Category Archives: International

To develop logistics parks in key consumption hubs in India, Allcargo Logistics has partnered with Blackstone Group. Blackstone will invest up to Rs380 crore in Allcargo Logistics to develop industrial and logistics parks across India. Blackstone proposes to make its investment in the platform, by way of debt and equity. Allcargo will retain a minority stake in the various logistics assets and transfer its debt as it relates to these specific assets to their relevant subsidiaries. The transaction is expected to conclude in a phase wise manner over the next 12 months, subject to satisfaction of customary closing conditions and achievement of certain milestones. “Through this strategic tie-up, we reiterate our commitment and positioning to create a global benchmark in warehousing infrastructure and provide state-of-the-art warehousing solutions to our customers,” states Shashi Kiran Shetty, Chairman, Allcargo Logistics.

Tensions between Iran and the US increased after an American drone strike that killed top Iranian General last week. Iran is a key trading partner of India. “Escalation of tension between the US and Iran will have implications on India’s exports to the Persian Gulf nation, said, Sharad Kumar Saraf, President, FIEO. He said that due to existing trade sanctions on Iran, Iranian shipping lines are only taking Indian consignments to that country. Iran’s major exports to India are oil, fertilisers and chemicals, while it imports cereals, tea, coffee, basmati rice, spices and organic chemicals, among others. FIEO Chief is also of the view that Iran holds huge export opportunities in sectors such as agriculture, chemicals, machinery, pharmaceuticals, paper and paper products, man-made fibre and filament yarn and essential oils.

The MCCI Logistics Forum 2019 emphasised on regular communication between importers of Nepal and the service providers in India to bring down logistics cost. Sudip Dey, Vice Chairman, Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations in India (FFFAI), suggests, “There must be regular interactions between the importers of Nepal and Kolkata Service providers to bring down cost of Nepal import. It was only due to lack of communication that anomalies were happening (e.g. port ground rent, penalty by Railways etc). KOPT may keep a liaison officer in Nepal for dealing with day to day issues. Border restrictions for transit into Nepal should be done away with and vigilance should be done with the help of risk management & IT.” Highlighting the importance of Indo-Nepal as well as regional trade MCCI officials maintained that an efficient logistics and transportation infrastructure would be critical for strengthening India’s trade and economic engagement with its neighboring countries like Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar.

Seeing the improved connectivity of Madhya Pradesh with other states in all directions, Walmart, Amazon and Reliance are preparing to tap the strategic location of Madhya Pradesh to set up logistic bases by locating national distribution centres and warehouses in the state. The state is likely to see intense activity on this front in March and April. The business heads of the retailers are planning visits in the couple of months to figure out details of logistics business. According to Rajesh Rajoura, Principal Secretary to the state government for industrial investment policy and promotion, “Walmart, Amazon and Reliance have expressed interest in building logistic hubs and warehouses in the state. Setting up retail outlets is neither their priority nor the state government. But logistic hubs will get due consideration.” Amazon also plans to enter fresh fruit and vegetable markets in a big way and would want to set up centres for supply in Madhya Pradesh and the rest of the country.

SF Airlines has launched its second freighter service between Shenzhen and New Delhi. Airlines’ B747-400F, the new route will see two flights per week, providing a weekly round-trip capacity of 400 tonne. The company has added a new flight between Shenzhen and New Delhi in addition to its Shenzhen–Chennai service launched earlier in 2019. ““As the capital of India, New Delhi is an important location for Chinese companies to invest, develop and expand their business in the country,” said, Sam Sun, Head, SF Express India, in adding, “To leverage these advantages, SF Express has launched an all-new direct air freight route to New Delhi to fully penetrate the Indian market and provide comprehensive cross-border logistics coverage.”

Delhi International Airport (DIAL) has announced that it has been chosen as the exclusive cargo transshipment centre in India by China. As per this significant development, Chinese cargo to the central Asian countries is now being routed through Delhi airport’s Transshipment Excellence Centre (TEC). Expressing happiness over the development, Videh Kumar Jaipuria, CEO, DIAL, said, “Delhi has emerged as a cargo hub for businesses in North India and neighbouring countries.” An Air Asia X (D7) freighter, carrying garment and accessories, brought the consignment from Beijing to Delhi for onward delivery to Ukraine in the last week of 2019. This was the first instance of international-to-international movement of China’s cargo via Delhi Airport. “This new movement of international transhipment cargo connecting China to Ukraine via Delhi Airport will give a significant impetus to the air cargo and regional logistics sectors,” said Jaipuria.

The DHL Global Trade Barometer predicts mildly positive growth for Indian trade with the country’s index rising five points to 54. According to data from the DHL Global Trade Barometer released by DHL, the positive outlook is driven primarily by an uptake in ocean imports of basic and industrial raw materials and chemicals and products, coupled with a gradual revival in air exports of consumer fashion goods. In total, ocean trade grew by 10 points, maintaining India’s positive outlook even as air trade forecasts experience relative weakness. The strong growth in ocean import and export will sustain India’s trade growth over three months in 2020. “India has the strongest trade forecast this quarter and the highest index value of all countries in the latest Global Trade Barometer survey, followed closely by the United Kingdom and Japan,” said Niki Frank, CEO, DHL Global Forwarding India. He adds, “This highlights the underlying potential of India’s economy, which will benefit from the government’s plan to invest US$ 1.39 trillion (€ 1.26 trillion) in infrastructure projects. The country’s commitment to establishing itself as a strategic maritime hub with initiatives and investments in coastal infrastructure appear to be supporting the index’s positive ocean trade outlook and will likely also contribute positively to longer-term trade growth.”

Flipkart has led a US$ 60 million investment in Shadowfax to strengthen its logistics network in the nation. “We have seen strong synergies with Shadowfax through our existing engagement with them, and their investments in tech-enabled innovations will help us significantly reduce delivery time and provide superior customer experiences across product categories. By leveraging kirana stores and the deep delivery capabilities of Shadowfax and other Flipkart-led innovations, we are building a strong foundation to make inroads into a dynamic hyperlocal consumer market,” said Kalyan Krishnamurthy, Chief Executive Officer, Flipkart. The Series D funding round also saw the participation of Eight Roads Ventures, NGP Capital, Qualcomm Ventures, Mirae Asset Naver Fund, and the World Bank-backed International Finance Corp.

Jabil Circuit India has leased approximately 60,000 sq ft of customised modern facility for light manufacturing and assembly at IndoSpace Ranjangaon, Pune. KA Lee, Senior Vice President and Chief Operations Officer, Jabil Green Point, said, “This facility will help Jabil Green Point, a division of Jabil Inc, in leveraging the growth potential of the Indian market which is continuing to emerge as a key manufacturing hub for our global customers.” Rajesh Jaggi, Vice Chairman, Real Estate, Everstone Group, said, “We are very pleased to have Jabil as a tenant and look forward to working with them on future expansion endeavors in India. Our global industrial real estate experience along with local execution capabilities enable us to anticipate the needs of Jabil and structure solutions that support their business plan.” Spread across 104 acres, the IndoSpace facility in Ranjangaon is a fully integrated industrial park located in MIDC Ranjangaon. The park consists of more than 2.4 million sqft of modern warehouses and light manufacturing facilities that are designed to meet the manufacturing, logistics and supply chain needs of global companies.

Nippon Express South Asia & Oceania (Nippon Express) and Future Supply Chain Solutions (FSC) have signed a Business Collaboration Agreement (BCA) to jointly explore growth opportunities for new and existing customers based on their strategic partnership and expand revenues for both the companies. The two companies will jointly start the business collaboration from January 2020. The partnership will jointly leverage Nippon Express’ competency in diverse sectors for the Indian market. FSC will demonstrate its 3PL and express logistics operations, attracting potential new business opportunities from Nippon Express’ existing Japanese and MNC clients. Both the companies have agreed to formalise a steering committee and Nippon Express will depute its representatives to operate alongside FSC’s management.