Category Archives: Rail/Road

With a launch of Relay-as-a-Service (RaaS), the company aims to bring benefits of its disruptive relay trucking model to millions of fleet owners and truck pilots in India. RaaS will be offered to fleet owners using its technology, pilots and countrywide network of relay pit-stops. Relay Trucking is an operating model where drivers change over after every few hundred kilometers of driving through a network of relay pit-stops and then get rostered back to their home base to return to their families every single day. Gazal Kalra, Co-founder, Rivigo, said, “With RaaS, we aim to offer the benefits of relay trucking to millions of fleet owners in India and bring in efficiencies in the logistics industry while directly addressing one the biggest challenges of chronic truck driver shortage. In addition to the relay network, technology and pilots, we will be making our fuel, maintenance, cashless payment solutions also available to fleet owners in the country through RaaS. Rivigo’s mission is to make logistics in India humane, more efficient and offer better service. Offering RaaS to fleet owners in the country is a significant step in that direction.” Ramratan Singhi, Owner, Sure Cargo Logistics, a fleet of 70 Bharat Benz trucks and who has signed up for the RaaS program, said, “RaaS model helps make trucking efficient. We achieved 25-30 per cent extra running per month per truck through RaaS, compared to using our resources. Hub-hub TAT was excellent, and the use of tech in all aspects of operations (fuel, maintenance) is helping us see the areas of concern in our trucks. It frees our management time and resources on getting more business while our trucks are operated by RIVIGO Relay …

The government has approved the railways’ proposal to increase the train speed on Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Howrah routes to 160 kmph. The two routes together account for 20 per cent of freight traffic and 29 per cent of passenger traffic. This could reduce the travel time by 3.5 hours and five hours respectively, making them overnight journeys. The decisions were taken during this Cabinet meeting that the decisions on Kashmir were discussed with Union ministers. Increasing the speed of the Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Howrah sections to 160 kmph will ensure up to 60 per cent increase in average speed of passenger trains and doubling of average speed of freight traffic. As a part of the Ministry’s 100-day agenda, the Delhi-Mumbai project will cost INR 6,806 crore while the Delhi-Howrah project will cost INR 6,685 crores. The project is set to be completed by 2022-23. Apart from this, the ministry also plans on constructing a new line between Vaibhavwadi and Kolhapur (now Shri Chhatrapati Shahumaharaj Terminus) with an estimated cost of INR 3,439 crore. The project will be executed by Construction Organization of Central Railway and is expected to be completed by 2023-24.

Container Corporation of India (CONCOR) and Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) have entered into an agreement to set up a rail-based logistics terminal in Haridwar, Uttarakhand. This would be BHEL’s strategic entry into a new growth area as the terminal would soon be developed into a multi-modal logistics facility. The terminal would cater to the need of Exim and domestic trade of Haridwar. The facility would work as a Private Freight Terminal (PFT) which will facilitate the handling of railway wagon also. Moreover, the Haridwar plant is advantageously located near the upcoming Eastern and Western Dedicated Freight Corridors. BHELCON, a joint working group agreement has been signed with equal financial participation by CONCOR and BHEL.

Commenting on the Union Budget, Sharad Kumar Saraf, President, FIEO said, “The budget addresses some of the basic challenges faced by manufacturing as well as exports including flow of credit, infrastructure bottlenecks, labour laws, skilling, etc. The export credit declined by 22 per cent as on December 31, 2018 compared to the same period in 2017. Rs.70,000 crore allocated to PSU banks will ease the flow of credit. The interest subvention of 2 per cent given to MSME as well as payment platform for bill filing for MSME will help in flow of credit at competitive cost. The investment of Rs 100 lakh crore in infrastructure in next five years through Bharatmala, Sagarmala, Jal Marg Vikas Project will help in improving logistics, reducing transportation cost and increasing competitiveness.” “The PMMSY for the robust fisheries management framework will give a push to marine exports from the country in which India has emerged as the largest exporter though huge untapped potential still exists. The support given to GI products and artisans to showcase in global markets will provide much needed exposure to them paving the way for further exports. Focus on clusters in bamboo, honey and khadi will not only create huge employment opportunity but will also give a push to their exports,” he adds.

Believing the Budget 2019-20 as an ongoing task reiterating the commitments that the NDA Government has set in its vision document, S Ramakrishna, Chairman, FFFAI, says, “It is commendable the new Finance Minister presented a pragmatic Budget aiming to reach the US$ 5 trillion economy in the next few years, with required emphasis and focus on infrastructure, multimodal connectivity and logistics operation. Significantly, the government has decided to create and promote inland waterways and allied infrastructure to reduce logistics cost and boost greener environment.” It is heartening to note that after recently launched multimodal terminal at Varanasi, more similar terminals will be completed at Sahibganj and Haldia and a navigational lock will be created at Farakka by 2019-20 FY. We will be expecting more such terminals in North East India as well, like strengthening the existing terminal in Pandu (Guwahati) and new one in Jogighopa which is very strategic region from foreign trade’s perspective utilizing effective multimodal connectivity with special thrush on waterways. It would be very crucial to expedite international cargo movement to Bangladesh and beyond. Also, it is commendable the Finance Minister emphasized on resolving all litigations on fast track basis to facilitate trade and commerce. Commenting on the focus given by government to MSMEs, Ramakrishna, says, “Since predominantly we are from MSME sector, this funding would be a great boost for us.”

“India is set to become a $3 trillion economy this year and it is well within its capacity to reach the $5 trillion economy by 2024,” says Nirmala Sitharaman, Finance Minister, Government of India, while presenting the annual Budget. The Budget says that the government will examine steps to hike FDI cap in aviation. Government envisions using river for cargo transportation which will also decongest roads and railways. “The movement of cargo on Ganga is estimated to rise four times in four years,” informs Sitharaman. GST processes will also get simplified further. The government has given massive push for physical infrastructure too. 125,000 km of road to be upgraded over next five years at a cost of Rs 802.5 billion. To ensure the creation of National Highways Grid of desirable capacity, comprehensive restructuring of National Highways Programme will be done. Railway infrastructure would need an investment of Rs 50 lakh crore between 2018 and 2030; PPP to be used to unleash faster development and delivery of passenger freight services, says Finance Minister. “Will simplify procedures, reduce red tape, make best use of tech,” says Sitharaman, in adding, “Building social infrastructure, digital India, Pollution-free India and Make in India are government vision.”

CMA CGM has started weekly service of a dedicated scheduled import train from Port Pipavav to Garhi Harsaru (NCR region), which it received on June 12. Operated by Gateway Rail Freight (GRFL), the import train, that connects Pipavav to Garhi, Ludhiana and Piyala, has a capacity of 180TEUs in a single run. The scheduled train service will provide reliable, safe and quick transport of commodities to the NCR region. The seamless transport and scheduled deliveries will help the trade to optimise their supply chain.

In a bid to bring transparency to the road freight marketplace, Rivigo has launched the National Freight Index (NFI). This first-of-its-kind barometer of the road freight market in India is based on a Rivigo rate exchange, which gives a live spot rate on over seven million lane and vehicle type combinations in the country. NFI offers an aggregated picture of both live rates and historical trends of spot price movements in the road freight industry. The index is represented in two main forms; in terms of actual freight rates condensed to INR per tonne-km and in terms of relative movement with respect to a base month. Gazal Kalra, Co-Founder, Rivigo, said, “In the existing logistics market structure, there are high inefficiencies due to information asymmetry, which leads to a great loss of value. NFI will enable unrestricted access and sharing of freight rate information. This will bring transparency in the market and propel the logistics sector towards efficiencies and growth.”

The VO Chidambaranar Port Trust, Tuticorin and Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for facilitating Direct Port Entry (DPE) of e-sealed factory stuffed export container to the port under ‘ease of doing business’. With this MoU, CWC would make use of the 18,357 sqm area earmarked in the truck parking terminal for operating and managing the DPE facility for 30 years on annual lease rental basis. The DPE facility would enable direct movement of containers from factories without intermediate handling requirement at any Container Freight Station thus facilitating the shippers to gate-in their factory-stuffed goods directly to the container terminal 24×7.

In a joint meeting with Board of Trade and Council of Trade Development & Promotion, Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry & Railways, said, “Ministries/departments can no longer work in isolation for effective outcome of government policy. Easier availability of credit at cheaper rates to exporters will be resolved expeditiously and customs clearances will be made quicker by installing X-ray scanners at all major ports. Robust mechanism for track & trace in the pharma sector will be implemented in three months, a new scheme to rebate state and central taxes and levies will be rolled out in three months and will be implemented in a phased manner for all sectors.” Specific action points for the implementation of new Agricultural Export Policy, reducing logistics costs, improving ease of doing business in all states, increasing domestic manufacturing and reducing imports were identified. States were urged to finalise their export strategies at the earliest keeping in view their state specific requirements and advantages. Minister of Commerce and Industry exhorted the State Governments to adopt GeM, a one-stop online procurement portal for better transparency and efficiency. State governments agreed to take steps in strengthening the entrepreneurship and start-up ecosystem.