Union Minister of Commerce Piyush Goyal chaired National Single Window System (NSWS) meeting organised by Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade. The objective of the review meeting was to boost trade and industry. Som Prakash, Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry and Amitabh Kant, CEO, Niti Aayog were present in the meeting. Industry expert, Vipin Vohra, Chairman, Continental Carriers Group of Companies and Chairman, Civil Aviation Committee at PHD Chamber of Commerce also participated in the meeting.

Shailender Anand, MD – India and Director, Dubai at Pronk Multiservice was honoured at the India Cargo Awards under ‘DDP Trailblazer category’ for his outstanding contribution and excellence in services worldwide. Pronk Multiservice is known for its world-class services, excellent customer-centric approach, smart innovations, and adoption of cutting-edge technology. The awards were conferred by Amrit Lal Meena, Special Secretary, Logistics, Department of Commerce and Piyush Srivastava, Senior Economic Advisor, MoCA in the presence of senior officials from the logistics and air cargo fraternity.

AviaAM Leasing has acquired another aircraft to convert into a freighter as part of a wider project to expand its all-cargo offering. The aircraft has been ferried to the Taikoo (Shandong) Aircraft Engineering Company Limited (STAECO) facility in Jinan (TNA) where it will be changed to a freighter configuration over the next four months. The aircraft is the fourth Boeing 737-800 inducted to cargo conversion, with the first two already delivered to the lessee and successfully operated by Bluebird Nordic, and one more soon to be delivered.

CargoAi has announced that Air Canada Cargo has selected its eBooking and eQuote platform to accelerate eBooking adoption with freight forwarders. “We’re thrilled to be announcing the partnership between Air Canada Cargo and CargoAi,” says Petot, CEO of CargoAi. “Both organisations share ambitious growth plans in the post pandemic months and years to come, as well as a relentless focus on the customer experience. As such we are looking forward to leveraging this alignment in vision and strategy and bring the best digital booking experience to our joint customers,” he added.

Economic and Social Commission for Asia and The Pacific (ESCAP) is conducting a research study to offer policy recommendations for gender equality and women’s empowerment in the maritime sector, taking into consideration regional and national contexts in Asia and the Pacific. As part of this work, a dedicated research team led by Sanjam Sahi Gupta, an International Consultant, Founder, Maritime SheEO, and Ex-President WISTA (India) will work with countries in the region to assess their current activities, identify key opportunities, and challenges, and ultimately support the design of a road map towards gender equality and women’s empowerment. The outcomes of this effort will help the Member States build gender policy in the maritime sector by facilitating regional exchanges of best practices and lessons learned.

Industry veteran Keku Bomi Gazder, former CEO of AAI Cargo Logistics & Allied Services was honoured with prestigious ‘Industry Ambassador of the Year’ award at the recently held India Cargo Awards, India’s topmost Supply chain awards, which helps to create a platform to recognise those behind the success of the cargo and logistics industry. Gazder said, “I would like to thank India Cargo Awards for organising this event after a gap of two years and for honouring me. It is always a pleasure to be recognised at such forums and it always feels wonderful to meet the industry stakeholders in person than virtual meetings.”

Alpine Air Express, which provides air cargo services to smaller communities in the western U.S. for customers such as FedEx, UPS, and the U.S. Postal Service has acquired Omaha, Nebraska-based Suburban Air Freight to support growing demand for e-commerce services. The deal positions Alpine Air Express, one of the largest regional air cargo carriers in the U.S., to begin flying for DHL Express and build on its expansion effort. Alpine Air operates a fleet of 50 turboprop aircraft — 35 twin-engine Beechcraft 1900D, 14 smaller Beechcraft 99 and a King Air 200 — that transport mail packages and other time-sensitive cargo in Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado, Idaho, California, and Utah.

With the global supply chain operations steadily gaining momentum in the past couple of years, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport’s (CSMIA) air cargo witnessed a fruitful year in terms of EXIM (export and import) movements in FY22. With a total of 5,56,900 Metric Tonnes (MT) of overall cargo facilitated in FY22, CSMIA’s air cargo observed a rise of close to 30% in movement as compared to FY21. Where international cargo volumes grew by 26% whereas domestic cargo volumes were up by 40% over FY 21. The total import of 260,600 MT and export of 296,300 MT of cargo resulted in CSMIA’s overall share of contribution to the global cargo movements.

The Kerala Maritime Board (KMB), the nodal agency for all maritime-related activities in Kerala, is pulling out all stops to woo investment for the development of port infrastructure in the State which has a 590-km long coastline with 17 minor and intermediate ports. The State has the scope for developing coastal shipping as an alternative in order to divert goods traffic from congested roads. N.S. Pillai, who took over as chairman of the KMB, said the board will be taking a slew of measures to develop coastal shipping. “Crew exchange will soon be a reality in the Kollam port as the work on setting up six Immigration Check Points (ICP) is expected to be completed in two weeks. Once the furnishing works are completed, the board will request the Customs to deploy the staff required for facilitating immigration activities,” said Pillai.

DHL Express last week launched an air freight route connecting Shenzhen in the Guangdong province of southern China with Leipzig in Germany. With a weekly freight capacity of more than 500 metric tonnes, cargo airline Aero-Logic will be responsible for services in the route, with six weekly round trips made by a Boeing 777 all-cargo aircraft, DHL Express said. The new route can better meet the strong aviation logistics market demand in Shenzhen and its surrounding areas, and further promote economic and trade ties between South China and Europe, Shenzhen Baoan International Airport was quoted as saying by official Chinese media. The company had launched an international air cargo route linking Shenzhen and Los Angeles in October last year. It operates more than 30 international air cargo routes from the Shenzhen gateway.