Category Archives: International

Viraj Vohra is the Director of Continental Group, a global supply chain management company. He has consistently maintained an innovative approach to the company’s growth, being persistent, devoted, and meticulous, as well as a dedicated and enthusiastic leader. He has directed the group’s expansion into numerous areas by taking an innovative approach to business and people. Vohra, an international business leader, has been instrumental in forging significant alliances with partners from over 60 countries and increasing the group’s global reach. He has extensive experience collaborating with global leaders of supply chain organisations from around the world. Vohra completed the Port of Antwerp’s Certified PA3 Experiential Training Programme for Breakbulk Handling and Port Operations, which assisted the group’s diversification initiatives.

The India Cargo Awards will commence tonight. The event will be commemorated by celebrating true leaders and recognising their hard work, passion, and dedication to the cargo industry. The event will be attended by Amrit Lal Meena, Special Secretary (Logistics), Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Department of Commerce, Government of India, as the Chief Guest, and Piyush Shrivastava, IES, Sr. Economic Advisor for the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India, as the Guest of Honour.

Ecom Express Limited announced that it has been certified as a Great Place to Work from March 2022 to March 2023. The company has been recognised for its efforts in building a high-trust, high-performance culture. The certification is a validation of all the varied efforts of Ecom Express that are channeled in the right direction to create an exceptional working environment and promote a culture that supports employee well-being, safety, and learning. Over the last nine years, Ecom Express has built its diverse and inclusive, talent-focused culture with care and trust for its employees. They are valued and nurtured, making them highly productive and result-oriented. As an organisation with 60,000+ employees (on roll and off roll), Ecom Express truly believes in the voice of its people getting heard, acknowledged, and actioned upon to enhance employee experiences and empower them to achieve their business goals.

Qatar Airways Cargo and WiseTech Global launched a direct e-booking solution between their global operating systems. The e-booking connection between WiseTech’s flagship CargoWise platform and Qatar Airways Cargo management system, CROAMIS, enables freight forwarders using CargoWise to choose their flights and confirm a booking with Qatar Airways Cargo in real-time, without having to leave the platform. Similarly, existing bookings made via the solution can be modified. Guillaume Halleux, Chief Officer of Cargo at Qatar Airways Cargo commented, “Our continued collaboration with WiseTech Global is focused on providing our mutual customers with an enhanced experience, and supporting them with improved visibility, efficiency, and value. With our operational data exchange with CargoWise seeing positive results, this was a natural next step in the partnership. Our digitalisation strategy remains centred on moving to robust systems, automatic quotations, real-time integrations, and improved reporting. These have become critical in an industry that is moving rapidly towards digital solutions.”

Logistics startup Bigblue, has announced a $15 million Series A round, Tech Funding. Founded in 2018, the Paris-based company’s services include giving retailers full control over packaging, branding and customer communications, as per the reports. With the new funding, it plans to hire more people for its sales; marketing and operations staff, along with tripling its engineering staff. According to the reports, co-founder, Tim Dumain said the company has “a lot of new customers in France, but now we’re expanding in Europe.” “We opened our services to Spain a few weeks ago and will soon open the U.K. in a couple of months for customers shipping products there,” he continued. “We plan to expand in five big countries in the European e-commerce market, including Germany and Italy.” Dumain added that Bigblue’s main goal is to “make it easy for brands to grow online.” “With this new round, we will support scaling service offerings for Bigblue’s growing base of online merchants, fuel hiring efforts, and continue to position the company as the leader in the D2C direct-to-consumer fulfilment space,” he added. The round was led by Runa Capital and LPV was the second lead investor.

Ascent Concorde Air Cargo Services, a division of Group Concorde in the UAE, has signed a Strategic Co-ordination Agreement with Ras Al Khaimah International Airport to expand the vision for cargo development within the region. Ascent Concorde Air Cargo Services will act as the Strategic Partner and Commercial Arm of Ras Al Khaimah International Airport to promote cargo throughput to, from, and through RAK International Airport. Generating value proposition for airlines, shippers, and freight forwarders by making RAK Intl Airport the preferred logistics hub in the UAE. With this cooperation, Ascent Concorde Air Cargo Services will: Manage export sales and administrative activities for walk-in customers at RAK Intl Airport Cargo Terminal. Offer GSA and CSA services to operating airlines at RAK Airport. Sales and marketing activities for partner airlines. Promote outbound and inbound business from the UAE for operating carriers using RAK Airport as a gateway. End-to-end logistic solutions for shippers and consignees in the UAE Speaking on the partnership, Prithviraj Singh Chug, Director – Group Concorde, said, “We are pleased to form this partnership with Ras Al Khaimah International Airport. We will increase the potential of having outbound traffic from RAK Intl Airport, making it more viable for airline operators and customers to use RAK Intl Airport as an option and preferred gateway in the country and region. We aim to invest our resources for this operation to be a success, as we look forward to promoting this across our network. The new collaboration will bring added benefits to customers and industry partners in the UAE.”

Customers of Lufthansa Cargo will now benefit from an optimised booking process on the cargo.one platform: Shippers can now have the air waybill number required for booking assigned to them digitally and fully automatically. This eliminates the need for time-consuming manual management of air waybill inventories and numbers. Lufthansa Cargo is the exclusive launch partner for this new, digital and free feature at cargo.one, which is available for all Lufthansa Cargo capacities that can be booked there. The air cargo airline plans to offer automated air waybill number assignment for customer bookings on its own website in the second quarter as well. “We are pleased that we will be able to offer our customers a more efficient booking process and an improved customer experience in the future,” said Ashwin Bhat, Chief Commercial Officer at Lufthansa Cargo. “The fact that we are the first airfreight airline to jointly launch the process of automated air waybill number assignment with cargo.one shows once again that Lufthansa Cargo is playing a pioneering role in the digitalization of the entire industry. “Excellent customer orientation and modern digital distribution are our top priorities.” As of today, forwarders who use cargo.one to book shipments with Lufthansa Cargo can book immediately without having to enter a valid AWB number first. Using a “Book now” button, the customer selects any Lufthansa Cargo offer and is then assigned a valid AWB number with the booking confirmation. The advantages of automated AWB assignment are obvious: the booking process runs much faster, is less error-prone, and much more user-friendly. However, customers who still wish to enter an AWB number manually can continue to do so. In addition, Lufthansa Cargo is working on …

The French Minister for Transport, Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, visited Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPA) on Sunday to discuss and strengthen Indo-French relations and sustainable solutions for land, air, and sea transport. The French Minister also discussed the contribution of French companies in developing Indian ports and logistics value chains, along with the execution of the joint master plan on the blue economy, with Shri Unmesh Shard Wagh, IRS, Dy. Chairman, JNPA. While interacting with the French minister and delegates, Wagh said, “JNPA promotes and emphasises sustainable solutions and land and sea transport systems, enabling meaningful participation in social and economic activities. JNPA provides multi-modal facilities and several projects that enable ease of operation and give the finest experience to our customers and stakeholders.” Speaking about Indo-French relations, he added, “India and France are interested in progressive advancement in the maritime domain and port sector and are also both enthusiastic trading partners.” An exclusive presentation of projects at JNPA was also showcased at the event, followed by a port visit. The French minister appreciated JNPA’s green port initiatives and the steps taken towards sustainable development.

EV Cargo has acquired Netherlands-headquartered Fast Forward Freight in a move that will more than double the firm’s annual airfreight volumes, says the release. The company, owned by Hong Kong-based private equity firm EmergeVest, said that the acquisition is part of its previously announced corporate strategy to expand its worldwide footprint and grow its freight forwarding and supply chain services business. As part of the transaction, EV Cargo has become the sole shareholder of Fast Forward Freight (and its trading subsidiaries), with the current owners of Fast Forward Freight becoming shareholders of EV Cargo. The deal adds more than $170m of revenue to EV Cargo, resulting in pro forma combined revenue of approximately $1.7bn, and grows EV Cargo’s employees to more than 2,600 globally, tripling its European workforce to more than 400 people. In terms of airfreight, the move will more than double EV Cargo’s volumes to over 100,000 tonnes. In terms of locations, EV Cargo will “significantly” increase its presence in the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany, and UK, as well as expand into Greece and Switzerland. Fast Forward Freight will be rebranded as EV Cargo and operations will merge. Heath Zarin, Founder and Chief Executive of EV Cargo, said in a statement, “Fast Forward Freight shares our commitment to providing innovative technology-enabled solutions and has a strong history of providing supply chain control towers to its customer base of world-leading brands. This transaction helps us grow the EV Cargo global network by adding excellent colleagues, capabilities, and customers.” Fast Forward Freight founder and chief executive, Marc Terpstra, added, “EV Cargo is focused on providing an innovative technology platform, blending proprietary and industry leading technology based on a deep understanding …

Alaska Air Cargo is all set to expand with the addition of two Boeing 737-800 aircraft to its dedicated freighter fleet serving the state of Alaska. These additions increase the freighter fleet from three to five aircraft. “Fleet expansion positions our growing cargo business to meet increased demand that we see from industry and consumers,” said Adam Drouhard, Managing Director for Alaska Air Cargo, in an official statement. Air Cargo’s total freighter lift capacity will be essentially doubled with the introduction of the -800 aircraft. “We look forward to getting these -800s into service to support Alaska’s supply chain and connect cargo to over 100 cities we serve across North America,” he added. The two 737-800 converted aircraft will come from Alaska Airlines’ existing passenger fleet. Beginning this year, the planes will be converted from their passenger configuration to all-freight aircraft. They’re projected to re-enter service as freighters in 2023. The -800 aircraft provides a 40% capacity increase per departure over the current -700 aircraft, with a payload of nearly 50,000 pounds. With a range of 2,800 nautical miles, the -800 will be the most fuel-efficient aircraft to serve intra-Alaska. “Alaskans have always relied on Alaska Air Cargo to provide time-sensitive services to their communities,” said Marilyn Romano, Regional Vice President, Alaska Airlines. “Whether it is vaccines, medicine, household supplies or fresh food, our freighters keep rural Alaska supplied and connected. “With service to 20 communities across Alaska and only three accessible by road, adding new aircraft to the current freighter fleet allows expansion of our vital services to all Alaskans. “The additional freighter capacity also allows us to quickly move seafood and other commodities from Alaska to points throughout …