Category Archives: Rail/Road

To bring transparency and cost efficiency to the logistics industry, LogisticsNow has launched ‘LoRRI Benchmark’ – India’s first benchmark for contracted freight for the road transport industry, which will enable democratisation of the logistics industry with a focus on full truck load (FTL) freight for medium and long haul lanes. The platform was designed after observing an industry need for freight benchmarking focused on contracted freight, which could help create win-win outcomes for manufacturers and Logistics Service Providers (LSPs)/Transporters and enable competitiveness of an ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’. LoRRI Benchmark connects the nation with 20,000 routes, 80+ truck-types, and 650+ transporters, spanning 10,000+ crore of freight spend. It aims to provide the range of freight costs at which one can connect a district, taluka or city across India, identifying truck-types and transporters at competitive costs for 600+ districts. It also enables manufacturers and transporters to interact and close the transaction online, serving not only the large manufacturers but also the food and agri sector. Announcing the launch, Raj Saxena, Founder & CEO, LogisticsNow, says, “Transportation is gradually getting organised and LoRRI Benchmark seeks to support the next phase of organised and efficient transportation. As the government builds the hard infrastructure, the highways, national waterways etc., LoRRI Benchmark will work to create the soft infrastructure, the commercial information and intelligence layer to connect and make seamless logistics happen” Benefits to manufacturers & government: • National Reach: 600 districts of India and growing • Readily accessible information for contracted freight rates, online • Single secure and trusted platform pan India Benefits to transporters: • Neutral trusted platform • Data driven Business development channel to acquire new customers and enable efficiencies through return loads / …

GEODIS has structured its internal network of women and its mission is to give GEODIS employees opportunities to express themselves, to propose, initiate or relay actions that positively contribute to gender parity and to the assumption of responsibilities of women. The network also intends to act on the reputation of the logistics and transport industry, a traditionally male sector, in order to change its image and attract more women. The company has held its annual summit of the ‘GEODIS Women Network’ (GWN). “We want to continue the action taken and give women the means to access key positions. Our goal is to increase the number of women in managerial positions”, indicates, Mario Ceccon, Human Resources Director of the GEODIS group. “13% in 2017, they are now 18% women in management positions. We have set ourselves the objective of reaching 25% by 2023.” The GWN works for inclusion, reduction of professional disparities between men and women, improved work-life balance and equal career prospects. “With a President at its head, GEODIS is already sending a strong signal showing the access by women to positions of responsibility” indicates Mario Ceccon. Over the next 3 years, the GWN will focus its actions on the following various objectives: • Study and harmonization of possible pay gaps, • The establishment of a leadership program aimed at empowering women, • The development of the recruitment and representation of women in the transport and logistics industry. Attract more women to the Logistics & Transport sector The other objective of the network is to deconstruct the image of the sector by acting in favour of actions aimed at encouraging women to join the logistics and transport professions. “We encourage …

Infraprime Logistics Technologies, the electric truck and construction logistics start-up, is planning to catalyse investment of US$ 200 million to electrify and organise construction logistics in India. The three-year-old company has grown to over US$ 50m in terms of annualised gross logistics value of the contracts being executed. The investment by the company would go in expanding the marketplace for construction logistics all over India, in establishing a state-of-the-art platform for vehicle servicing, charging and maintenance, and towards plant automation. Fleet operators, charging network franchisee owners and banks would be playing their part via purchase and financing of various assets. The investment would add over US$ 1 billion in annual margins to stakeholders across the value chain. As per a report by KPMG, the construction sector is expected to be a US$ 1 trillion industry by 2025 and is expected to engage one million heavy duty trucks. The company plans to showcase through its investment that all these one million heavy duty trucks can be replaced with electric trucks. The country wide displacement would need a charging network spanning 2,000 sites across 500+ routes. Electric trucks can generate four times as much margins as a corresponding diesel truck. With introduction of BS VI, the prices of diesel trucks have gone up which creates a compelling case for electric trucks. The company’s electric trucks are priced at twice the price of a corresponding diesel truck. The company launched its first electric truck model “Rhino 5536″ in August 2019, which immediately garnered eyeballs. The company is planning to soon launch a 37 MT GCW model and a 28 MT GCW model.

Omega Seiki Mobility aims to bring in multiple electric products including two-wheelers, a four-wheeler cargo vehicle and a tractor over the next two years. The company, which is a part of the Delhi-based Anglian Omega Group, also aims to set up manufacturing facilities across various parts of the country. Omega Seiki already has multiple manufacturing sites in Delhi/NCR. The company also plans to have around 200 dealerships across the country by the end of next year. It has earmarked an initial investment of Rs 200 crore for the projects and going ahead aims to raise another Rs 1,000 crore in order to fund the expansion plans. “We are going to have factories and we are going to line up the products, we are going to be non-stop from here till next few years. The company would consider taking various routes to raise required capital to fund various projects. We will try a combination of various things which may include going public, private equity, green bonds etc,” Uday Narang, Chairman, Anglian Omega Group. Elaborating on the product pipeline, Deb Mukherji, Managing Director, Omega Seiki Mobility, said, “The electric two-wheelers for both passenger and cargo segments would be introduced around April next year, while the four-wheeler for cargo and tractor would make way around next 2021-end or early 2022. Commenting on electric two-wheeler range, he said the vehicles would be powered by lithium ion batteries and would cater to last mile deliveries. “These scooters are already in advanced stages of testing and trial stages,” Mukherji said. The electric pick-up truck would come with two tonne payload and would cater to last mile cargo delivery, he added. “The market is moving towards higher …

With a primary focus on BBIN (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India & Nepal), V-Trans India has announced the commencement of its operations in SAARC countries on its 62nd foundation day. Initially, the service will primarily be focused on surface movement and will soon be covered with express and multimodal. On this M. K. Shah, MD, V-Trans says “This is one more milestone in our journey to become one of the most reliable and trusted players in the logistics business. The starting of our operations to SAARC countries is the beginning of a new chapter in the history of our company. We have been able to successfully manage the current scenario and looking forward to many more accomplishments in the near future. While the present times are challenging and tough, our team has gone all out and brought the best possible results, which are fully supported and integrated with the advanced technology and a collaborative approach.” One of the highlights for the company has been the successful management of the impact of the COVID pandemic. The company adapted quickly to the situation, digitised the processes, enabled smooth flexi working, and most importantly modified the decision-making process thus leveraging maximum to its advantage. It has undertaken several initiatives in the last couple of months towards the aim of achieving service excellence. The objective has been to ensure smooth conduct of its operations and maintaining high-quality standards in terms of delivery.

Boxco Logistics along with Allcargo Logistics has successfully executed the first shipment of the IOCL MEG Project at Paradip for L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering (LTHE) who were the EPC contractors for IOCL. The shipment had nine heavy lift packages which were received safely on Boxco’s self-propelled modular trailers. The dimensions of the packages meant that certain modifications were required to be made to PICT which was carried out by Boxco. In addition, other civil modifications were also carried out enroute to the IOCL Site. The major challenge in transporting these packages was the route which passed through a live refinery road, which, was not strong enough for handling packages of this size. Boxco conducted a number of surveys and meetings with IOCL and LTHE personnel with the intention of finding a solution wherein the modification en route had to be minimised and the refinery also continued functioning without any shutdowns. There was another challenge for modification in the port itself for taking out these packages, we convinced the customs and took the permission for breaking the port wall and also made the slope to match the level difference between the port road inside the terminal and outside the road. Boxco made almost 27 major modifications en route to deliver this cargo. Boxco Logistics added this to a long list of complicated movements done in Paradip over the past 20 years. This contract also further strengthened the position of PICT as the terminal in Paradip for heavy lifts and over dimensional cargo the terminal has a strategic advantage because of its location. The state-of-the-art infrastructure makes it a terminal of choice for this type of cargo. The second shipment of this project …

Shankar Shinde, Chairman Elect, Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations in India (FFFAI) has been elected unanimously as Managing Director of the International Federation of Customs Brokers Association (IFCBA). IFCBA enjoys the status of Private Sector Consultative Group (PSCG) representation on World Customs Organisation (WCO).The election of Shinde in IFCBA’s crucial position once again underscores the growing importance of FFFAI and India at large in the international Logistics & Customs Brokers business. Having more than 30 years of experience in Logistics and Customs Broking industry Shinde is very well-known for his huge contribution to the entire industry. Apart from FFFAI and IFCBA, he has also been associated with various industry associations including Nashik Customs House Agents Association as President, International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations (FIATA) as FFFAI nominated representative, Brihanmumbai Customs Brokers Association, Maharashtra Chamber of Commerce & Agriculture, etc. In addition, from FFFAI Shinde is spearheading the International North South Transport Corridor (INSTC) project collaborating with the Government of India. “The international trade community depends on the work done by Customs Brokers and IFCBA serves Customs Brokers by keeping them at the centre of the international trading system. It is IFCBA’s mission to promote the value and use of Customs Brokers worldwide,” emphasized Shinde while commenting on the importance of IFCBA. IFCBA works to bring about improvements in Customs policies and best practices on a global basis. These improvements benefit both Customs and Customs Brokers for achieving transparency in trade facilitation measures, brainstorming towards innovation for recommendation of seamless cross border customs processes and standardization with use of technology in achieving paperless transaction.

The 10th Asian Logistics, Maritime and Aviation Conference (ALMAC), an annual signature event for the industries jointly organised by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) and the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC), opened today, running online for the first time in light of the pandemic. “The year 2020 has been a landmark year in many aspects, perhaps the most challenging year we have faced in our lifetime,” says, Xerrxes Master, Vice President, Association of Multimodal Transport Operators of India. Explaining the nature of Indian logistics industry, he continues, “The size of the Indian logistics industry is US$250 billion; it’s a highly fragmented industry with hardly 10-15 per cent owning by organised players. So, one can imagine the magnitude and sheer scale of industry and what it is really capable of. However, slow but steady the progress has been made at every step. Indian government, in the last five to 10 years, has really supported multi-modalism; one of the prime examples is the development of inland waterways and the coastline which has been neglected all these years and which has really not being used to its full potential. It is estimated that 14500 kms length of rivers are navigable throughout the year. The Inland Water Authority of India (IWAI) has declared five national waterways covering a total of 4,434 kms of inland waterways covering routes on river Ganga , river Brahmaputra , back waters of Kerala, Krishna and Godavari river system along with the Buckingham Canal and Brahmani Mahanadi river system along with East Coast Canal. In 2016 the government of India declared 106 navigable rivers as National Waterways also. India and Bangladesh have agreed upon …

APM Terminals Pipavav (Gujarat Pipavav Port) has reported 23 per cent decline in net profit at Rs 520 million for the second quarter ended September 30, 2020. The company had reported consolidated net profit of Rs 671 million for the corresponding quarter of last year. Revenues for the second quarter stood at Rs 1,827 million as against Rs 1,992 million, lower by 8 per cent. Earnings before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortization (EBITDA) fell to Rs. 1,029 million as compared to Rs. 1,267 million in Q2FY20. EBITDA margin stood at 56 per cent in Q2FY21 as against 64 per cent in Q2FY20; while net profit margin was at 28 per cent during July-September quarter as compared to 34 per cent in Q2FY20. For the first half-year ended September 30, 2020, the revenues stood at Rs 3,416 million, lower by 9 per cent compared to first half of FY20. EBIDTA and net profit declined by 13 per cent and 20 per cent respectively to Rs. 1,984 million and Rs. 984 million. The quarter gone by has marked positive signs for the port as the Board of the Company approved investment of Rs 700 crore for the expansion plan. The stated investment will be utilized for upgrading the port’s existing facility to handle bigger ships and eventually expand the container capacity to 1.6 million TEUs.

After first overseas train earlier this month to Bangladesh, ICD-TKD flagged off its first train with multi-modal overseas cargo for Iran in Container Corporation of India (CONCOR) owned container the support of Ship it Up customer. “We are committed to providing cost-effective & reliable services to our customers,” the company mentioned in its Facebook post. ICD/TKD is India’s biggest dry port. Its hinterland comprises all states of Northern and Western India. It has daily train services to gateway ports, JNPT, GTIL, NSCT, PPSP, and MDPT. It has new state of the art equipment and facilities, coupled with excellent rail linkages to the gateway ports.