Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India flagged off the world’s first double-stack long-haul container train virtually, while inaugurating the Rewari-Madar leg of the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor. The dedicated freight corridor will aid India’s rapid progress and enhance growth in all areas since modern rail infrastructure offers a basis for employment in all sectors across states, said Modi.

FedEx Express has launched a new route between Asia and Europe, connecting Beijing to the FedEx Charles de Gaulle (CDG) Airport in Paris, France for the first time with 10 connections per week via Osaka, Japan, said a release. This new route will benefit businesses as the cut-off time for same day outbound shipments from Beijing to Europe will be extended, offering more time for customers to arrange their shipments, the company stated. This new route will also provide a one day a week direct connection between Fedex’s CDG Hub and Singapore, offering customers enhanced weekly inbound capacity of almost 50 tonnes.

Blume Global, and Kinaxis® Inc. announced partnership to connect the company’s logistics visibility and transportation management system (TMS) with Kinaxis RapidResponse® concurrent planning platform to attain better alignment between supply chain planning and execution, enabling companies to avoid freight transportation disruptions. “For nearly three years, the supply chain industry has been defined by uncertainty. That is likely to continue. While major disruptions used to occur every few years, we are now facing significant events annually,” said Pervinder Johar, CEO, Blume Global. “Our partnership will give customers around the world access to robust, innovative logistics planning and execution solutions so they can create agile processes that adapt quickly to most challenging circumstances,” he added.

Mahindra Logistics is planning to expand its business operations with the opening of its flagship warehousing facility in a single park at Luhari, Delhi – NCR on June 23. The company has added three Grade-A warehouses totalling 1.4 million sq. ft area to its warehousing capacity in Luhari, Haryana. “The new warehouses are part of our pan-India network of multi-client facilities that manage the fulfilment and distribution of its clients’ services within the e-commerce and consumer industries,” said a company statement. The facilities are designed in line with MLL’s sustainability standards, including Liquid Discharge Management, Renewable Energy and, Waste Management requirements.

DB Schenker is all set to commence a warehouse facility in Badli, Haryana. “We are glad to inform that our upcoming facility in Badli, Haryana is almost ready to use with full compliance. The facility spans a total area of over 6,00,000 sq. feet and is close to the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) expressway within NCR,” stated a company’s statement.

To capture the boom in air cargo demand driven mainly by the pandemic, IndiGo will receive its first freighter plane. The dedicated cargo jet, registered as 9H-AMQ, is an Airbus SE A321 that has previously been used by carriers, including Aeroflot PJSC, Lithuanian Group Avion Express UAB and Thomas Cook Airlines. An IndiGo representative said delivery to India was likely to be in August, although a precise date has yet to be finalised. During the airline’s FQ results call, IndiGo CEO Ronojoy Dutta said that freight increased by 31 per cent y-o-y. “Cargo is strong, and as per indications, cargo will remain strong in the future,” Dutta said.

General Vijay Kumar Singh, Minister of State for Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, while addressing a national conference on ‘Transforming India with Quality and Intelligent Infrastructure at the PHDCCI, said, “India needs to create an infrastructure ecosystem compatible with all industries,” said. He added, “If we want good and quality infrastructure then each one of us must contribute towards it. Good infrastructure contributes to the country’s growth immensely and once we have the quality infrastructure in place, it will ensure the socio-economic growth of the nation. A mindset change is required where sustainable infrastructure is concerned to ensure economic growth.” He also mentioned that cost overrun and delays are the biggest impediment in the sector and to dispose it off, the government has taken some significant steps in this direction.

IndiGo successfully transported a live organ – a donated heart – from Vadodara to Mumbai on flight 6E 6734. IndiGo also supported the Global Hospitals’ heart transplant team in arranging logistic support to transport the live organ in Vadodara and Mumbai. IndiGo team safely transferred the live heart from the operation theatre (OT) in Vadodara to the Global Hospitals OT in Mumbai in 2hrs 22mins, says an official statement. This was well within the stipulated (ischemic time) limit of 3 hrs for the live organ transfer. The team from Global Hospitals, Parel, operated in a hospital in Vadodara to harvest the heart, which was then transferred to the hospital in Mumbai for a successful transplant, saving a life. Ronojoy Dutta, Chief Executive Officer and Wholetime Director, IndiGo said, “We are honoured to support the team of Global Hospitals in transferring the live organ (heart), on time to the recipient through safe and efficient logistics. Every life is precious, and IndiGo appreciates the opportunity to have contributed to saving one. I would also like to congratulate our airport staff at Vadodara and Mumbai and crew members who contributed to this effort.”

To connect with global customers, Cargolux has reportedly added a new service from the Republic of Ireland to the US. The flight will operate on a routing of Los Angeles, Seattle and Shannon once per week utilising one of the carrier’s B747 freighters, said carrier in a statement. The inaugural flight to Shannon landed on June 9. The introduction of Shannon is an opportunity for Cargolux to meet growing customer demand and expand its presence in the British Isles, the carrier further explained. “This new frequency is a welcome development for Cargolux to connect with its global customers and expand services in the area. Shannon is a thriving commercial gateway, and we look forward to building our partnerships in the region,” said Domenico Ceci, Cargolux’s Executive Vice President Sales & Marketing. “This regular service cements the airline’s commitment to business in the region,” the carrier added.

According to the leading global freight forwarding company DHL, with new container vessels being delivered and demand from shippers softening, port congestion is expected to ease next year but not enough to restore global supply-chain flows to where they were before Covid. “It’s going to ease in 2023, but it’s not going to go back to 2019,” said Tim Scharwath, Freight Chief Executive Officer, DHL Global Forwarding in a statement. “I don’t think we’re going to go back to this overcapacity situation where rates were very low. Infrastructure, especially in the US, isn’t going to get better overnight, because infrastructure developments take a long time,” he added.