Category Archives: Rail/Road

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.

Allcargo Logistics has moved a 76-metre long super consignment from L&T Hazira in Gujarat to IOCL Paradip in Odisha, achieving a rare feat of successfully managing one of the largest over-dimensional cargo (ODC) movements in India. The Projects & Equipment (P&E) division of Allcargo Logistics showed exemplary commitment and operational efficiency while managing the entire multimodal ODC project cargo movement for its client L&T Hydrocarbon. The movement of nine super ODC comprising heavy equipments such as glycol field stripper, vacuum effect evaporator and MEG column delivered efficiently from Manufacturing Yard in Hazira to Project Location in IOCL Paradip. “It was a huge multimodal logistics affair as the mission involved direct transportation of six packages from L&T factory to Adani Hazira Port by road, vessel voyage from Adani Hazira Port to Paradip Port (PICT) and land transportation from PICT to IOCL Refinery using shore road,” the company informs. The movement also involved the transportation of three packages from L&T Jetty to Adani Hazira Port by vessel and from PICT to IOCL site by road. Overcoming few operational challenges and maneuvering constraints, the team of project logistics professionals at Allcargo Logistics planned and executed the transportation with perfection and utmost safety banking on incisive knowledge and unparalleled multi-modal transport operations efficiency. Allcargo also pressed into service its advanced equipment and operators to ensure smooth movement of the ODC. “There are always inherent challenges involved in the process of moving ODC. In this case, challenges multiplied due to size and shape. However, our P&E team rose to the occasion and demonstrated extraordinary commitment and proficiency to ensure safe and hassle-free multimodal movement, delivering superior customer satisfaction. Our specialised project movement service has set …

Isuzu Motors India has launched BS VI compliant D-Max Regular Cab and D-Max S-Cab, along with a new variant D-Max Super Strong with a 1,710 kg payload. The vehicles are launched with many first-in-segment features in the commercial vehicle category in the industry. With the addition of a new variant, now Isuzu Motors India offers the D-Max Regular Cab High-Ride with flat deck, D-Max Regular Cab-Chassis, S-Cab Standard-Ride, S-Cab High-Ride and the new D-Max Regular Cab Super Strong, offering more versatile options for all business and professional requirements, especially for logistics sector. Keeping in mind the use in logistics sector, the refreshed models come packed with added features both on the exterior and interior. Both the vehicles are fully loaded with occupant safety with front and rear crumple zones, cross car front beam, door side intrusion and collapsible steering column. Additionally, a segment first, the sliding co-driver seat in the new vehicles adds to the comfort of the co-driver. Powered by a 2.5 litre ISUZU 4JA1 Engine, the enhanced range of commercial vehicles project an aggressive stance with their new styling and refreshed design. With a high capacity alternator, users of the vehicle in the reefer segment can easily fit the reefer equipment without making any major modifications in the engine, saving them the initial set up cost & also providing ease of maintenance. Additionally, a Wider Cargo body, enables the user to carry more cargo thereby generating more revenue. Both the vehicles sport a bolder look with the new grille, bonnet and bumper designs. They come equipped with MID (Multi-Information Display) cluster with GSI (Gear Shift Indicator) that enables the driver to use the ideal gear in that current …

Terminal Pipavav has commenced Integrated Container Tracking (ICT) system introduced by National Industrial Corridor Development Corporation Ltd (NICDC) under Logistics Data Bank (LDB) project. NICDC Logistics Data Services (NLDS) has completed vital infrastructure at APM Terminals Pipavav to commence the near real time visibility of the container movement across the supply chain. This will help in tracking the container from port to Container Freight Stations (CFSs), Inland Container Depots (ICDs) and end users and would help in enhancing the visibility and efficiency of the container movement thereby improving the competitiveness of the Exim trade. LDB was developed to address the critical issue of tracking movement of containers across various ports and provide insights to trade. It integrates the information available with various agencies across the supply chain to provide detailed real time information within a single window. With this expansion 100% of India’s container volume will be covered under LDB project. Currently around 28 million EXIM containers pan India have received services. Jakob Friis Sørensen, Managing Director, APM Terminals Pipavav said, “It’s an honour to become a part of this nation-wide project of NICDC that will streamline container movement across logistics value chain and identify inefficiencies and bottlenecks to develop strategies to ensure the development of the sector.” He adds, “The visibility of containers throughout the entire supply chain provides multiple benefits to trade, including transparency, integration, lesser paperwork and improved planning for arrival, unloading and final delivery.” A separate Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) has been formed by the Govt. of India between NICDC and NEC Corporation, Japan namely “NICDC Logistics Data Services Limited” (NLDSL) to execute LDB across entire logistics value chain. LDB is now functional at 17 ports, …

In a bid to offer services on P-CaSo, Portall Infosystems has announced collaboration with BoxnBiz, an inbuilt cloud-based Indian freight forwarding solution-based offering air freight, ocean freight & customs clearance. P-CaSo, a collaborative platform for the ecosystem is integrated into the Indian Port Community System to bring various services, including services such as eBL, blockchain document transfer (BDT), trucking aggregation services, eVGM and e-learning, certificate of origin. The addition of freight quote to the existing pallet of services will allow PCS 1x users to access the ocean freight portal’s booking, get instant freight quotes for FCL & LCL services along with end to end tracking & visibility with 3000+ port pairs to serve import & export needs, saving and sharing documents and payments. Shirishchandra Shah, Chief Product Officer, Portall Infosystems, said, “Our partnership with BoxnBiz would bring synergy & value additions in the maritime community as we once again make our footprint in the digitisation space. I thank Indian Ports Association for their wholehearted support & wish BoxnBiz a very best of luck in their journey with us.” Biplob Barik, Founder & CEO, BoxnBiz said, “With this partnership, we expect that the adoption of digitalisation in the international shipping space will increase and the maritime sector will take a greater step towards digitalization. The present pandemic has no doubt shaken the way businesses work. Now it is time to change and we want to contribute to this journey together with Portall.”

As per a recent report, the first week of the festive sale saw a 55 per cent y-o-y sales growth, with $4.1 billion worth of goods sold across e-commerce platforms, as compared to $2.7 billion last year. This 52 per cent increase makes the surge in online consumer demand quite evident. However, retailers need to be prepared to handle this surge. to handle the festive surge and enable retailers to meet the demand, FarEye has been working with leading retailers to roll out significant new features and enhancements to its platform. The platform will offer more flexibility to customers with self-service delivery slot booking, multiple payment options and deliveries at drop-off points. The platform will help retailers to offer quickly onboard new carriers to meet surge demand, achieve app-based onboarding and training of freelance drivers to fulfill orders. It will improve contactless delivery capabilities, including temperature tracking of drivers, integrations with national and international compliance apps and improve order-level visibility to customers through instant track & trace, messaging drivers, 1-click calling. The platform will also improve personalisation and customer lifetime value by showcasing more products based on customer behaviour and preferences and help in achieving comprehensive end-to-end visibility into the logistics operations and real-time customer feedback to take corrective action. “From the time we launched FarEye SERVE back in March to help retailers deliver essential goods; we have not just successfully helped retailers handle scalability challenges but also have made major breakthroughs in advanced contactless capabilities. These include driver temperature tracking, compliance apps integrations & more. Retailers can now focus on customer experience while they can worry less from scalability and orchestration woes, which the platform can handle for them,” …

Witnessing a surge in deliveries across sectors, Raag Technologies & Services (RTS) has reported a 32% Year-on-Year (Y-o-Y) growth in revenue in Q2 FY 2020-21. With its complete suite of services and solutions, the company has empowered large-scale manufacturers and distributors, enabling them to resolve the logistics challenges in the new normal. Commenting on the growth, Narasimhan Raghavan, Director, RTS, states, “We have seen remarkable growth in Q2 and continue to witness a strong growth largely driven by the rebound in the Automotive, Industrial, FMCG, and Energy & Infrastructure sectors. While in Q1, we saw apparent hiccups in terms of infrastructural challenges, non-availability of the fleet, and so on, most of the issues vanished beginning May.” “The use of technology and our expertise over the years has proven to be a cornerstone of our success. This not only supported our organic growth but as a result, we also saw a significant increase in new customers in the first half of this financial year,” he adds. The company has taken extensive precautionary measures and has ensured the most stringent health protocols for the entire team to operate in the new normal. Consequently, RTS has successfully been able to support and manage business continuity for all its clients and has been able to deliver services to them in a seamless manner even during these challenging times. Over the last decade, RTS has successfully demonstrated service value and cost reduction to OEMs in Tier-1 and Tier-2 markets. It leverages home-built technology tools and best of breed external software to provide best-in-class logistic solutions to sectors such as Automotive, Industrial, FMCG, Energy & Infrastructure, etc. Early this year, Spoton Logistics, India’s engineering & technology-driven …

Ecom Express has revealed key highlights of consumer buying pattern across fashion, mobiles and tablets, and medicine categories in the ongoing festive sales. The data has been gathered based on volumes of merchandise assigned to Ecom Express by more than 2000 e-commerce players in the country. The total jump in volume of sales for the same duration in August versus October, including all categories, stood at 72%. Apparels and accessories were the most purchased categories of products in terms of volume share from February to August. In the October sale, this segment saw around 5% increase in share of total volumes and a whopping 200% + increase in growth over its pre-COVID volumes. According to the company, this growth was driven primarily from major cities such as Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, and Mumbai. Kolkata’s October sales numbers showed the highest spike, especially in apparel and footwear, capturing on Durga Puja fervour. It reflects that people in Kolkata waited for the festive season, and their preferred choice of gifts this year were apparel, footwear, and accessories. Although Delhi saw a decline in apparel volumes, adjoining cities in the NCR such as Gurgaon, Noida and Ghaziabad contributed significantly to the volumes. Further, mobile, tablets and mobile accessories bounced back post-COVID to show an 89% growth in August. This category remains a strong in a sale promotion-driven category, showing a huge surge during the October festive sales grew by over 210%. While the large cities remain the largest markets for this category overall, smaller cities appeared to drive festive season sales, with customers/re-sellers waiting for sale promotions. High volumes were driven out of small towns like Arrah and Narkatiyagunj (Bihar), Raigarh and Sarangarh …