Xerxes Master, President, Association Of Multimodal Transport Operators of India (AMTOI) said, “We at AMTOI categorically and unambiguously, disapprove this move to levy GST on Export Freight and will make the required representation to the government against it. We are hopeful that wisdom will prevail and the government which we believe is respective to the voice of the trade, will reconsider this decision and exempt this levy which hurts the EXIM trade as well.” He added, “The exporters who are already struggling with inflated Ocean and Air Freight triggered by the pandemic will now have to provision for additional working capital on account of GST which has to be deposited with the Government. The cost of money in India is between 8-12%, whereas in the most developed world which imports from India it is between 1-5%. This additional capital is likely to be blocked anywhere between 60-90 days. Logistics costs for export freight will go up anywhere between 1-2% points. The Exporters are likely to avoid this undue cost, by changing the incoterms from CIF to FOB, leaving the freight decision to the overseas buyer. This move will most certainly eliminate the Freight Forwarding community majority of who are small entrepreneurs belonging to MSME segment. In absence of these forwarders, there will be no competition in the market, and larger players, particularly multinationals are likely to exploit this lack of competition, resulting in a higher cost to the Indian Exporter.”

Healthcare firm Novo Nordisk has partnered with Kuehne+Nagel (K+N) to use 12m litres of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) for its air cargo shipments. The agreement comes as the healthcare firm has the ambition to reach zero CO2 emissions from operations and transport by 2030. “With the deployment of 12m litres of SAF, Novo Nordisk will be able to replace fossil fuel for all K+N airfreight shipments in 2022,” the forwarder said. It claimed the deal would reduce direct emissions of around 30,000 tonnes of CO2. Dorethe Nielsen, vice president of corporate environmental strategy at Novo Nordisk, said, “This is yet another step in Novo Nordisk’s continuous support of the development of sustainable aviation fuel. Our airfreight accounts for most of our product distribution emissions as we provide life-saving medicines to patients around the world. We want to drive change in this area to help pave the way for other companies to also transition and cut emissions.”

Amazon Air has plans to expand its fleet with the addition of 10 A330-300 converted freighters from lessor Altavair. The aircraft will be operated for Amazon by Hawaiian Airlines and will be converted by Germany-headquartered Elbe Flugzeugwerke (EFW), a joint venture between Singapore-based ST Engineering and France-headquartered Airbus. The first of the A330-300P2F aircraft is expected to join the Amazon Air fleet in late 2023. The deal with Hawaiian will last for eight years with options to extend for a further two and three years. Hawaiian will supply flight crews, perform maintenance and certain administrative functions, and procure aircraft insurance. Amazon will pay a fixed monthly fee per aircraft, a per-flight hour fee, and a per-flight cycle fee for each flight cycle operated.

Swissport is all set to open a new air cargo centre at Chubu Centrair International Airport as it seeks to meet growth in Japan’s Tokai region. The new facility is on the north side of International Cargo Warehouse 1 at the airport and will open on November 1. It measures 2,500 sq m and has further potential to expand. Offered at the facility is the full range of air cargo handling services: import, export, including general cargo, cool chain and e-commerce. Stephan Kaeser, director and chief operating officer of Swissport Japan, said, “We are very pleased to announce the opening of our third international cargo warehouse in Japan. It has been our long-time goal to open an international cargo centre at Central Japan International Airport ever since we started our cargo operations at Narita and Kansai International Airport 11 years ago.”

Uzbekistan logistics firm, My Freighter has taken delivery of its first Boeing B747-200F freighter and has plans to add five more as it looks to capitalise on Tashkent as an airfreight hub. The aircraft was delivered on October 23 to Islam Karimov Tashkent International Airport after departing from Jakarta, Indonesia where it had undergone refurbishment and technical checks. According to company’s0 official statement, “The new aircraft will enable My Freighter to capitalise on the growing position of Uzbekistan’s capital, Tashkent, as an airfreight hub.” The aircraft will be used to launch services between China and Southeast Asia and Europe and the US, with Tashkent acting as a hub. The company added that it would soon purchase five more B747 freighters as part of plans to expand its fleet to 20 aircraft within the next five years. Abdulaziz Abdurakhmonov, chief executive, My Freighter said, “When we established My Freighter in 2019, we had set a goal to turn Uzbekistan into a centre for international cargo transportation. We are working to create an ‘air freight Silk Road,’ taking advantage of Uzbekistan’s geographic position between China and Europe. An analysis of the trends makes clear that Uzbekistan’s airfreight market will grow exponentially over the next five years.”

Parag Warerkar, Chairman & Chief Visionary Officer, M.R. Warerkar & Associates Pvt. Ltd. and Chair Technical Committee Warehousing Association of India (WAI) said, “National Logistics Policy paves the way for India to have a fully integrated ecosystem for the development of the Logistics and Warehousing industry. An ecosystem that accounts for accelerated and integrated growth is essential to the Indian economy.” He further added, “For the National Logistics Policy to effectively fulfil its purpose, however, there are some key deterrents that need to be addressed; particularly the issue of land acquisition. Logistics and warehousing hubs need to be an integral part of city and industrial estate development plans. At present, land for large hubs need to be acquired from agricultural holdings and land use converted, causing delays in setting up facilities due to numerous and complicated government approvals. The solutions to be explored are; can the ministry call on the various planning departments to incorporate this suggestion in the development plans for infrastructure development?” “The warehousing market in India is expected to grow to ₹2243.79 billion by 2026, expanding at a CAGR of 10.90%, as per the Warehousing Market in India 2022 Report published by Netscribes (India) Pvt Ltd. Integrating and allocating land and infrastructure will greatly ease the process of setting up logistics and warehousing parks for private players. Accounting for existing issues such as land acquisition will help capitalize on the industry’s growth and ensure the successful implementation of the National Logistics Policy,” said Warekar.

Knight Frank India, in its latest report reckoned that Kochi has a big potential to develop itself as a warehousing market, as indicated by the rise in the transaction volumes in e-commerce and manufacturing segments during FY2022. According to the latest reports, the port city has recorded a warehousing transaction volume of 0.3 million sq ft in the last financial year. Accordoing to the report, Kochi has long been a key centre for warehousing activities, but due to various reasons, including a lack of push from the administrators, the city failed to live up to its potential. Things seem to be changing slowly with Kochi now showing signs to emerge as a hub of warehousing activities. In its ‘India Warehousing Report 2022’, Knight Frank India said industry-split transactions in Kochi showed that a majority of the transaction pie was made up by the e-commerce sector, which had a 32 per cent share of the transactions. Apart from that, the manufacturing industry was the second-most active in the market, contributing 28 per cent of the overall amount of transactions during the course of the year. The state government is also taking steps to promote Kochi as a warehousing centre.

According to a latest report by Colliers, Industrial and warehousing demand in India witnessed a 9 per cent YoY rise during January-September 2022 with a total gross absorption of 17.5 million square across feet in the top-five cities in India. Demand remained resilient during the third quarter as well, at 6.7 mn sq ft, the highest since Q1 2021. “Third-party logistics players (3PLs) remain by far the top occupiers of warehousing space, contributing to over half of the total warehousing demand till date. Improved retail market sentiment amidst festive season and higher online spending continue to support warehousing growth and is expected to add to short-term demand addition,” the report stated. It further added that Delhi-NCR led the demand during YTD 2022 at 39 per cent share, followed by Pune at 21 per cent share in total leasing backed by robust demand from 3PL players, engineering and e-commerce players. Tauru road and Luhari remained the most active micro-markets in Delhi-NCR, while Chakan-Talegaon continued to attract industrial occupiers in Pune.

Stellar Value Chain Solutions has set up 2-million sq. ft of warehousing operations in five new Indian cities including Surat, Nagpur, Indore, Raipur and Patna, said an official release. The new built-to-suit centers will push the company’s warehousing space footprint to 14 million sq. ft. These new warehouses have been set up to meet the rise in demand of the festive season sales in tier II cities. In addition, warehouse and distribution service provider, is also planning to operate warehouses in Lucknow and Vijayawada. This is in line with the company’s goal to create a warehouse infrastructure of 50 million sq ft across India and a fleet of 50,000 trucks.

Parvinder Singh, Managing Director, Hans Infomatic said, “GST for airfreight is 18% and ocean freight is 5%. Now per kilo, the rate of ocean freight is much less than the airfreight. So there’s less tax burden. For sea freight forwarders’, it will be very miniscule but for air cargo sector, its huge. The forwarders can take reimbursements, but it will be reimbursed in three to four months’ time. So, the working capital will be blocked and also everyone cannot claim the taxes back from the government. With high airfreight rates and working capital under pressure, the deployment of capital will be a big challenge. Only big freight forwarding companies will be able to handle it and survive.”