Category Archives: Rail/Road

Explaining on how the country’s economy will be benefitted with the multi modal way of transportation, Chander Agarwal, MD, TCI Express said, “India is on the cusp of becoming a $5 trillion economy meaning that the logistics cost is going to be $1 trillion approximately. This is a great opportunity for the logistics companies to enhance their capabilities and become leading service providers in the country. Multi modal will benefit the Indian economy in a big way because of a vast coastline and land area. Multi modal may help in bringing down the cost for the logistics sector, moreover, the overall efficiency and the transfer of goods from manufacturer to consumer will be at a much faster pace.”

Showing way forward on multi modal transportation of logistics, Xerrxes Master, President, AMTOI, said, “Multi Modal is the only optimal logistic solution where the best mode of transport is chosen with the most cost effective and time efficient manner. Finally, the Indian government has recognized the importance of multi modalism by renewing the old Multi Modal Transportation of Goods Act 1993. AMTOI has been actively involved with the Government in policy formulation, also to become a self regulating organisation for the benefit of it’s members. Multi modalism is carried out by all the three modes of transportation where a contract can be executed by different modes of transport under one single document which is the essence and the basis of multi modalism.”

CargoTalk’s virtual conclave on Multi Modal Logistics was a big success. With a lot insightful information from our expert speakers, the discussion on the said topic were informative as to how multi modal logistics is revolutionising the supply chain by transporting the logistics faster and more efficiently. With the focus on Multi Modal in the new normal world, the summit also discussed the significant role played by it in the transportation of logistics globally. Also how technology is supporting the movement of logistics in a more efficient manner. The industries across have well adopted to the changing dynamics of different modes of transportation in the supply-chain interactions and of their internal operations. Esteemed speakers included Xerrxex Master, President, AMTOI, Chander Agarwal, Managing Director, TCI EXPRESS Ltd. and Yuvraj Sharma, Cluster Head Sales and Marketing, India, Sri Lanka and Maldives, Kuhene+Nagel.

CargoTalk is organising a digital conclave today from 11.00-12.00 pm. The virtual conclave is about Multi Modal Logistics and how it is revolutionising the supply chain by transporting the logistics faster and more efficiently. The conclave will have eminent speakers from across the industry. With the focus on Multi Modal in the new normal world, the summit will discuss the significant role played by it in the transportation of logistics globally. The industries across have well adopted to the changing dynamics of different modes of transportation in the supply-chain interactions and of their internal operations. Esteemed speakers will include Xerrxex Master, President, AMTOI, Chander Agarwal, Managing Director, TCI EXPRESS Ltd. and Yuvraj Sharma, Cluster Head Sales and Marketing, India, Sri Lanka and Maldives, Kuhene+Nagel. For further details please contact Jaspreet Kaur: +91-9650196532, jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com

Express distribution leader Gati has ramped up its network capacity by 25% by adding 100 line haul trucks to its innovative flexi network to connect the demand locations. Thus, Gati aims to cut down the dwell time further in view of the huge spike in demand during the festival season, billed as the stress-test time for supply chain players. The additional trucks in the special flexible network based on the market and route dynamics, will connect the key locations to ease the pressure of servicing the demands. The network will reduce dwell time from existing 9% to 5%. As many as 19 such grid locations including Delhi/NCR, Mumbai, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune, Indore and Kolkata have been identified for the purpose. “We are ready for the festival ride and meet the increased demand during the upcoming season. The network capacity will be enhanced by 20-25% while the workforce will be strengthened by at least15%. We are planning to leverage at least 20% of existing facilities further to manage the peak season load. Overall, we expect a 15% increase in productivity per person. We are tech enabled, especially in the area of artificial intelligence, to meet the purpose. We have set up a monitoring system already in place to ensure a better transit time for the customers. Our aim is to ensure a delivery efficiency of 95%+,” said Charles Devlin D’Costa, Chief of Supply Chain Operations, Gati KWE

With the ongoing festive season, the new-age logistics companies expect multi-fold growth in shipments and are fully geared to meet the challenge with measures such as capacity expansion and additional hiring. With aggressive demands during festive seasons over the last few years, COVID-19 has further accelerated e-commerce adoption in all segments, be it business-to-consumer (B2C), direct-to-consumer (D2C) or business-to-business (B2B). Xpressbees Chief Business Officer for B2C, Harsha Bhoi, said, “the overall volume in the festive season goes to two-three times for the overall e-commerce markets”. “This year, we are expecting even more higher peaks considering the economy getting (back) on track. Moreover, increased adoption in tier 2 and 3 cities as well as in remote cities and COVID-19 further accelerate the overall adoption for e-commerce deliveries,” he added. Bhoi added that the company expects a peak of up to 1.5 million shipments for Xpressbees on peak days during the festive rush.

Container Company of Bangladesh Limited (CCBL) is going to build a rail Inland Container Depot (ICD) in Chittagong to boost the transportation of containers by trains. Local terminal operator Saif Powertec Limited will build and operate the ICD on behalf of CCBL for 20 years before handing it over to CCBL, according to a deal that will be signed on 19 October. The new ICD will have a capacity of 100,000TEU a year and will be built in more than 86,150m² of railway-owned land in the Halishahar area on the outskirts of the port city of Chittagong. Currently, there are 19 ICDs in the country which handle 1.6 million TEU a year. CCBL invited bids from the interested local and global operators in February for the construction and operation of the ICD. Fourteen companies, including four foreign players, submitted bids from where Saif Powertec has been selected.

Welcoming the launch of PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan for the multi-model connectivity, Dr A Sakthivel, President FIEO said that this will improve India’s productive capacity and global competitiveness with regard to not only manufacturing but also exports from India. To have all utility and infrastructure planning under an umbrella framework is unprecedented. For a long time, our infrastructure sector was witnessing inter-ministerial delays, multiple layers of stakeholders, and the culture of working in silos, said FIEO Chief. This has led to time and cost overruns and staggered pace for infrastructure led growth. The last mile connectivity is extremely important as it has a severe impact on the logistics cost though requiring not so substantial investment. Sakthivel said that bringing 16 Ministries on the digital platform for the integrated planning and consolidated implementation of infrastructure connectivity will be a game changer for the Indian economy. More important is the approach which can be equally applied to many other sectors where inter-ministerial close coordination and monitoring can lead to exponential growth. These kinds of master plans will not only attract global FDI but will make India the most preferred destination of investment globally, observed President, FIEO.

Northern Railway has launched its new AC freight express train service running from Ferozepur Division’s Sanhewal to South Western Railway’s Yesvantpur, with 20 second and third AC carriages. The first AC cargo express train left Sanhewal of the Ferozepur division for Yeshwantpur of the South Western Railway. According to authorities, this is the first time an AC freight express train has operated on Indian rails. Northern Railway General Manager Ashutosh Gangal announced that a train carrying ICF’s standard air-conditioned passenger coaches had been converted into freight for the first time and there are plans in place for the loading of 121 tonnes of material. Chocolate, raw materials, noodles, sauce, and fabric, among other things, have been put into the train.

The Association of Multimodal Transport Operators of India – AMTOI, held its 22nd AGM last month using a virtual platform. The following office bearers were elected for the year 2021-2022. Xerrxes Master-President, George Abrao-Vice President, Arun Kumar-Honorary Secretary, Devpal Menon–Honorary Treasurer. The program then moved on to a very interesting and informative “AMTOI Dialogues” session which was moderated by Xerrxes Master of AMTOI. The speaker for this session was N. Sivasailam, IAS (Ex- Special Secretary Logistics). He emphasized on Self-Regulatory Organization (SRO) and how AMTOI as an Association can set its own standards and benchmarks in achieving SRO status. In addition, he also shared the importance of Digitization in the logistics industry as we are on the cusp of a Digital Revolution, popularly known as i4.0 or the Fourth Industrial Revolution. It was a very interactive session where the audience also got a chance to put up their questions to him and get his expert opinion. The AGM concluded with Anjali Bhide, Hon. Secretary giving the vote of thanks.