic Truss-Braced Wing (TTBW) demonstrator airplane, said an official release. “The technologies demonstrated and tested as part of the sustainable flight demonstrator (SFD) programme will inform future designs and could lead to breakthrough aerodynamics and fuel efficiency gains,” the release added. “When combined with expected advancements in propulsion systems, materials and systems architecture, a single-aisle airplane with a TTBW configuration could reduce fuel consumption and emissions up to 30 percent relative to today’s most efficient single-aisle airplanes, depending on the mission. The SFD programme aims to advance the civil aviation industry’s commitment to reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050 as well as the goals set forth in the White House’s U.S. Aviation Climate Action Plan.”

Blue Dart Express Ltd has launched “Smart Box Lite”, a packaging solution designed to prevent electronics from getting damaged while shipping. This solution is a good match for all business and personal requirements and is intended to deliver laptops, tablets, and iPads, while providing a convenient, secure, and reliable service to customers. Due to its customer centric approach, the company identified the growing demand for electronic shipments across the country. With this product Blue Dart is providing a long-term solution for the problem faced by many. From choosing the right transportation mode to right-sizing the packaging, it is a stress-free solution for electronic shipments. The product is designed to seamlessly accommodate laptops, tablets, and iPads.

Adani Enterprises signed an agreement to launch a pilot project to develop a hydrogen fuel cell electric truck (FCET) for mining logistics and transportation with Ashok Leyland, India, and Ballard Power, Canada. “This collaboration marks Asia’s first planned hydrogen powered mining truck. The demonstration project will be led by AEL, a company focused on both mining operations and developing green hydrogen projects for sourcing, transporting, and building out hydrogen refueling infrastructure,” the company said in a statement. Ballard, an industry leading PEM fuel cell engine manufacturer, will supply the FCmoveTM fuel cell engine for the hydrogen truck and Ashok Leyland, one of the largest manufacturers of buses in the world, will provide the vehicle platform and technical support. The FCET is scheduled to be launched in India in 2023, said an official release.

FM Logistic, has been awarded an end-to-end National DC contract by global fashion brand, United Colors of Benetton to boost its growth in India, FM Logistic will carry out storage and handling operations spread across 1 Lakh sq. ft. at its owned FM Global certified and LEED Gold certified, Grade-A, Multi-Client Facility (MCF) in Farrukhnagar, Haryana. FM Logistic will not only cater to order preparation for UCB’s owned, franchised outlets and other partners, including E-com across India. FM will deploy plug-and-play comprehensive supply chain and IT solutions that will work seamlessly for B2B2C operations. Additionally, FM Logistic will provide value-added services like labelling, repackaging and manage returns & refurbishments. Considering the seasonal nature of the apparel business, FM Logistic is well-equipped to manage the seasonal peaks (which exist for a major part of the year) through a world-class warehouse management system. “We are committed to delivering to our customers the highest standards of safety, compliance, sustainability, conditions of work, quality and operational excellence at competitive costs, We are very thankful to United Colors of Benetton for their trust and long-term partnership. We are eager to support their rapid growth in the country by deploying our sectoral expertise, efficient solutions and technology along with the best warehousing standards in the country. Thus, enabling them to offer the best quality and a large range of products to their end consumers across various distribution channels from one integrated, state-of-the-art and sustainable order fulfilment setup. We are delighted to partner with United Colors of Benetton to manage their fulfilment operations pan India,” said Alexandre Amine Soufiani, MD – FM Logistic India.