Category Archives: International

In a webinar on ATA & UN TIR Carnet with a focus on ‘facilitates free movement of goods across multiple international borders’, Sunil K Mall, Commissioner of Customs, Nhava Sheva, Mumbai, said, “TIR will facilitate intermodal transport and act as enabling document to cross multiple international borders without any additional checks. It will further help to improve trade between India, Central Asia & CIS countries.” While sharing his experience as the first TIR holder in India Shankar Shinde, Chairman-Elect, FFFAI, said, “Customs procedures in India should be further simplified under TIR to benefit large traders and exporters in India.” Raphael Hirt, IRU, Geneva, said, “The International Road Transport Union was very pleased to acknowledge the interest shown by Indian exporting industry towards the TIR procedure, especially the efforts made by CBIC, FICCI and FFFAI to promote this trade facilitation tool. IRU will continue to support all stakeholders involved in the implementation of TIR and its electronic version – eTIR in India. This will enable trade actors and Customs to benefit fully from the immense advantages provided by the TIR Convention which includes simplification of border crossing procedures, reduction of time and cost for the international movements of goods.” ATA Carnet is a temporary admission document, which simplifies the customs procedures and clearances in a foreign country, without paying duty or a bank guarantee for temporary import into that country. Like a passport for goods, ATA Carnet allows for the goods for which it was issued to enter any of the participating countries for up to one year. An ATA Carnet holder can avoid customs declaration and can do away with security deposit or guarantee in the country of temporary importation. …

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.

Locus has announced a partnership with Vinculum to offer brands & retailers best-in-class routing, omnichannel commerce solutions, and supply chain management under one roof. Locus and Vinculum will together provide a seamless solution for brands to manage everything E-commerce, right from global marketplace listings, data consistency, real-time view of inventory in stores, BOPIS (buy online, pick up in-store), BOPAK (buy online, pick up at kerbside), Returns across channels, to last-mile routing. “Locus is continuously increasing its presence in Southeast Asia, Middle East, and India. In these markets, the relevance of E-commerce and Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) has skyrocketed in the recent past. Companies are looking for solutions to go online and reach more customers,” said Krishna Khandelwal, Chief Business Officer, Locus. “We work with all parts of the Omnichannel ecosystem including brands, 3pls, marketplaces and retailers. Smart logistics solutions are a problem area for many of our customers. The partnership with Locus will help our customers to be more efficient and enable them to scale faster,” says Venkat Nott, Founder & CEO, Vinculum Group. Locus uses deep machine learning and proprietary algorithms to offer smart logistics solutions to customers. The company presently works with top clients across Southeast Asia, North America, Europe, and India. It has offices in the USA, India, Indonesia, and Vietnam. The top management of the company includes executives from Amazon Web Services (AWS), Barclays Capital, Google, and BlueDart (a DHL company), and data scientists with PhDs from the Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Illinois, among others. Locus has so far raised $29 million from tier-1 investors like Tiger Global, Falcon Edge, Blume Ventures, Exfinity Venture Partners, & growX ventures, among others.

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.

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.

In the fifth edition of the Logistics Trend Radar, DHL has revealed 29 key trends that will impact the logistics industry over the next years. The fifth-edition of Logistics Trend Radar indicates that we are experiencing an overall stabilisation of trends from the past four years. However, with the logistics industry weathering the current global pandemic, transformation processes have been accelerated. COVID-19 has driven changes regarding recent logistics innovation, automation, and digital work more rapidly and has accelerated industry digitalisation by years. Conversely, many trends initially perceived as disruptive game-changers for the logistics industry have yet to deliver on their disruptive potential. Self-driving vehicles and drones continue to be held back by legislative and technical challenges as well as limited social acceptance. Logistics marketplaces are stabilising on a few leading platforms and established forwarders are entering the game with their own digital offerings, backed with robust global logistics networks. From cloud computing to collaborative robotics, big data analytics, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things, logistics professionals have to make sense of a vast market of novel technology. Modernising all touch points of supply chains, from an elegant digital or customer journey, through fulfillment transport and final mile delivery is the new imperative for long-term success. Those who adopt and scale new technology and up-skill workforces fastest will have a competitive advantage on the market.

Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru (KIAB/ BLR Airport) processed 180,745 kgs of pomegranates from April to August 2020, to emerge as the leading airport for pomegranate exports from India. According to the data available from the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) and the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCIS), BLR Airport also accounted for 99 per cent of the total pomegranate exports from Karnataka. The fruit was exported to 12 international destinations, by nine global freight carriers – Air France, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Emirates Airlines, Etihad Airways, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines and Turkish Airlines. Powered by superior logistics and backed by two reputed cargo terminal operators – Air India SATS and Menzies Aviation Bobba Bangalore, BLR Airport plays a key role in ensuring that products reach their destinations in good condition. To retain their freshness, perishables are stored, cleared and moved to the aircraft on priority, with the required temperature controls in place, therefore reducing dwell time at terminals. The cargo infrastructure has been built to ensure the rapid distribution of perishable cargo, making KIAB the preferred cargo airport in South India. BLR Airport has a dedicated cold zone – AISATS CoolPort – with the capacity to handle 40,000 MT per annum and temperature zones ranging from -25 to +25 degrees Centigrade, under the same roof and Menzies Aviation Bobba Bangalore, with the capacity to handle 20,000 MT per annum.

Transporting total of 9963 kilograms of cargo which includes medical supplies and other general commodities, IndiGo operated its maiden flight to Chittagong, Bangladesh on September 21, 2020. The flight was operated while adhering to all the precautionary measures. Ronojoy Dutta, Chief Executive Officer, IndiGo said, “We are pleased to operate our maiden CarGo flight to Chittagong , Bangladesh, using our A-320 passenger aircraft in a ‘freighter mode’. We are proud to play a part in maintaining and supporting supply chains in and out of the country at this critical time. Cargo flights have gained significant momentum and we are pleased with the growth of this revenue stream over the last six months. IndiGo will continue to contribute and adapt its business to the needs of the hour.” Owing to the first flight, Chittagong was the 23rd destination covered by IndiGo for its cargo charter network. IndiGo has operated to multiple new destinations including Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan, Cairo in Egypt, Almaty in Kazakhstan, Tashkent in Uzbekistan and Kathmandu in its cargo network. Within the last 5 months, IndiGo has also transported cargo equivalent to the loads carried in the last financial year, despite limited capacity.