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Insightful conclave on Indian cold chain gaining momentum

At recently held digital conclave on Indian cold chain shipments handling and transportation, industry experts discussed about improving infra at airports and terminals and crucial pain points of stakeholders. “As far as understanding pharmaceuticals is concerned I would rate India on eight out of 10. There are some areas in airports which need improvement but those have nothing to do with terminals. In India, some airports are at larger advantage because they started as a greenfield airport but brownfield airports need attention. We will be having new airports soon that are taking infrastructure as a priority. Skilled manpower is another area which needs attention but improving simultaneously,” opined Satish Lakkaraju, Senior VP, Global Head-Air Freight and Pharma, WIZ Freight, Radar Ventures. Talking about crucial pain points, Tushar Jani, Group Chairman, Cargo Service Center said, “Infrastructure for cold chain is definitely improving. Mumbai airport alone has the throughput capacity of 14,000 MT per month. We are just doing 3-4 thousand tonnes a month. We have got capacity to handle much larger volumes. As a community, we need to educate each other, we need to collaborate with each other. There is whole data transmission which needs to come in time in a right format so it can help the process move faster.” Rashmi Karnad Gurung, Manager Climate Control Product, Qatar Airways also added, “We have everything to achieve the larger goals, we have bright minds, investments and enterprises. I feel visibility is the most impt thing today. End-to-end transparency ad visibility and tracking of shipments is required today. Lot of tech companies are also providing highly efficient tech services like shock mointoring, GPS, temp-controlled monitoring, humidity levels monitoring etc which are highly …

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Locus rolls out new platform to support retail & courier deliveries

In its ongoing commitment to helping enterprises seamlessly manage all stages of their last-mile operations, Locus announced industry-specific enhancements of its premier, order-to-delivery Dispatch Management Platform for its growing retail, 3PL and CEP customer bases. These new features serve to unlock greater opportunities across all layers of the fulfillment ecosystem. Retail and e-commerce brands must have the right technology in place to understand their real-world delivery constraints, fulfill delivery promises at scale, use the full potential of their fleets, and facilitate seamless order-to-delivery experiences that keep customers coming back. Locus has introduced several enhancements that cater to retail and ecommerce, including: • Powering superior consumer experiences: Retail can exceed consumer expectations by offering flexible and convenient delivery options with Delivery Linked Checkout, which optimizes deliveries via capacity-led slot bookings and includes multi-speed and time-definite delivery options for same- & next-day shipments. While Locus’ Order Management & Route Planning capabilities ensure seamless returns by optimizing reverse logistics, cancellations and reattempts with advanced routing • Enabling powerful omnichannel retail experiences: Retailers can provide consumers market-leading omnichannel fulfillment with Locus ShipFlex, which automates entire carrier workflows for optimal pricing and delivers end-to-end visibility of order-to-doorstep deliveries across in-house, contracted, and outsourced fleets. Cross-fleet Utilization facilitates efficient and cost-effective fulfillment by deploying the same fleet across different legs and business. Whereas Dark Store Optimization allows retailers to centralize dark store, in-store, and FC fulfillment on a single platform 3PLs and CEPs must also keep up with today’s staggering volume of shipments to build long-term relationships with the e-tailers and manufacturers they support. Locus’ technology enables faster and more efficient last-mile logistics by automating planning processes and enhancing real-time visibility, providing an easier way to …

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CargoTalk, CSC Digital Conclave on Cold Chain today at 11 a.m.

Get ready to participate in India’s biggest virtual meet on the Need for world-class cold chain infrastructure to store and transport Pharma in India, with top industry veterans participating as panelists focusing on various crucial aspects such as Current Infrastructure for cold chain shipments handling and multimodal transportation, recent advancements, innovations and investments in improving cold chain infra, crucial Pain points and lot more. The panelists include Satish Lakkaraju, Senior VP, Global Head-Air Freight and Pharma, WIZ Freight, Radar Ventures, Tushar Jani, Group Chairman, Cargo Service Center, Rashmi Karnad Gurung, Manager Climate Control Product, Qatar Airways. The session will be moderated by Mr. SanJeet, CEO, DDP Group. Be ready to be a part of the virtual meet on 5th May, 2023 at 11.00 a.m. being organised by CargoTalk Digital Conclave in association with Cargo Service Center (CSC). Recently, CargoTalk has collaborated with Cargo Service Center for Pharma Talkathon – A series of knowledge-sharing sessions on everything about pharma. Register now! https://lnkd.in/dwHm_Cui

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Qatar Cargo launches air cargo hub to boost operations

Qatar Airways Cargo launches Kigali Africa Hub in partnership with RwandAir. Qatar Airways Cargo’s ‘Moved by People’ Boeing 777 freighter landed at Kigali International Airport. In the company of local dignitaries, freight forwarders, partners, and customers, Qatar Airways Cargo’s Chief Officer, Guillaume Halleux, and Yvonne Makolo, Chief Executive Officer of RwandAir officially launched operations at the Kigali Africa Hub. The Boeing 777 aircraft will fly from Doha to Kigali, twice a week. Since March, Qatar Airways Cargo has created an intra-Africa service between Kigali and Lagos (three times per week), and a weekly service from Istanbul via Doha to Kigali, all operated by an Airbus A310 aircraft. New destinations from Kigali will be announced soon. In the run-up to the Kigali Cargo Hub launch, QAS Cargo, a subsidiary of Qatar Airways, provided consultancy support to RwandAir Cargo to help improve its cargo handling performance. A team from QAS Cargo visited the cargo handling facilities and presented RwandAir with a detailed action plan for operational improvements and handling performance. The team is now working together on a future roadmap, including a proposed improvement plan for its warehouse infrastructure, which will form part of a long-term strategic plan for the cargo division of RwandAir. Guillaume Halleux, Chief Officer Cargo at Qatar Airways said: “Africa is one of the world’s fastest growing economies, yet for it to develop to its full potential requires investment in logistics infrastructures. Qatar and Rwanda have long-enjoyed bilateral trade agreements, with both Qatar Airways and Qatar Investment Authority having previously invested in Kigali International Airport and RwandAir. It was therefore a logical step that Qatar Airways Cargo supports RwandAir in its cargo ambitions. Our customers will benefit from …

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Balmer Lawrie opens Container Freight Station in Vizag

Balmer Lawrie, a diverse PSE with presence in manufacturing and services sectors has opened a Container Freight Station (CFS) in Vizag. Balmer Lawrie partnered with VPA for setting up an MMLH spread over 53 acres to meet the growing logistic demands of the region. Balmer Lawrie & Company Limited, set up a Multi Modal Logistic Hub (MMLH) in JV with Visakhapatnam Port Authority (VPA), Visakhapatnam Port Logistics Park Limited (VPLPL). Capable of handling Exim and domestic cargo, the Exim area will have CFS, warehousing, cold storage/temperature-controlled warehouse, open cargo storage, hazardous and non-hazardous cargo handling among others. The existing facility of VPLPL is in line with PM’s Gati Shakti initiative. This apart, there is potential of leveraging Electronic Cargo Monitoring System for cargo movement to Nepal, Bangladesh through VPLPL. This is the only facility with refrigeration facility and has a huge potential for movement of refrigerated cargo as well. The CFS in VPLPL, spread over 25 acres, is the only other facility in Vizag (other than CONCOR), which has rail connectivity with the port. This will facilitate faster movement of containers from the port, besides reducing the congestion on the road. The CFS operations within the multi-modal Logistics Park of Visakhapatnam Port Logistics Park Ltd, commenced in the presence of Shri Adika Ratna Sekhar on 24 April 2023 in Visakhapatnam.

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‘We need to improve digital innovation in logistics’

I am certain that many digital initiatives are being taken up by the Indian logistics industry stakeholders but only Logistics Data Bank is mentioned in the World’s Bank Data report, perhaps we need to upscale the initiatives being taken in the aviation sector for further improving our ranking, said Divya Satija, senior leader – DPIIT Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, Ministry of Commerce and Industry). Logistics industry has taken many steps to enhance digital documentation. Govt. is launching secured logistics documentation program on ULIP, which will promote digitization of documents as well as security. The whole logistics ecosystem needs to come forward and work on boosting digitization.

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‘Digital systems boost tracking & tracing of shipments’

DPIIT logistics division is currently moving in sync with PM’s Gati Shakti Plan. Gati Shakti aims at two things – to bring multimodality when it comes to infrastructure and connectivity and timely implementation of projects. For implementation of projects, the key issues remain time and cost, when we actually dwell into details, land acquisition and clearances becomes other major issues, said Jivisha Joshi, Deputy Secretary – DPIIT (Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, Ministry of Commerce and Industry), at ACFI Conclave in New Delhi. We are working on improving our planning process which minimises the disruptions, and costs. NLP is another impt policy launched by the PM last year. We worked on three important goals under this policy – reduce logistics cost, improving ranking in LPI and indigenous fact systems. We have touched upon all three aspects. We have achieved great logistics efficiency and improved our ranking in LPI. We are also promoting Logistics Data Bank, it has been really helpful in measuring dwell time and tracking shipments, creating visibility and supply chain resiliency. We are trying to improve tracking and tracing of shipments by making digital system available.”

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‘India has potential to become global cargo hub’

India is in a position to become the global cargo hub in the coming years, with the kind of developments happening on the infrastructural and technological front and with government’s initiatives like Gati Shakti, National Logistics Policy, Manufacturing in India, the growth is certain, there are tremendous opportunities, said,” Piyush Srivastava – Senior Economic Advisor (Ministry of Commerce and Industry), while addressing ACFI Annual Conclave held on Wednesday in New Delhi. The theme of the event Cargo Udaan – Empowering and connecting Indian skies is very relevant he added stating, it reminds of long-haul flights with some turbulences like we have high Air Turbine Fuel (ATF) prices. “To bring down high ATF prices, we have to reduce VAT, he added. We have succeeded in 17 states, we have now 31 states on our side now, where we are working on reducing ATF like Delhi. It’s work in progress.” “I feel country of our size, dimension should have transshipment hubs. For creating a hub government can only provide a facilitating environment but the hub will be created on global economic scenario and how the industry sees the growth. Now Air India placed huge order of widebody aircraft, which will boost the creation of aviation hubs in the country. We are poised to achieve this target in the coming years.”

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ACFI focused on Cargo Udaan, connecting Indian skies

Air Cargo Forum India (ACFI) successfully held its Annual Conclave on 3rd May 2023 in New Delhi. The success of the event was the outcome of the hard work and collective efforts put in by the The theme “Cargo Udaan- Connecting and Empowering Indian Skies,” focussed on leveraging innovative technologies, integrating processes, adopting global best practices and preparing for the expected increase in demand for air cargo in the post-COVID world. The event was graced by senior Govt. Officials as Guests of Honour, including Ms. Jivisha Joshi, Deputy Secretary – DPIIT (Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, Ministry of Commerce and Industry), Ms. Divya Satija, senior leader – DPIIT Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, Ministry of Commerce and Industry) and Mr. Piyush Srivastava – Senior Economic Advisor (Ministry of Commerce and Industry). The conclave covered three business sessions that highlighted the various possibilities, opportunities, challenges and action items for the Indian skies to reach 10 million tons by 2030-31. The sessions emphasized on key topics – “AIR CARGO – The Business Galvanizer,” “INTERNATIONAL AIR CARGO – Opportunities and Challenges,” and “DOMESTIC AIR CARGO – Leveraging the Potential of Indian Domestic Cargo.” These were moderated by senior leaders like Mr. Satish Lakkaraju, Chairman – Event management Task Pillar and Global Head of Air Freight, WIZ Freight, Mr. Sanjiv Edward, Vice President ACFI & CEO – Cargo and Logistics, GMR Group along with Mr. Keku Bomi Gazder, ACFI Governing Board Member, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, Aviapro Logistic Services Pvt. Ltd. ACFI Governing Board and Event Management Task Pillar members of the forum under the stellar leadership of Mr. Yashpal Sharma, ACFI President, along with the …

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Sanjiv Edward takes over as CEO – Cargo and Logistics GMR Group

Sanjiv Edward, who was earlier working with Delhi International Airport Ltd. (DIAL), as its CCO is now taking over as the Chief Executive Officer – Cargo and Logistics for GMR Group w.e.f. April 2023. In his new role with GMR, he will be responsible for handling DIAL’s cargo business in Delhi, Hyderabad, Goa, and all upcoming airports, in addition to continue to drive strategic projects for DIAL. He has earlier served as Chief Commercial Officer for DIAL, where he led the Aeronautical and Aero-related business verticals of IGI Airport, and was responsible for developing and driving the strategy for these verticals by achieving sustained growth of Aeronautical revenues through various streams, such as Cargo, Land & Space, Concessions and Aeronautical services. His profile also included leading the Airlines marketing and Route development activities to enhance IGI Airports’Air connectivity network. Earlier to this role, Sanjeev was heading the Cargo business of DIAL, where he was responsible for successfully driving the Cargo Strategy and Development of the Cargo Master Plan, making IGIA as the number one cargo airport in the country. He has been actively engaged with stakeholders like the Government, the Regulators, and industry in general for policy formulation at various levels. Continuing his experience of over 20 years in the aviation industry, Mr. Edward is also working closely with organisations including WCO, ICAO, WTO, TSA, UNCTAD and has also served as the Chairman of The International Air Cargo Association (TIACA), Miami from May 2015 to October 2017. He is currently on the Board of ACFI, CELEBI, DAFFPL and DASPL.

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