Category Archives: Aviation

Commenting on the readiness of logistics industry to handle the transportation of COVID-19 vaccine, Satish Lakkaraju, Chief Commercial Officer, Agility Global Integrated Logistics, says “India has been in the business of exporting pharmaceuticals from last so many years. All the airports in India have pharma facilities; Delhi & Mumbai have pharma centres and Mumbai has also upgraded its facility, Hyderabad always had a pharma centre, Bengaluru has a ‘Coolport’. It now depends on where the vaccine comes. India is more than ready for the export; domestically if the need comes in there will be more upgradations to be done. However, we are ready and we have made investments in terms of upgrading the warehouses.”

In order to handle cargo operations, Vijayawada airport will soon have a designated building spanning 2,500 square metres along with cold storage facility. The domestic cargo facility was launched at the old terminal building in June 2018 and the services commenced in August and about 40 tonnes of cargo is handled per day. Estimates in this regard are under final stages and tenders will be invited shortly. Shreepa Logistics, a private firm, was given the contract to serve as the facility’s logistics partner. The airport authorities have mooted the idea of a designated building for cargo operations along with cold storage facility, considering the airport’s potential for handling special cargo flights operated by the IAF and Air India from New Delhi carrying emergency medical supplies, including PPE, N95 masks and sanitisers, during COVID-19. “We submitted representations to the AAI officials and they have prepared proposals for a designated building to handle cargo operations and a cold storage facility for preserving perishable goods,” says, Potluri Bhaskar Rao, General Secretary, Andhra Pradesh Chambers

Emphasising on working towards an atmanirbhar logistics vertical, Anamika Sinha, Chairperson, SCLA, says, “The EXIM interest of private sector and their respective futuristic disposition along with logistics streamlining will surely help achieve the bigger picture down to the level-zero in complete sync with the state and government agenda. In view of same, the Project NorthEast (NE) has been an endeavoured at SCLA and is progressive since last couple of months.” Jaideep Raha, President – NorthEast, SCLA and Webinar Session Moderator, emphasised the potential for new business opportunities in the NE which can boost the GDP growth and presented a detailed, insightful presentation on the resources and development in NER. He made a insisting and assuring request to the concerned ministries to provide for the necessary infrastructure and the logistics team united under SCLA would come forward to ensure successful implementation and would be pleased to contribute to NER business growth. The Guest of Honour for the event were H K Sharma, IAS, Secretary, Dept of Industries Government of Sikkim, Hage Tari, IAS, Secretary, Industrial Trade & Communication Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, Government of AR, K K Dwivedi, IAS, Secretary Industries, Government of Assam, N. Sivasailam, IAS, Immediate Past Spl Secretary Logistics, Patron, SCLA, Vandana Agarwal, IES, Sr. Economic Advisor, MoCA, Shashi Bhushan Shukla, IRS Member Traffic & Logistics, IWAI, Kabir Ahmed, President, BAFFA, Aparajita Banerjee, Advisory Board Member (EAST and NE India) ANZ India Business Chamber; all the eminent speakers of respective region talked about their region initiatives and new business opportunities. Dwivedi shared the initiatives by the government on building trilateral highways connecting India, Myanmar and Thailand and trade movement through waterways via Brahmaputra River from India to Chattogram …

According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the global air freight markets’ improvement remains slow amid insufficient capacity in August. Asia-Pacific airlines saw demand for international air cargo fall 18.3% in August 2020 compared to the same period a year earlier. After a robust initial recovery in May, month-on-month growth in seasonally-adjusted demand declined for the second consecutive month. International capacity is particularly constrained in the region, down 35%. Demand moved slightly in a positive direction month-on-month; however, levels remain depressed compared to 2019. Improvement continues at a slower pace than some of the traditional leading indicators would suggest. This is due to the capacity constraint from the loss of available belly cargo space as passenger aircraft remain parked. Global demand, measured in cargo tonne-kilometers (CTKs*), was 12.6% below previous-year levels in August (-14% for international operations). That is a modest improvement from the 14.4% year-on-year drop recorded in July. Seasonally-adjusted demand grew by 1.1% month-on-month in August. Global capacity, measured in available cargo tonne-kilometers (ACTKs), shrank by 29.4% in August ( 31.6% for international operations) compared to the previous year. This is basically unchanged from the 31.8% year-on-year drop in July. Belly capacity for international air cargo was 67% below the levels of August 2019 owing to the withdrawal of passenger services amid the COVID-19 pandemic. This was partially offset by a 28.1% increase in dedicated freighter capacity. Daily widebody freighter utilization is close to 11 hours per day, the highest levels since these figures have been tracked in 2012. Economic activity continued to recover in August reflected, among other things, in the performance of the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) indicator of economic health in the manufacturing sector. …

Strengthening its pharmaceutical logistics expertise, Etihad Cargo has launched PharmaLife, a specialised pharma and healthcare product which replaces the carrier’s TempCheck product. The dedicated product aims to move the anticipated global demand for Covid-19 vaccine. It will available at 54 stations on the Etihad network and will focus on key gateways including Abu Dhabi, Barcelona, Chicago, Paris, Dubai, Frankfurt, Hyderabad, London, Milan, Melbourne, Mumbai, Shanghai, Singapore, and Sydney. Andre Blech, Head – Operations & Service Delivery, Etihad Cargo, said, “The pandemic prompted a reassessment of our top-level services to ensure we can address the specific requirements for shipping high volumes of in-demand product in very short timescales. To avoid last-minute pressure once a vaccine is approved, we have established a dedicated Covid-19 vaccines workforce composed of a steering committee and a working group to manage all anticipated elements.” “Our intention is to continuously expand our Pharma trade lanes, which requires collaboration with industry partners. By working with equipment suppliers, general handling agents, and associations, we can share knowledge and build trust across the industry that will result in the highest quality industry standard for sustainable quality that our customers deserve,” he said. “A core part of this is through working with our GHAs to offer cool dollies or thermo trucks for key destinations; dependent upon viability, we could look into an advanced lease model for this kind of equipment as currently, due to tarmac constraints, cool dollies and thermo trucks are quite rare and expensive,” added Blech.

AirBridgeCargo Airlines (ABC) has completed the transportation of 12 SkyCell containers from Hong Kong (China) to Amsterdam (Netherlands). The transportation was organised in partnership with UPS Healthcare with the SkyCell 1500C containers shipped from Europe to Asia in pre-conditioned mode. Once they arrived in Hong Kong, they were loaded with vaccines to be flown back under temperature range 2-8°C. According to the ABC Airline, the SkyCell 1500C containers, weighing more than 10,500 kg, occupied six lower forward deck positions and approached an almost maximum possible number of containers per section, which is 14. “We are now analysing and mapping out all possible scenarios for vaccine transportation, even using technical capabilities of An-124-100 and Il-76TD-90VD,” said Yulia Celetaria, Pharma Director, AirBridgeCargo Airlines. ABC has transported over 40,000 tons of temperature-sensitive pharmaceuticals for the first seven months of 2020 which is more than 150% up compared to the same period of 2019.

In order to conduct a feasibility study for a proposed Hyperloop corridor from Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL), Virgin Hyperloop and BIAL signed a first-of-its-kind Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The MoU was exchanged virtually between Sultan bin Sulayem, Chairman of Virgin Hyperloop and DP World, and T.M. Vijay Bhaskar, IAS, Chief Secretary, Government of Karnataka and Chairman of the Board of Directors, BIAL in the presence of Kapil Mohan, IAS, Principal Secretary, Infrastructure Development Department, Government of Karnataka. “We are honored to partner with Bangalore International Airport Limited to explore ways in which hyperloop can become a part of the solution to tackle congestion and support economic growth in Bengaluru” said Sulayem. “Beyond just the transit of passengers, airports are crucial conduit for goods, especially time-sensitive deliveries. A hyperloop-connected airport would dramatically improve the delivery of cargo and create an ultra-efficient supply chain,” he adds. BIAL aims to make BLR Airport a transportation hub that connects people and places together through various modes of transport. In addition to its well-established road network, BLR Airport will soon be connected with the sub-urban railway in few weeks and have Metro connectivity in four years.

Blue Dart Express has announced its General Price Increase (GPI), effective January 1, 2021. The average shipment price increase will be 9.6 per cent as compared to 2020, dependant on the shipping profile. Customers signing up from October 1 to December 31, 2020 will not be impacted by the price increase. Balfour Manuel, Managing Director, Blue Dart, said, “Embodying our role as the trade facilitator to the nation, our teams worked every single day through the pandemic, ensuring that the mission critical supply chain remained functional. As we adapt to the new normal, Blue Dart is taking every necessary step to consistently improve and enhance customer experience. The General Price Increase will account for the cost we have incurred and invested in our infrastructure and technology to provide our customers with the BEST experience. We intend on further enhancing our capabilities and especially in light of the pandemic, providing more sustainable solutions to our customers by utilising the power of technology and digitization for first, middle and last mile deliveries.” Ketan Kulkarni, CMO & Head – Business Development, Blue Dart adds, “Blue Dart, being the leader in the express logistics industry, has made strategic investments ahead of the curve to remain agile and adaptive in a dynamic environment. These include expanding our reach, improving transit times, network optimisation, infrastructure and technology solutions and focusing on emerging markets, SMEs and key sectors”. The company adjusts its prices annually, taking into account inflation, currency dynamics, fuel cost fluctuations and other rising regulatory and mandatory costs, such as expenses related to compliance for the workforce with enhanced security regulations across the large number of locations it services.

GEODIS has confirmed a two-way schedule of flights from China to Europe and back, through to early 2021, as part of its AirDirect service. The company originally instigated its full aircraft charter arrangements on this route in March with ad hoc flights and introduced a weekly timetable in June to meet the urgent need for air cargo capacity which had diminished due to the effects of the pandemic. Now, with both freighter and passenger belly-hold space still in short supply, the logistics provider has announced a permanent schedule reaching into next year. Weekly direct flights will depart from Shanghai (PVG) every Monday and from Amsterdam (AMS) each Sunday to service what is expected to be a post-COVID resurgence in demand during what is traditionally a fourth quarter peak season. The advent of the China-Europe-China service brings the company’s total investment in GEODIS’ OCN to over €70 million. More than 400 flights have been successfully completed across Asia, Europe, North and Latin America to date. Among the customers requiring such a service are, in particular, a European auto manufacturer equipping its plant in China with sub-assembly parts. In addition, Lenovo, a global leader in the manufacturing of personal computers, smartphones, workstations, computer servers and smart IoT devices, is one of GEODIS’ customers of its AirDirect Mexico service (Hong Kong/ Guadalajara) as well as its weekly direct flights from Shanghai-Amsterdam. GEODIS ensures the transportation of Lenovo’s products are safely and securely handled, helping Lenovo to deliver its components to factories and finished goods to customers in a timely manner. “It is vital for our customers in China to be not only assured of regular capacity but also that their freight partner is …

In order to enhance the logistic capacity of its fleet, Saudia Cargo has added a Boeing 747-400F freighter to help meet the significant surge on the demand for medicine, medical and preventive equipment and other similar goods. Bringing the total number to seven aircraft, the new freighter will boost the cargo and supply operations. Omar Hariri, CEO, Saudia Cargo, said, “We have taken practical steps to guarantee the cargo and supply operations smooth continuity to and from the Kingdom ever since the flights, excluding cargo and evacuation, were suspended due to COVID-19. Today, flights have been resumed but to a certain degree. Once the new freighter has been put into operation, it will increase the operation and cargo capacity and help the company meet its targets and provide logistic support to deliver urgent medical cargos to the Kingdom in order to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 as part of its continued efforts.” The aircraft started the freighter services in September after all licenses have been obtained, flight schedules have been prepared and proper enhancements have been put in place.