To meet growth in cargo volumes, construction work at 77,000 sq. ft cargo facility has started at Pittsburgh International Airport. The cargo facility is scheduled to open in 2024 and will include 69,000 sq. ft. of warehouse space and 7,300 sq. ft. of office space across two floors. The building will feature 17 loading docks for trucks; most will come with dock levellers, while others will be used specifically for Unit Loading Devices (ULDs). Flatbed trucks will be able to access the interior of the warehouse with a dedicated loading dock, which is advantageous in poor weather. Dedicated areas in the facility will be able to segregate goods deemed valuable, vulnerable, or hazardous. It will also have expansion capabilities to hold more equipment for special cargo and accommodate temperature-controlled goods. In addition, the building’s design includes additional space for security screening, particularly for international cargo. It will be able to serve two Boeing 747-8 freighters side by side, or up to four Boeing 757-200s at once.

Astral Aviation operates charter flights to and from India on its B767-200F. The charter flights that originate from Hong Kong carry cargo comprising mobile phones and e-commerce cargo, and pharma. The charter flights from India comprise pharma, including vaccines destined for Africa. With the induction of B757-200F into the Astral fleet in September 2022, Astral will offer additional charter opportunities to meet the increase in demand, which will complement B767F which has a payload of 42 tons, while B757F has a payload of 30 tons. Sanjeev Gadhia, Founder & CEO, Astral Aviation said, “Astral Aviation currently operates two B747-400F for perishables between its Nairobi Hub and Europe and will be expanding its wide-body fleet with the arrival of two B767-300Fs in 2023 and two B777-300Fs in 2024 and 2025. Astral will be introducing new flights to and from Tel Aviv and Riyadh, while increasing its frequency to Johannesburg and Hong Kong. Astral operates to 50 destinations on its network, connected via its hubs in Nairobi, Liege, Dubai, Johannesburg, and Delhi.”

Anshul Singhal, MD, WOLP said, “We have plans to develop Grade-A warehouse parks on land parcels in high demand that would be leased for an extended time to tenants with AAA credit ratings from industries such as e-commerce, FMCG, 3PL, pharma, and auto-ancillaries.” He added, “We have plans to extend our portfolio and have a budget of Rs 2,000 crore to build and lease a portfolio of 7-8 million square feet of grade-A warehouse space across India. We have targeted high-growth markets with the intention to negotiate with landowners in Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, Delhi, and Kolkata to acquire land parcels ranging from 40 to 75 acres. To serve as many pin codes as possible, we are concentrating on tier II cities such as Ludhiana, Ghaziabad, Indore, Siliguri, Guwahati, and Visakhapatnam. Our warehouse growth is focused on technology, guided by the 3S principle: smarter, faster, and sustainable. Lastly, we are contributing to a sustainable future by utilizing ecologically friendly alternatives when developing our logistics parks.”

V-Logis, part of V-Trans (India) Ltd, has launched its world-class facility with the state-of-the-art technology called CHEMSTORE. CHEMSTORE is a super-specialized chemical storage solution that provides the best safety standards at the global level. This world-class facility is amongst the top warehouses in the country which is fully compliant with National Building Code (NBC) 2016 and National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). The facility is a state-of-the-art infrastructure with strict compatibility for storing various chemicals of various hazardous classes. As per the norms, the facility is strategically located away from the Highway, residential, school, and river body at NH-3 Mankoli-Bhiwandi. The facility accommodates a total area of 2,18,350 sq. ft to store precious haz-chems with utmost safety measures. We have partnered with VED Hospital for emergency services at the facility which is at a distance of 12kms. The fire station is located 20km from Chem Store. The chemical industry is engineered with high compliance standards to store all categories of hazardous chemicals comfortably and securely. The facility shelves are built with a heavy-duty racking system in a systematic arrangement to store an optimum quantity of material. The layout of the warehouse is designed with a height of 46 ft at the center efficiently utilizing the space.

KSH Logistics, expands its warehousing footprint by opening a new Multi-Client Facility (MCF) warehouse in Bhiwandi, Mumbai. The warehouse, spread across a 100,000 sq. feet area, with a capacity of over 1000 pallets, is well equipped with modern infrastructure and provide real-time visibility of the supply chain along with complete integration of WMS & TMS solutions with clients’ ERP systems. With this expansion, KSH Logistics has expanded its MCF business to two key markets of Pune and Mumbai and taken its current capaity to over 300,000 sq, feet of warehousing space with a capacity of over 3000 pallet positions. Over the next 12 months the company plans on expanding its MCF network to 6 cities and take up the total area to 7,00,000 square feet with over 7000 pallet positions.

A little over 3000 acres of land would have to be acquired from the seven villages in Purandar taluka for the proposed airport and multimodal  logistics hub,” said Divisional commissioner Saurav Rao on Saturday. He added that the district administration would conduct a detailed assessment of the land required in the seven villages Paragaon, Khanwadi, Munjwadi.  Ekhatpur, Kumbharvalan, Vanpuri etc. The Deputy chief Minister in a statement iterated that the proposed Greenfield international airport would  come up at the previously identified site in the seven villages because it had all the required permissions. Land for the airport project was in earmarked in the seven villages in the earlier proposal submitted to the government. Rao, said, “I shall be holding a meeting with the official of the Pune district and ministration land acquisition department , the Maharashtra airport development company, the Maharashtra  industrial development Corporation,  and representatives from Paragaon as a part of initial discussion because we need to assess how much land would be required for the airport and the logistics.”

To expand the international operations in the coming years, J D Logistics is planning to launch a new cargo airline. According to the reports, JD Airlines has received an air carrier certificate from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC). The JD Logistics-affiliated  airline’s principal base will be Nantong Xingdong International Airport. It will first develop its domestic air cargo around China’s three major economic circles of the Yangtze River Delta, the Bohai Sea and the Pearl River Delta, with a focus on the cities  of Nantong, Beijing, Shenzhen, and Wuxi. The carrier will then extend its reach to cities in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, then Chengdu and Chongqing, and will gradually cover nationwide major cities and Southeast Asia, Japan, and Korea and later  in Europe, Middle East, and North America by the end of 2025. The airline said it would serve the clients  of JD Logistics as well as opening its capacity to the wider market.

Etihad Cargo has implemented a new customer relationship management (CRM) system as the latest step in its digitalisation drive. The carrier  said that it would now use the Microsoft Dynamics 365-driven Pulse CRM system, which will provide customer service agents with more customer-focused data. The system provides an updated case management system and customer information, such as the customer’s  history, purchase records, sales interactions, and a more in-depth view of customer queries. Tim Isik, vice president of commercial at Etihad Cargo, said, “The transformation of Etihad Cargo’s Customer Contact Centre through the launch of this new system provides  greater transparency and visibility, enabling customer service agents to track each transaction from initial contact through to resolution.”

Simmi Jain, Principal Commissioner, Customs, ACC Import, Delhi Zone said, “AEO Certification is important for all industry stakeholders. I urge you all that if you have any issues, please feel free to discuss and bring forth the issue so that we can understand, we can solve the same. We are all basically looking at our country’s welfare. Maybe the solution does not come out immediately as we aspire but yes, there will be some movement. We will take the regional power to the board wherever it is relevant. But one factor, which is slightly impacting cargo performance is lesser number of AEOs are operating in the sector, which means the clearance time would be slightly higher.”

Aircraft maker Boeing expects India’s air traffic to annually grow by nearly 7 per cent through 2040, and is bullish on the “massive potential” in the air cargo space. The company, which is a key player in both civil and defence aerospace segments, is also looking to increase the sourcing of raw materials from the country.Boeing Managing Director (Marketing) David Schulte stated that strong recovery is gaining further momentum in Indian aviation and it is one of the fastest growing markets.