Category Archives: Shipping

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) will be acquiring a 75% stake from the existing shareholders of Krishnapatnam Port and Company (KPCL). This acquisition will accelerate APSEZ’s stride towards 400 MMT by 2025. The acquisition value of KPCL is approximately Rs13,500 crore. The purchase consideration will be funded through internal accruals and existing cash balance. The acquisition is subject to regulatory approvals and the transaction is expected to be completed in 120 days. Karan Adani, Chief Executive Officer and Whole Time Director, APSEZ, said, “Given the best-in-class infrastructure and the distinct hinterland catered by KPCL, this acquisition will not just increase our market share to 27 per cent but also add remarkable value to our pan-India footprint.”

According to Maersk India Trade Report Q3 2019, India’s import and export container trade remained flat as compared to global growth of 1.5 per cent in in Q3 2019 (July-September). The slowdown is aligned closely with the weaker domestic demand, as well as a reflection of the broad-based cyclical weakening of the economic environment in all the main global economies. The negative effects from escalating trade restrictions also weighed on trade growth in the quarter. The trade restrictions have reduced bilateral trade between the United States of America and China, and led to shifts in trade structures, with global importers having shifted sourcing from China to other countries such as Vietnam, Taiwan, Bangladesh and Korea, with Thailand, Mexico and India also showing early signs of being next in line to benefit. Specifically, in India, the economic uncertainty, tight liquidity, decline in global export orders and evolving domestic political scenario also affected the flow of investments and added to currency volatility. While imports into the country witnessed a subdued growth, the overall fiscal impact was nullified by an identical contraction in exports.

The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) has revised the cargo handling target to 100 million tonne (MT) on national waterways by 2021-22, as against its earlier estimation of 150 MT. The Centre declared 106 national waterways in 2016 in addition to the existing five, taking India’s total navigable inland waterways to 20,000 km. According to the latest projection, traffic on national waterways is expected to increase from 72 MT in 2018 -19 to 100 MT by FY22. Earlier this year, the IWAI had stated that about 55 MT of cargo was handled on national waterways in 2017-18 and given the trend, the 150 MT target for 2021-22 was likely to be achieved before the deadline.

The second LOGIX India 2019 – International Buyer Seller Meet was held on December 12, 2019 at New Delhi, launched by the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) with the active support from Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India. The three days mega event saw well over 3500 business to business meetings along with parallel sessions on different issues, challenges and above all opportunities about the logistics sector across India and the world. Inaugurating the event, Som Parkash, Minister of State for Commerce & Industry, Government of India, said, “Logistics is the backbone of any trade and industry. Currently the logistics cost in India is 30-40 per cent higher than the global benchmarked logistics cost. And therefore, it is a big challenge for the government. However, the government aims at reducing it to 10 per cent of the GDP. The government is also planning to invest around 100 lakhs crore in logistics infrastructure in the next five years. We are also in the process of coming out with a new National Logistics Policy and creating data bank by getting feedback from different stakeholders.

The weekly AS8 is set to directly link the South-East Asian economies of Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia with the India Subcontinent markets of India and Pakistan. The AS8 will be characterised by its direct port connectivity from Laem Chabang to Pipavav, Port Qasim and Karachi. With this, shippers with India and Pakistan bound shipments from Thailand will find the AS8 service a faster alternative to relaying cargoes through transhipments. AS8 will start sailing from Laem Chabang on December 16, 2019 with the following port rotation: Laem Chabang-Singapore – Port Klang (North Port) – Port Klang (West Port) – Pipavav – Port Qasim – Karachi.

Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) along with CONCOR are commencing a weekly scheduled export train from ICD Ludhiana to JN Port to ensure faster evacuation of export containers destined for JNPT. The service also enhances the trade requirement of Ludhiana with the Mumbai. The Ludhiana ICD caters to a vast interior market that includes the states of Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, and Rajasthan. With an extensive network of more than 80 ICDs nationwide, CONCOR commands the bulk of Indian containerized rail transportation.

Allcargo Logistics has forayed into the express logistics space by acquiring a controlling stake in Gati. The company has added another domestic service to its portfolio by entering a segment which has been growing exponentially through this transaction. “The exponential rise in cross-border and domestic e-commerce has opened up new markets for traditional express players such as Gati. With Allcargo’s existing strength in the ocean transportation business and Gati’s expertise in land and air transportation, we are now in a unique position to offer our customers a suite of truly multimodal solutions,” comments, Shashi Kiran Shetty, Chairman, Allcargo Logistics. According to a study led by Deloitte in 2018, the express logistics industry is expected to reach Rs48,000 crore (US$ 7 billion) by 2023. This growth will primarily be driven by domestic consumption, shift from unorganised to organised trade, e-commerce (domestic and cross border) and significant demand from the small and medium B2B segment.

DMICDC Logistics Data Services (DLDS) has announced the launch of its container tracking service ‘Logistics Data Bank’ (LDB) at Paradip International Cargo Terminal (PICT) in Odisha and Mormugao Port Trust in Goa. The extension of LDB’s services to India’s eastern corridor and Goa comes after it has tracked 20 million EXIM containers in three years. With an 11-digit tracking code, the container tracking solution helps supply chain operations to reduce the port dwell and transportation time of export and import shipments. LDB is a single-window ICT-based container tracking solution of DLDS currently operational across 24 port terminals in India since it began operations at the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) in 2016. In 2017 it was extended to Hazira and Mundra ports of Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ).

Allcargo Logistics has entered into an agreement with ONE Line India to partner in transiting containers to Nepal from the ports of Kolkata in West Bengal and Vizag in Andhra Pradesh. “Given our global scale and repute on account of being the widest CFS-ICD operators in India, we emerged as the preferred partners for expediting Customs clearance solutions and boosting ONE Line’s ex-im business in Nepal. With an operational presence in Nepal as well as Kolkata, we are also strategically positioned to assist ONE Line in ensuring faster clearance of goods, ensuring speedy last mile delivery services and gaining critical leverage and connectivity to the emerging markets and industrial hubs of Nepal,” says Prakash Tulsiani, CEO – CFS-ICD, Allcargo Logistics.

In order to take the ease of doing business initiatives to next level, customs department is rolling out the concept of faceless assessment of cargo across the country in next few months. The consignments will be assessed by virtual group irrespective of where the Bill of Entry is filed. Baswaraj Nalegave, Commissioner of Customs (City and ICD), Bengaluru, says, “We are moving ahead with the concept of faceless assessment,” in adding, “From now onwards, in a phased manner, we will ensure that the assessment of cargo need not be done at the same place where the Bill of Entry is filed,” he stated. “We have already started the pilot in Bangalore. So, all machinery will be assessed by a virtual group no matter where the Bill of Entry is filed. In Chennai, it’s already being done. It’s a matter of a few months before it is rolled out across the country,” he noted.