Before the agreement allowing India to utilise the Chittagong and Mongla ports in neighbouring Bangladesh for trade comes into effect, the Kolkata port will conduct four trial runs, an official said. The effort will increase traffic on inland waterways using the Indo-Bangla Protocol route. The 13th India-Bangladesh Joint Group of Customs (JSC) meeting, held in March, is when the decision to undertake trial runs was made, as per Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port official. He said it was decided ships may transport cargo for both Bangladesh and India’s northeastern states. “Test runs must be completed within six months, and we have been asked to conduct them. All destinations are in Bangladesh,” SMP chairman Vinit Kumar said. The trial runs will be conducted on following routes—Mongla to Tamabil (a steep location in Bangladesh’s Sylhet), Tamabil to Chittagong, Chittagong to Sheola (a land border) and Mongla to Bibirbazar. 

Kandla Port (Deen Dayal Port Authority) in Gujarat is the first port in India to have 5G Telecom facilities as part of the central government’s efforts to beef up infrastructure in the state. Major ports of the country have been linked the dedicated freight corridor so that goods could reach the North Indian hinterland within hours. The project will help the port to fulfill its vision of becoming an efficient mega port by experimenting on new automation processes on 5G networks to improve cargo handling. The Kandla port has thus become the only port (minor, major or private) to be 5G ready before the planned launch of 5G network in the country. To process the infrastructure the department of telecom (DoT) officials visited the Gujarat port along with officials of telecom service providers and infra providers i.e. Indus Towers, Vodafone, Jio, Airtel and BSNL on April.

Sarbananda Sonowal, the Union Minister of Ports, Shipping & Waterways (MoPSW) and Ayush, reaffirmed India’s commitment to utilising Iran’s Chabahar Port to maximise maritime logistical opportunities with the Central Asian region. The multi-modal logistical corridor is the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC), will be connected via the bustling Shahid Beheshti Port at Chabahar in Iran. This will reduce the government’s maritime logistical expenses, which will increase trade between the two regions. The minister was speaking on Chabahar Day. He said the government was engaging with high-level diplomatic group from Central Asian nations in Mumbai in this connection.

After a gap of two years, Air Cargo Agents’ Association of India (ACAAI) is back with its 46th Annual Convention to be held in Bangkok, Thailand at Hotel Bangkok Marriott Marquis Queen’s Park from 24 to 27 November 2022. The convention will provide a great platform to the experts of international air cargo industry to meet and discuss issues and concerns troubling the industry as well as key megatrends.

Warehousing Association of India (WAI) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO), a real estate body that works under the aegis of Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, to address construction and land-related difficulties that warehousing developers often face. Aside of addressing construction and land-related difficulties that warehousing developers confront, the MoU also endeavours to resolve regulatory obstacles. The realtors’ body and warehousing developers will look to collaborate to address issues concerning regulators, licensees, permits, approvals and operation of warehousing and logistics businesses, Naredco said in a statement. The partnership will also look to create guidelines for running warehouses efficiently, effectively, and ethically.

The US-based Panattoni will invest USD 200 million (around Rs 1,597 crore) in India to develop four industrial and logistics parks across major cities as it sees huge growth potential amid rising demand for warehouses. Panattoni has debuted in the Asian market with its entry in India. The Indian venture, Panattoni India Development Pvt Ltd, is headquartered in Bengaluru. The company is holding discussions with landowners to purchase around 250 acres of land in Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Pune to develop four projects in the first phase of the India venture. “We will be investing USD 200 million (around Rs 1,597 crore) for the development of initial four industrial and logistics parks comprising 6.5-7 lakh leasable area. The proposed investments include land, construction, and other costs. The fund will be raised at the special purpose vehicle (SPV) level to be created separately for the development of each project,” said reports.

The Union government is planning to make registration of all warehouses with a federal regulator mandatory by amending Warehousing Development and Regulation Act 2007, a move that will enable authorities to track food stocks and quantities of various farm commodities stored by traders and farmers across the country in real-time through an online database. Currently, registration of any private warehouse or silo stocking farm produce is optional and these are not required to reveal their stocks. Therefore, there is much opacity about quantities of food stocks in the country. This often helps market players to gouge prices during periods of scarcity, and the government has no way of estimating how much quantities are locally available to take effective anti-inflation measures, the reports added. As per the reports, the government is in the process of finalising an amendment and once an amendment is passed by Parliament, any person desirous of commencing or carrying on the warehousing business issuing warehouse receipts shall make an application to the authority. 

Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) has commenced a new bonded trucking service with Celebi Delhi Cargo Terminal Management India. The service connects Pune to Delhi airport for worldwide exports from DIAL. “This is an excellent service initiative that provides seamless connectivity to the efficient Celebi Cargo terminal at Delhi.  It is a great collaboration between DIAL and Celebi,” said an official Linkedin post. Celebi has also extended e-CSD facility to freight forwarders at DIAL. In March 2022, Celebi became the first cargo terminal operator (CTO) in India to offer electronic cargo security declaration (e-CSD) for its airline partners. Now, with the integration of e-CSD option for freight forwarders, Celebi reassures its commitment to continue investing in technology for offering better experience for cargo community at large.   

Rhenus Logistics has introduced carbon-neutral airfreight service between as the first step in its sustainability efforts for air cargo. The programme will offer global customers a carbon-neutral consolidation service from Frankfurt (FRA) to São Paulo (SAO). Rhenus will offset the total emissions from the trade lane through the third party to achieve carbon neutrality via projects which are verified and audited according to internationally accepted standards such as Gold Standards (GS) or verified carbon standard (VCS). The emission data of the shipment’s main haul is calculated with a methodology that complies with IATA, International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), and Global Logistics Emissions Council (GLEC) frameworks.

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International (SVPI) airport in Ahmedabad is all set to get a new ‘semi-automated’ cargo terminal in 2023. According to the reports, the construction work on the upcoming terminal has begun and according to the airport operator, the first phase of work is expected to be completed by June 2023. The new terminal will come up right opposite the India Meteorological Department (IMD)’s office on the airport campus. According to data available, 1.15 lakh tonnes of cargo were processed at SVPI airport in 2019. The new facility, with a total built-up area of 33,000 sq m, will be capable of accommodating future cargo volume growth. Of this, the first phase will cover a built-up area of 21,000 sq m. “The upcoming one is a greenfield project. The terminal will be capable of handling domestic cargo, international cargo, express courier, cold-chain pharma, and other perishable cargo,” said reports.