Amazon has set up a dedicated freighter service arrangement with Bangalore-based all-cargo airline Quikjet to scale-up its network reach and delivery speed in India. Quikjet secured its air operator certificate (AOC) a few months ago and has a fleet of two converted 737-800Fs, according to reports. The cargo airline will provide a dedicated 737 freighter, with a payload of 23 tons, for Amazon’s India deliveries, and industry sources said it would fly under Amazon’s Prime Air brand. Quikjet, founded in 2007 as a neutral cargo airline, is part of Irish airline and leasing group ASL Aviation and is also backed by a few strategic Indian investors, including Tata Capital.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd will invest more than $1 billion in Turkey for a logistics hub at Istanbul’s airport and a data center near the Turkish capital, said president Michael Evans in a statement. “We have a serious investment plan at Istanbul Airport. From here, we can evaluate e-export plans to Europe, the Middle East and the Far East,” Evans added. Alibaba is targeting Turkey for expansion because of its strong production capacity that could back e-commerce and become part of the company’s supply chain in Europe and the Middle East, Evans said. Expanding commerce and cloud—based units are expected to lift the company’s revenue. Evans, a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. executive, urged Turkey to improve its e-commerce regulations to address “certain shortcomings to have fair competition.” Along with a logistics hub at Istanbul’s airport, the biggest in the country, the Chinese e-commerce giant plans to build Turkey’s biggest data center in Temelli, near the capital of Ankara. The Alibaba-backed e-commerce platform Trendyol has become Turkey’s largest startup.

The Good Glamm Group has further extended its partnership with Delhivery to implement end-to-end supply chain solutions and increase its customer satisfaction. As their long-standing supply chain partner, Delhivery has customized its services to complement the brand’s rapid growth and evolving logistics requirements. Starting from express parcel services, the Good Glamm Group now leverages the full suite of supply chain solutions, including warehousing and transportation across part-truckload freight, full-truckload freight, and last-mile customer deliveries. For example, Delhivery and the Good Glamm Group collaboratively identified improvement areas in both networks to implement tailored supply chain solutions, which improved the order-to-delivery time by 24 hours across 500+ cities in India. As the D2C brand looked to accelerate sales from Tier 1 and 2 cities, it leveraged Delhivery’s pan-India network to reach Tier 3 and 4 markets, where Delhivery has a strong presence. The two companies have accelerated their partnership on technology as well. Recently, Delhivery launched a consumer communication application, which enables the Good Glamm Group customers to engage in real-time with the brand and Delhivery’s on-ground operations teams to improve delivery success.

Activair Airfreight India has proudly handled the shipment of much awaited international title – Prince Harry – the memoir of British Royal Monarch from the time it was delivered in the UK to be delivered to the customer in India. Abhiyank Govil, Business Development – Director at Activair Airfreight India said, “The international release of the same was 10th January and it had to be dispatched to every nook and corner in India for retail sale from 10th January onwards for which coordination and communication was key. Activair Airfreight India feels privileged to have been given this opportunity of being part of this international release by the customer – Penguin Random House India. The entire handling of this movement was done under top secrecy to prevent leaks. There is huge potential in the country to grow from where it stands especially due to the slowdown in China. Technology and reduction of human intervention will play an essential part in the development of Air Cargo in India along with new aircraft deliveries to airlines will help ease traffic on busy routes due to the growth in domestic sector owing to Atma Nirbhar Bharat . Freight forwarders must constantly equip themselves to meet the ever growing demand of customers and help further scale up the economy as a whole.”

Vietnamese airline Bamboo Airways has launched cargo carrier Bamboo Airways Cargo JSC (BAC). The company said in a press release, “This is the airline’s latest movement in the overall strategy to build an aviation ecosystem, develop Bamboo Airways’ member companies, and create more favorable conditions for the airline to thrive in the coming time.” However, the launch comes at a difficult time for the air cargo market, which faces reduced demand for the first time since the pandemic started, against increased capacity. The change in market conditions led Vietnam’s IPP Air Cargo to abandon its launch plans, apparently due to concerns about weakening demand for air cargo and an uncertain economic outlook. AIA Cargo is the cargo GSSA for Bamboo in the UK and Germany and plays a major role in filling its Europe-Vietnam B787 capacities. In June last year, Bamboo Airways selected GSSA ECS Group’s Globe Air Cargo to develop its air cargo operations in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines. Bamboo said it currently operates a domestic network to 21 out of 22 airports in Vietnam while it expands its international presence to continental gateways in regions including Asia, Australia and Europe. The airline said it has been focusing on growing its inter-regional and inter-continental routes network. Bamboo has appointed Doan Huu Doan, executive vice chairman and executive deputy general director of Bamboo Airways, as chairman of BAC; Nguyen Khac Hai, deputy general director of Bamboo Airways, as chief executive of BAC; and Dang Van Vien as managing director of BAC. Pham Dang Thanh has also been elected to deputy general director of Bamboo Airways.

Kuehne + Nagel (K+N) has completed its first engine shipment using its Boeing 747-8F aircraft. The team in Chicago transported a nine-tonne Rolls Royce aircraft engine onto its B747-8F aircraft – named Inspire – from Chicago to Hong Kong. According to K+N, it took four people, three pieces of machinery and one hour to load the engine into its aircraft. The aircraft has been put into operation as part of the long-term charter agreement with Atlas Air, which sees K+N chartering the entire capacity of two B747-8Fs. The two B747s are the last of the famous jumbo jets that will be built by Boeing. K+N said the aircraft would be utilised on transpacific services and also linked to its intra-Asia network to provide better connectivity in the growing Asia Pacific region. In addition to expanding its airfreight offering, 2022 was a busy year for the forwarder’s project logistics team, which was involved in delivering wind turbine components for the pilot phase of Chile’s Haru Oni project – an integrated hydrogen plant producing synthetic fuel from wind and water.

DHL Global Forwarding’s December 2022 ‘Airfreight State of the Industry’ report indicated a fraught operating landscape but the outlook isn’t entirely gloomy. Following November’s low volumes, demand continued to remain reduced on most trade lanes and is likely to continue into 2023, said the report. DHL said that e-commerce shipments only added “negligible growth” to global volumes at the end of the year. The company stated that “any expected volume increase is likely to occur ex-Asia Pacific prior to Lunar New Year”. Reduced ocean freight rates are seeing shippers turn from air to sea shipments, it added. Additionally, rates worldwide are below their level against last year despite the effects of higher fuel prices. Although, recent analysis released by CLIVE Data Services indicates that while the spot rate dropped, average rates for December remained 75% above the pre-Covid level. The report did note that while inflation will continue into 2023 it is likely to decrease. Global inflation began climbing as economic pressures started to bite last year, but the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said the inflation rate is set to drop. “Global inflation is forecasted by IMF to decline to 6.5% in 2023 and to 4% by 2024,” said DHL. In the first quarter of 2023, DHL expects to see low but stable demand, with high inventories and low sales. “Demand [is likely] to increase only as countries start recovering from high inflation,” said the report. Increased belly and freighter capacity does mean that overall, capacity is sufficient to support current demand levels.

National Air Cargo is opening business avenues for oversize cargo with the addition of its first freighter and is in discussions with Airbus about renting the ultra large Beluga transporter that can carry tanks, yachts, satellites and electric transformers. Orlando, Florida-based subsidiary National Airlines next month will began utilizing two factory-built Boeing 747-400 cargo jets, increasing the carrier’s fleet to 10 aircraft – including two for passenger charter. The newly purchased assets have a nose cone that flips open for ramp-loading of long, bulky items such as helicopters and trucks that can’t fit through a traditional side cargo door. The six other 747-400s in National’s fleet do not have nose-loading capability, said reports. Meanwhile, the logistics side of the company is exploring options for chartering the Beluga mega-freighter that Airbus recently made available to companies with special shipping requirements, said an official in the reports.

Mirae Asset Credit Opportunities Fund has announced acquisition of a Mumbai-based industrial logistics and warehousing asset for Rs 130 crore, marking first such deal under its India-focused foreign institutional funds allocated for high-grade Indian real estate opportunities. Mirae Asset Credit Opportunities Fund, a category II AIF has made its maiden acquisition of a logistics facility, a pre-leased Grade A industrial asset at Bhiwandi, MMR, spread over a 10-acre land in Bhiwandi near Mumbai, the company said in a statement. The industrial property, housed in the 160-acre K-Square Integrated Industrial Park, has been acquired from Prakhhyat Group, it added. “We are also exploring opportunities at office acquisition deals including IT parks, corporate offices besides logistics & industrial space. We continue to be bullish on Indian economy and the real estate sector in India,” said Jun Young Hong, director, Mirae Asset Investment Managers (India) Pvt. Ltd. Mirae Asset Management also operates lending and mutual fund businesses. With a total leasable area of over 3 lakh sq ft, the acquired asset has been rented out to Rhenus Logistics, a global logistics services provider headquartered in Germany with operations across Europe, Asia, and South America.

“The sudden closure of International Air Cargo Terminals as well as Common User Domestic Cargo Terminals by the order of BCAS on Dec 30th 2022 came as a big surprise to the Shippers/Consignees/Agents who suffered huge avoidable losses. No time or advance notice was given to them to look for the alternative, neither by the Service Providers nor by the Regulatory body. Taking a deep dive into the root cause looking for immediate solution, I presume the Terminal Operators and the Airlines are not able to apply or get the RA status owing to the acute shortage of trained X-Ray Screeners in the market as well as the X-ray machines and the unviable economics of providing both. Although the regulatory requirements, protecting all security aspects, need to be in place, yet these could be made little flexible to allow the stakeholders pool their resources or outsource to a third party at all locations, especially smaller Airports, in the best interest of all concerned stakeholders. Whether it was a lapse on part of the Terminal Operators or Airlines or Authorities, all the stakeholders need to be sensitized to empathize with the business community to avoid such colossal losses to them,” says Sushant Nigam, ED, ACAAI.