Category Archives: Rail/Road

Zipaworld has announced investing a stake in Radiant X-Ways Logistic; the amount has not been disclosed by either of the parties. This investment comes soon after the launch and implementation of Zipaworld’s Ocean Freight digital platform. The Board of Directors of Radiant X-Ways Logistic has nominated Dr Ambrish Kumar, the founder of Zipaworld, as the Chairman of Radiant. Shares his futuristic views Kumar states, “The investment in Radiant marks another milestone for us as we aimed at encompassing and connecting more than 26000 zip codes across India, to the global gateway digitally through the Zipaworld platform.” He also added that “Radiant will help us resolve the first and last mile connectivity concerns as the user will be able to book a cargo right from their door to the destination door from one single gateway, without having to go to multiple vendors”. Zipaworld is all set to break the stereotypes of the Indian logistics sector which is highly fragmented and disintegrated. Prabhakar Pandey, Managing Director, Radiant X-Ways Logistic, expresses his enthusiasm and thoughts stating, “We are keenly contemplating Zipaworld’s holding and backing in Radiant, mainly for digitizing and automating the whole domestic circuit that forms our expertise. Our valuable clients will be highly benefitted with the automation and the technological advancement. Zipaworld is providing Radiant with a gateway to cater to the international market for our year-old clients and that too from a single window gateway”. The assurance of Dr Ambrish Kumar towards the end of last year to transport goods to and from any part of the country and offering the manufacturers and exporters a global access is turning out to be a reality much ahead of the stipulated time. …

RedSeer and Shadowfax have launched the ‘Delivery Delight Index’ to help brands and platforms assess their relative positioning in terms of delivery experience provided to the end customer and take measures to continually improve their delivery experience score which in turn will help them to drive customer satisfaction and improve their revenue per customers. Commenting on the launch of Delivery Delight Index, Abhishek Bansal, CEO, and Founder, Shadowfax says, “I have said this in the past and continue to foresee that five years down the line, e-commerce will evolve into maximum two-day deliveries. While discounts on products are no longer a key driver for consumers to shop online, speed of delivery, safety and hygiene have become imperative in the past few months. Third-party logistics will emerge as an important driver for bringing consumer delight to the brands offering safer, faster deliveries. We have come together with RedSeer to bring the Delight Delivery Index for brands. The index will enable a deeper understanding of customer behavior and preferences and help the brands better serve their customers. The Index outlines interesting facts about the change in consumer behavior. Delivery Delight Index will also help brands and platforms understand satisfaction levels of their end customers across key parameters like Speed of Delivery and Delivery Experience. Some of the traditional/retail and digitally native brands who have partnered with 3PL companies are leading in better delivery experiences. This reveals that the industry needs an agile supply chain management and warehousing solutions of 3PL players to improve on their delivery experience score leading to better revenue per customer.” ‘Delivery Delight Index’ has been developed after ~9,000 consumer surveys covering 34 players across four types of platforms …

Pickkup is now aiming to expand its services to South’s major metropolitan cities Bengaluru and Chennai, apart from starting operations in Vijaywada and Vishakhapatnam this year. With plans to have operations in 5 cities over the next few months, Pickkup aims to reach a revenue of Rs 10-12 crore by the next financial year 2021-22. The startup plans to raise seed capital in the upcoming financial year to fuel its expansion plans including establishing operations in multiple cities and hiring new fleet. The expansion plans come in the wake of stupendous post COVID growth, with the startup registering a 20-fold rise in delivery volumes over the past 11 months. The demand for Pickkup’s on-demand last-mile delivery services grew tremendously from enterprises particularly from retail and e-commerce players. Apart from Bengaluru, Chennai the tech enabled last mile delivery startup is also ready to expand its operations to other Tier-1 and Tier-2 cities of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. While the operations in Bengaluru are set to start next month, the startup is expected to take off in Chennai and Vijayawada in June and Vishakhapatnam by October this year. Over the next two fiscal years, Pickkup aims to have operations in eight cities with an expected revenue of Rs 50 crore. With a number of its partners having multi city presence, the startup already has order commitments from a series of businesses and e commerce platforms in Bengaluru and Chennai. The startup already has order commitments from businesses, bakery outlets, retail and several e commerce platforms in Bengaluru where operations are set to take off immediately. “With our technology-driven services enabling a highly efficient local delivery model, Pickkup has emerged as the fastest …

In spite of Covid challenges, Indian Railways surpassed last year’s total Cumulative freight loading on March 11, 2021; cumulative freight loading touched 1145.68 million tonnes which is higher than total cumulative loading of last year (1145.61 million tonnes). Freight figures continue to maintain the high momentum in terms of loading and speed in the month of March 2021 as well for Indian Railways. On a month to month basis, up to March 11, 2021, Indian Railways loading was 43.43 million tonnes, which is 10 per cent higher compared to last year’ loading for the same period (39.33 million tonnes). On day to day basis, on 11th March, 2021, the freight loading of Indian Railways was 4.07 million tonnes, which is 34 per cent higher compare to last year’s loading for the same date (3.03 million tonnes). The average speed of Freight Trains in the month of March 2021 till March 11 was 45.49 kmph which is almost double compare to last year for the same period (23.29 kmph). A number of concessions/discounts are also being given in Indian Railways to make railways freight movement very attractive. Strong emergence of Business Development Units in Zones & Divisions, constant dialogue with the industry & logistics service providers, faster speed etc are adding to the robust growth of freight business for the Railways. COVID 19 has been used by Indian Railways as an opportunity to improve all-round efficiencies and performances.

Shadowfax Technologies has announced the signing up for exclusively managing the Dark Stores for Drums Food International – Epigamia’s newly launched ambient product line for its Ghee Spread and Almond Milk across 7000 + pin codes in India. Shadowfax has integrated its cutting-edge warehouse management and last-mile delivery system with Epigamia’s demand management platform to help track customer orders real-time, which will ensure faster fulfilment and hence faster deliveries. Shadowfax has expanded its warehousing space from 5 lakh square feet to 6 lakh square feet this month in response to increased demand from its customers. With the E2E Rapid service, the company will provide end-to-end logistics and warehousing along with express distribution for effective supply chain management, faster deliveries, flexibility with proximity to consumers, and real-time tracking of Epigamia products. On the new acquisition, Abhishek Bansal, Founder, and CEO, Shadowfax Technologies, said, “Signing up Drum Foods is a big win for us as they are a recognized and loved brand in India. Our micro fulfillment centers or the Dark Stores, will enable faster deliveries along with our unique WMS which will help capture customer orders real time on the client website. We’ll be investing significantly in our WMS which will allow our clients to offer differentiated value offerings to their end customers. Further, we’ll also target on expanding our network to newer markets, in step with rising demand.” Rohan Mirchandani, Co-Founder at Drums Food International said, “The onset of COVID prompted Indian shoppers to go online to shop and discover brands, while brands like us strengthened our online presence via D2C platforms. Though Epigamia is all about innovative offerings, our key focus has always been customer delight. We wanted to …

Tata Motors has unveiled its newest range of intermediate and light commercial trucks (I&LCV), the Ultra Sleek T-Series, designed and engineered to suit contemporary demands of urban transportation. Available in three models – T.6, T.7 and T.9, the Ultra Sleek range is available in varied deck lengths from 10 to 20 feet to adapt to all the required applications. A sleek 1900mm-wide cabin provides superior driver comfort yet swift movement in confined city spaces, and smart features provide for easy manoeuvrability. Launching the Ultra Sleek T-Series range, Girish Wagh, President, Commercial Vehicle Business Unit, Tata Motors said, “Tata Motors has consistently set new benchmarks by introducing smarter, future-ready products and solutions across its various segments. The launch of the Ultra Sleek T-Series range marks a new landmark in urban freight transportation. These trucks are sleeker and smarter enabling faster movement and hence higher utilisation and revenue with more trips. Built on the internationally recognised Ultra platform, the trucks are engineered to cater to a diverse set of applications.” The Ultra Sleek T-Series range combines futuristic styling with comfort, provides significantly lower Noise, Vibration and Harshness (NVH) levels, ease of movement on congested and narrow roads and a fatigue-free driving experience. The walk-through cabin is rigorously crash-tested for superior safety and comes equipped with adjustable seat height, tilt-and-telescopic power steering, and a dashboard-mounted gear lever. The addition of an in-built music system, USB fast charging port and liberal storage space offers enhanced comfort, while air brakes and parabolic leaf suspension provide better safety and control with clear-lens headlamps and LED tail-lamps improving night visibility. Affirming its versatility, Ultra Sleek T-Series has variants available in 4-tyre and 6-tyre combinations and varied deck …

Ecom Express has received additional funding from CDC Group. CDC Group, the UK Government’s development finance institution and impact investor in South Asia and Africa has announced that it has closed a US$ 20 million investment round in Ecom Express. This will be CDC’s second round of investment in Ecom Express after its initial investment in December 2019. CDC’s latest commitment will support Ecom Express in advancing the company’s sustainable development and impact agenda of enhancing skills and boosting job creation in the Indian hinterlands. With the high demands for jobs in India, the country needs to create 8.1 million jobs a year to maintain its employment rate. This investment supports India’s effort as it will enable Ecom Express to create 8,000 new jobs in addition to an initial target of 15,000 roles – prioritising employing women for jobs at delivery centres, fulfilment centres and warehouses across the nation. Additionally, Ecom Express will be utilising the equity infusion by CDC Group investments for strategic initiatives such as growth driven capital expenditure, working capital requirements, new business initiatives, expansions, and potential strategic acquisitions/partnerships. Srini Nagarajan, Managing Director and Head of Asia at CDC, said, “Ecom Express is playing a vital role in enabling e-commerce growth and expanding product reach across India. CDC’s additional investment in the company reflects our support for the company’s pan-India expansion, and a commitment to channelling our patient capital toward a business that aligns with our development, impact, and sustainability goals. Moreover, we are delighted that this investment will further enhance efforts India is making to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals of achieving gender equality and empowerment, and promoting sustainable growth and decent work for all.’’ …

COGOS Technologies, on the occasion of International Women’s Day, has announced to employ and train 500 women drivers in its EV fleet by December 2021. The company will provide training, support in order to build entrepreneurial skill-sets in women drivers under its full-stack platform. As part of the pilot, they have already successfully trained and hired 50 women under the aegis of this initiative. In the entire supply chain ecosystem, the role of women is deemed as small with them only being a part of desk jobs. COGOS, a first in the industry, will impart both functional skills (such as driving, vehicle maintenance) as well as soft skills training (such as communication while delivering, customer orientation) to female employees along with full ecosystem support. Commenting on this, Prasad Seeram, Founder & CEO, COGOS Technologies, said, “We understand the immense potential of women in the workspace and hence have taken it to ourselves to aid in their process of achieving their full potential. The growth of women in the sector can only be triggered by valuing diversity and promoting its scope, which shall in turn add innovation and new perceptions to the business.” The company now has a presence in 21 states of India, with a network in 300+ cities and plans to focus on 100 Smart cities and 400+ cities across the country by 2021. They aim to target onboarding 100K truckers including women and a revenue growth of 3X YoY by the end of 2021.

DP World and CMA CGM jointly received their maiden Block Train from Mundra, Gujarat to DP World PFT (ICD) Panipat, Haryana. This new service is the first block train by a shipping line between Mundra and Panipat. The fully loaded 90-TEU train was flagged off from Mundra port on February 27, 2021. The service was received in the presence of representatives from DP World and CMA CGM India. The dedicated connections between the Port of Mundra and the inland container depot of Panipat will provide dedicated and seamless connection from Mundra Port to PFT (ICD) Panipat, thereby, making customers’ cargo reach internal markets faster. With priority rail out option and fixed train schedule, customers will be able to minimise waiting time at the Port as well as plan their cargo movements effectively. Train will depart Mundra Port on Saturday/Sunday. Ranadhir Reddy, CEO, Rail & PFT, Subcontinent, DP World said, “At DP World, it is our constant endeavors to offer bespoke solutions to our customers to solve their supply chain challenges and support their strategic growth ambitions. Our pan India network provides seamless connectivity that helps customers connect their cargo to global markets as well as across India’s vast hinterland. Through our investments, we are committed to enhance India’s rail freight share and offer trade solutions using multimodal logistics.” Atit Mahajan, General Manager, CMA CGM India, declares, “We are pleased to be the first shipping line to offer a block train service between Mundra and Panipat in collaboration with DP World. This service is the 10th dedicated block train service being operated by the CMA CGM Group in India. This service will provide a dedicated and direct loop from port to …

Bajaj Electricals (BEL) and Mahindra Logistics (MLL) signed an agreement for innovative logistics optimisation and outsourcing arrangement. This deal is a complete end-to-end redesign and outsourcing of Bajaj Electricals’ entire logistics by Mahindra Logistics, with the twin objectives of achieving enhanced & industry-best service levels, coupled with a logistics cost saving in excess of 25 per cent. The total contract value, of this one-of-its-kind deal in the Indian Logistics industry, will be in excess of Rs 1,000 crores over the next 5 years and is the outcome of a unique and collaborative solution. Working together closely, MLL has developed for BEL a fully redesigned and consolidated logistics network, with storage optimisation, transportation management and inventory movement through technology, best practice and automation. At the heart of the network, there will be two large ultra-modern mega-warehouses in Delhi and Mumbai, with latest technology, automation and skill-building, enhanced by environmentally conscious, greener & sustainable warehouse practices. This network will further operate fully IT-enabled fulfilment centres from which BEL’s dealers, distributors, customers will enjoy market-leading delivery lead times. As part of the solution, MLL will be deploying a healthy mix of dedicated long-haul fleets and local distribution trucks, enabled by the latest tracking technology and control tower operations. There will also be a transition towards sustainable logistics using electric delivery trucks from EDel by Mahindra Logistics. For BEL, this project marks a significant transition towards leveraging logistics management as a competitive advantage. Speaking on the occasion, Anuj Poddar, Executive Director, said, “At Bajaj Electricals, we have been actively working towards various strategic initiatives to enhance value for our customers and other stakeholders. This collaboration with MLL is one such key initiative and I …