Over the next decade, we will invest in new infrastructure and facilities to meet demand. With the fast-paced growth in business and rising demands, we intend to remain at the forefront of providing world-class facilities, infrastructure and technology to our customers, partners and stakeholders,” said Satyaki Raghunath, Chief Strategy & Development Officer, Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL). “We are looking at the development of a new domestic cargo terminal, refurbishing the existing cargo terminals with enhanced capacity and the expansion of cold-chain facility. With the government getting involved and focusing on logistics efficiency and infrastructural development through initiatives like Gati Shakti and NLP, we are expecting to have an extremely favourable environment to grow our cargo business. We believe that we can cater to around 1.5 million MT of cargo annually in the next decade and we are preparing for that,” he added. Airfreight volumes through BLR Airport have grown considerably over the last 10 years with a CAGR of 11 per cent (pre-COVID). According to internal estimates, the Airport’s unconstrained cargo potential is estimated to be 1.7 – 1.9 million metric tonnes per annum (MTPA) by 2038. This estimate was arrived at considering the natural catchment areas of Bangalore and the proximity of trucking distance that is approximately 7-12 hours from major export and import hubs in the region.  The design capacity of the airport’s cargo operations by the end of the financial year FY 21/22 was enhanced from 570,000 MTPA to 715,000 MTPA, he further informed.

Geodis has signed an agreement to acquire trans-o-flex, a leading company in the premium express sector in Germany specialized in temperature controlled transport for pharmaceutical products as well as in time definite delivery of products for cosmetics, automotive and high-tech industries. Since 2016 the company is owned by the families Schoeller and Amberger who have invested to scale it up to a leading specialized distribution player. Marie-Christine Lombard, Chief Executive Officer of GEODIS, said: “The acquisition of trans-o-flex is a key step forward enabling us to increase our footprint in Germany. It is consistent with our ambition to strengthen our global end-to-end logistics solutions to support our customers’ growth and geographic development. This acquisition will position GEODIS as a leading player in the healthcare market and will significantly enhance our delivery capabilities in Germany, a country at the heart of global trade. We have been impressed by the expertise and the commitment to the highest quality of service of trans-o-flex’s management team. We welcome the trans-o-flex team to GEODIS and together we believe we can further support our customers on both sides by combining our respective and complementary strengths in Germany, in Europe and globally. In order to achieve this, we have agreed with Christoph Schoeller, who is currently trans-o-flex’s Chairman of the Advisory Board, Vice-Chairman of the supervisory board and shareholder with Peter Amberger, that he will remain as Vice-Chairman of the new supervisory board presided by myself.”

Delhivery will acquire the Pune-based Algorhythm Tech that delivers intelligent planning & optimization solutions for enterprise supply chain operations. The company said the transaction is expected to be completed by 31st Jan 2023. This would be a 100 per cent acquisition post which Algorhythm Tech will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Delhivery Limited. Founded in 2003 by Abhaya Borwankar, Ajit Singh, and Sandeep Pendurkar, Algorhythm offers end-to-end supply chain planning & execution products to clients across FMCG, pharma, steel, auto and telecom sectors, through its proprietary Rhythm 3.0 platform. Commenting on the announcement, Sandeep Kumar Barasia, Executive Director and Chief Business Officer, said, “We congratulate Abhaya, Ajit, and Sandeep on building a truly differentiated product offering with a great depth, and breadth of coverage across industry sectors and use cases. Given that technology has and continues to be our core business differentiator, Algorhythm Tech’s SCM software products will enhance our Supply Chain Solutions offering with value added services and also drive cost optimization in service delivery. These SCM products are increasingly becoming vital for supply chain planning and optimization. And our clients will have the option of availing the benefits of these as part of our Integrated Solutions platform.” Ajit Singh, Co-founder, Algorhythm Tech, added, “Delhivery has made great strides to emerge as the largest logistics provider in India in a decade and we can think of no better team or company to work with to accelerate our joint vision for the future.”

Safexpress has launched its ultra-modern Logistics Park in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. This state-of-the-art facility is strategically located near Mappedu in Thiruvallur district. The logistics facility in is spread over a land area of 6.5 Lakh square feet, enabled with ultra-modern transhipment and 3PL facilities, which will boost storage & warehousing needs of the businesses in this region while providing for faster connectivity. The new Logistics Park is cross-dock, equipped with loading and unloading of over 200 vehicles simultaneously. It has a column-less span of over 80 feet, which facilitates uninterrupted movement of goods within the facility. To enable all-weather loading and unloading of goods, the facility is equipped with 16 feet wide Cantilever Shed. The Logistics facility has the required firefighting equipment and trained manpower to deal with such exigencies. It is equipped with an integrated rainwater harvesting system, has a dedicated green zone and will be using sunlight during the daytime to conserve energy. Operations at the Logistics facility is highly streamlined, which ensures the country’s fastest transit-time from Tamil Nadu to all destinations across India. Safexpress Logistics Park at Mappedu intends to help greatly in minimizing the infrastructural gaps and serve their supply chain & logistics requirements needs effectively and efficiently.

CMA CGM Air Cargo will place its capacity on booking portal CargoAi as it looks to expand its reach with SME forwarders. CMA CGM is the 71st airline to place its capacity on the CargoAi portal and that the addition meant that forwarders can search from 195 origins to 447 destinations. The portal is also the first online marketplace to offer CMA CGM capacity for instant booking “in line with CMA CGM’s first own scheduled freighter service from Paris to Hong Kong SAR and vice versa”. Matt Petot, founder and chief executive of CargoAi, said: “We have been growing very fast thanks to our different approach and special focus on making it simple for our airlines to integrate and for our forwarders users to make bookings. “Our unique combination of tech and air cargo talents has helped to showcase that CargoAi can deliver modern tech solutions at a very fast pace to this industry. “We have still a lot of work to do and 2023 looks already very exciting as CargoAi will focus on delivering new solutions outside of our e-booking platform (CargoMART) and work on customized projects for our partners.” Magali Beauregard, chief commercial officer of CargoAi, added: “We’re thrilled that CargoMART becomes the first marketplace to sell CMA CGM’s freighter service. This is a great addition to our existing airline portfolio that users on www.CargoAi.co get benefit from.” CMA CGM Air Cargo is owned by shipping giant CMA CGM and launched operations in 2021.

Recently-launched Georgian Airlines has added a third freighter to its fleet as it looks to capitalise on cargo volumes travelling between Asia and Europe. The airline has added a third B737-800 converted freighter through a deal with Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings subsidiary Titan Aviation. The aircraft is being added through a long-term dry lease deal. Irakli Mezvrishvili, general director of Georgian Airlines, said: “As we expand in the airfreight market, we are honoured to partner with Titan Aircraft Investments to bring more air cargo capacity to the region with the addition of the 737-800 freighter. “We look forward to a strong partnership with Titan’s excellent team as they help us meet market demand and capitalise on cargo flows between Asia and Europe.” The cargo carrier commenced operations in February 2022 and offers cargo charter and regular flights across Europe, the Baltic region, the Caucasus, the Black Sea Region, the Middle East, eastern, and southern Asia. The airline said that the Black Sea region is a key transit and trade corridor for Eurasian countries and believes the Georgia has the potential to become an important hub for the aviation industry.

Aircraft operator ASL Aviation Holdings has partnered with Reliable Robotics to explore the possible use of autonomous freighter aircraft. The two companies will select a suitable aircraft for Reliable’s Remotely Operated Aircraft System with an initial focus on large twin-engine turboprop freighters. ASL and Reliable will jointly assess the demand for remotely operated aircraft in Europe and in addition to remotely piloted air cargo services, the companies will evaluate aircraft suitable for remotely piloted humanitarian operations. ASL Aviation Holdings director Hugh Flynn said: “This collaboration between ASL and Reliable is anchored on a common purpose to fully evaluate how remote and single pilot technologies can be developed and used to deliver safe, reliable and cost-effective cargo and passenger services. “At ASL we are looking at how new technologies will change and improve aviation, and how we can be at the forefront of that change to offer enhanced services to our customers.” Myles Goeller chief business officer of Reliable Robotics added: “ASL and Reliable see urgent market demand for automated systems that will enhance safety, increase utilisation of aircraft assets and support sustainability goals. ASL shares our commitment to investing in pioneering technology development to serve industry needs and improve how goods and people are transported.”

xpress has signed a non-binding MoU with Aramex India, to collaborate across multiple avenues, with the aim to offer reliable and service responsive international solutions to India-based B2B & B2C customers. Under this partnership, synergy benefits are set to accrue due to this global collaboration between the two parties, by focusing on joint product development, customised business solutions for specific regions and customer segments, leveraging physical infrastructure and Line-hauls, sharing transportation capacity and best practices. The partnership between DTDC Express and Aramex India will also explore business and operating synergies across several areas including Sales, Marketing, Technology, Network, Transportation and Customs Clearance. Both the entities believe that it will enable them to utilize each other’s physical operating infrastructure to promote and cross-sell their products, services and solutions. In addition to this, DTDC Express aims to cross-sell Aramex’s flagship product- Shop & Ship through the Company’s network of around 14,000 customer access points across India. Subhasish Chakraborty, Founder, Chairman and Managing Director of DTDC Express Ltd, said, “DTDC Express is delighted to partner with Aramex. Our agreement recognizes the strength of DTDC’s Network and Express Delivery capabilities. India has seen a substantial growth in bilateral trade with several countries including the US, the European Union and the GCC. The United States is our largest trading partner, and it continues to show strong growth. India’s bilateral trade with the EU has increased 43.5% in FY22, and with the GCC it has increased 78% as per Commerce Ministry Data. The India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement is set to further boost bi-lateral trade between the two countries from $60 billion to $100 billion in the next five years. Considering this growth ahead with major …

Due to globalisation, dynamic market and consumer behavior, the warehouse management systems (WMS) should be integrated with the external systems for accurate and timely data communication and effective business collaboration, says E-Handbook on Warehousing Standards in India released by the Warehousing Association of India (WAI). Managing these systems integration becomes complex and tedious when the business runs on different industry verticals and on different platforms. Hence, it becomes very important and necessary for the logistics service providers to standardize the systems with integrated solutions when it comes to WMS implementation, it adds. Different aspects of WMS are Training and deployment, Project management, Business requirements, Configuration, Integration and Testing. The WMS should be deployed after detailed evaluation of the functionalities that exists in the system and are relevant to the processes and flows adopted in a warehouse. The WMS should be able to provide all reports and performance dashboards that show the health of the operations like productivity, efficiency, work done and pending, time taken for various activities etc., adds handbook. The broad functionalities of the WMS are to: (a) Process fresh receipt and return of goods, (b) Putting away of goods to storage (c) Sampling, inspection & grading (d) Picking, checking and packing of goods (e) Dispatch of goods (f) Integration with Transportation Management System (TMS) (g) Inventory count and reconciliation (h) Inventory management and its visibility to clients (i) Seamless integration of advance inward shipment notices, dispatch notes, outbound orders, triggering of alerts and notifications. (j) Integration with Warehouse Control Systems (WCS) between equipment like sorters, diverters, put to and pick to light systems, advance storage equipment like ASRS, pallet shuttles and robotics.

Damco India, a subsidiary of international container shipping and logistics giant AP Moller-Maersk, has taken a warehousing facility spread across 243,000 sq. ft. on lease for five years. The facility is in Bhiwandi on the outskirts of Mumbai, documents accessed by CRE Matrix showed. The starting monthly rent is Rs 47.62 lakh. The company has paid a security deposit of Rs 1.90 crore for the property, the documents showed. The leave and licence agreement was registered on October 21, 2022. The lock-in period is for three years and the rent escalation provision states that there would be a 4 percent increase in rent at the end of every 12 months, the documents showed. Damco, a separate brand earlier, has now been integrated with the Maersk brand. In September, Maersk India inaugurated its fifth warehousing facility this year spread over 250,000 sq ft, in Bhiwandi taking its total footprint to over 2.1 million sq. ft., including the warehouses from the recently completed acquisition of LF Logistics, a company statement said. Maersk’s new facility in Bhiwandi is the fifth to go live in 2022 after one each at Sikandrabad in Uttar Pradesh, Kolkata in West Bengal, and Pune and Bhiwandi in Maharashtra. Being strategically located on the Mumbai-Nashik highway, it provides excellent connectivity to manufacturing hubs and the Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Mumbai, it said.