Category Archives: Supply Chain

A new Logistics center is proposed in Kochi. To be completed by June this year, the proposed project was discussed by industry minister P Rajeeve in Thiruvananthapuram with a private group. The meeting was held as part of the ‘Meet the Investor’ initiative, a series of meetings between the industry minister and investors to promote new ventures in the state. The course was introduced last year. A decision to accelerate the process of establishing the park for which a private corporation has already acquired the property had been made in the meeting, the minister informed while emphasizing that the group will disclose the exact location as the project is in the initial stages of construction. The upcoming park can be expected to extend its area in the second phase of the project, as per the minister. To be completed in a six-month time frame, the park will be looking into the possibility of a single-window clearing system, provide employment for at least 2,000 people, and will likely attract an investment of Rs 500 crore in the initial phase. The park’s alliance with several well-known brands would have a huge effect on the industry and economy. The park is projected to feature more companies.

During the quarter ended December 31, 2021, Snowman Logistics Ltd recorded a Revenue of INR 73.40 Crores against INR 60.18 Crores in Q3 FY20-21. EBITDA increased by 11% to INR 19.40 Crores from INR 17.45 Crores in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. PBT decreased to INR. 1.05 Crores from INR. 1.42 Crores in the corresponding quarter of the previous year and PAT decreased to INR 0.83 Crore in the current quarter from INR 1.42 Crores in the same period in the previous year. Speaking about the quarter performance, Sunil Nair, CEO, Snowman Logistics Ltd said, “Our new tech platform, SnowLink, for aggregation of transportation capacity in cold chain space has started delivering numbers, and in addition we have been able to retain business and garner additional volumes during the recent COVID wave by supporting our customers with solutions to manage their supply chain. In addition, we have received increased demand from our Pharma and e-commerce customers.” Prem Kishan Dass Gupta, Chairman, Snowman Logistics Ltd commented, “Our new e-commerce dedicated SnowServe facilities have become operational in Mumbai and Pune. The construction of our new facilities, under SnowPreserve, at Siliguri and Coimbatore were unfortunately delayed by about six months due to lack of labour as well as delays in supply of building materials because of COVID related restrictions. However, both facilities are now ready, and are expected to be fully utilised in the next financial year. Going ahead we are focusing on expanding towards dedicated warehouses for catering to specialised cargo that required temperature control apart from growing in our regular SnowPreserve vertical for handling multi temperature cargo.”

FarEye, a global SaaS platform transforming last-mile logistics, has been recognised as a Representative Vendor in Gartner ® Market Guide for Vehicle Routing and Scheduling and Last-Mile Technologies, 2021. This is the fourth consecutive mention for FarEye in the reputed Market Guide, published on 13 December 2021. Per Gartner, “The market for vehicle routing and scheduling and last-mile applications continues to grow as organizations are seeking ways to optimize fleet operations. The evolution of applications due to new business needs has made vendors expand their capabilities in certain areas or even specialize their products in a specific area like last-mile operations”. FarEye has been recognized as a Representative Vendor in the report. “At FarEye, we are dedicatedly working to make deliveries better for everyone. Our aim is to redefine the last-mile home-delivery landscape, making it customer-centric and efficient. We feel honoured to receive the fourth consecutive recognition in the Gartner Market Guide for Vehicle Routing & Scheduling and Last-mile technologies. With constant innovation we empower our clients to handle the growing volume of shipments, ensuring timely deliveries, optimum utilization of fleet and delivering superior experiences.” said Kushal Nahata, CEO & Co-founder, FarEye.

Indian startup EVage has raised $28 million from a US-based venture capital firm RedBlue Capital. The startup which develops electric delivery vans for e-commerce and logistics companies including Amazon is the first startup to create an electric van in India from the ground up. The Indian EV market has been on a shooting stage, Amazon aims to have 10,000 electric vehicles for deliveries by 2025 while Walmart’s Flipkart aims to have 25,000 EVs by 2030. “The electric vehicle market in India will boom with this shift in the movement of goods, and electrifying this segment will be a big opportunity. Compared with the West, India, and markets like Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America have unique demands in terms of the price and capacity of the vehicle, road conditions and weather.” said Olaf Sakkers, General Partner, RedBlue Capital. Sakkers also added that one can see EVage as more of Rivian and Arrival for developing markets.

Jeena & Co., is geared towards enhancing its 3PL and warehousing offerings in 2022, with the focus on building efficient supply chains. Leveraging their legacy positioning and the access to 7 key warehouses across metros like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangaluru, Chennai and Kolkata, Jeena & Co. aim to expand their 3PL service offerings to a plethora of sectors, including healthcare, FMCG, E-commerce, and Automobile manufacturing, among others. The pandemic threw a series of challenges at the logistic and supply chain sectors, forcing the rapid, tech enabled transformation that has led to smarter, more efficient supply chains. Speaking about the vision for their 3PL offerings and the need for modern warehousing, Mr Hector Patel, Board Member, Jeena & Co. said, “Since the advent of the global pandemic, a lot has changed across sectors, including the way logistics and supply chains function. Our new strategy towards 3PL is designed to align with the dynamic need of businesses across the world, starting with our current clients. We are looking forward to enhancing our ability to meet the long term growth plans, and evolving customer needs, while striving to promote greater transparency and seamless operations across the supply chain networks, by leveraging both technology innovations and our deep domain expertise that stems from over 120 years of experience in the business.”

With the opening of a new logistics center in Taulov, Denmark, DB Schenker is once again on the track for growth. The new facility operates with 87 gates over an area of 90,000 m2 and complies with the most stringent environmental and sustainability standards. Integrated into DB Schenker’s European network, the site connects 430 land transport locations in Europe with a state-of-the-art system that is designed to accommodate the growing demand for cross-border shipments. From here, all kind of goods are delivered to more than 38 European countries every day. All distribution trucks run on HVO 100 Biodiesel, a 100% biofuel that reduces CO2 emissions by at least 90% and NOx-emissions by approximately 30%. “It’s a big milestone for us to participate in the expansion of our DB Schenker network in Europe,” says Henrik Dam Larsen, DB Schenker CEO in Denmark. “With this important step, DB Schenker has created capacity for growth in the key distribution sector and is thus now ready to develop other aspects of the business exponentially. We are starting an exciting journey this year, with a new logistics center and more new services, and we are also welcoming new customers and colleagues.”

Supply chain visibility platform project44 received an investment totaling $420 million from a syndicate led by Thoma Bravo, TPG and Goldman Sachs Asset Management. project44 had raised $202 million equity in May 2021 (at an approximate valuation of $1.2 billion), and has an annual run rate of $100+ million, 1,000+ team members, 1,000+ customers, and 1+ billion packages tracked annually. “Today, project44 is helping companies solve supply chain challenges ranging from inflationary pressure and lockdowns to unpredictable weather and bottlenecks at ports,” says Jett McCandless, Founder & CEO, project44. “Our growth over the past year speaks to these macroeconomic tailwinds and the competitive edge we can provide to our customers. With ongoing support from our investors, we can offer even more value to our customers and solidify our position as the global network that powers the future of the supply chain.”

QuickShift has launched its second fulfillment center in Bengaluru to cater to the surging demand, owing to the rapid growth in online transactions across marketplaces and brand portals. The sprawling 65,000 sq. ft. facility will give thrust to the company’s commitment of providing excellent services such as warehouse fulfillment, logistics, order management and last-mile delivery in the burgeoning markets of South India. “The growth in e-commerce and online transactions fuelled by the pandemic, has created a huge demand in Bengaluru. Now, this facility will help to ease and smoothen delivery services in this thriving market and will ensure the product reaches the right place, right hands, hassle-free with 100% accuracy. Same-day delivery today has made a tremendous impact on online businesses and we believe that by reducing the amount of time between making an order and receiving it, can greatly enhance customer satisfaction levels and experiences,” said Anshul Goenka, Founder and CEO, Quickshift Catering to a large number of D2C brands, QuickShift has already set up fulfillment centers in major metropolises like Bengaluru, Delhi-NCR and Mumbai. At this new center, all individual units would be completely scan-based to ensure tracking across the facility. Quickshift is investing in a new ‘Warehouse Management Software’ to ensure pre-assignment of storage locations and reduce order processing TATs. It aims to achieve order accuracy of 99.9% with this deployment. The new fulfillment center also has arrangements to store products needing ambient conditions viz cosmetics, perfumes, skincare products apart from the regular general merchandise like clothing, footwear, and electronics.

The spread of new variant Omicron, has disrupted the global supply chains causing the container prices to spike by 10-15% in January at all major ports of India. As per shipping companies, the Chennai port in the first week of January witnessed a rise of $2,100 (Rs 1,55,316) for a 20-foot dry container from about $1,880 in December. The average price of a 20-ft dry container in Mundra climbed to $1,950 in the first week of January from $1,763 in December. While the Nhava Sheva in Navi Mumbai rose to $1,900 against $1,775 in December. As per market officials, the price of a 40-ft dry container at Chennai Mundra and Nhava Sheva rose to $5,100, $4,900, and $4,850, respectively, from $4,780, $4,650, and $4,600, respectively, in December. Several factors including the widespread restocking by retailers in China ahead of the Lunar New Year starting February 1 and the country’s rising Covid-19 cases have accounted for the rise of container rates. “Container turnaround times at major ports in China are once again on the rise due to bottlenecks ports are facing because of rising Covid cases and logistical bottlenecks,” an official from Container xChange said.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released data for global air cargo markets showing slower growth in November 2021. Supply chain disruptions and capacity constraints impacted demand, despite economic conditions remaining favorable for the sector. As comparisons between 2021 and 2020 monthly results are distorted by the extraordinary impact of COVID-19, unless otherwise noted, all comparisons below are to November 2019 which followed a normal demand pattern. • Global demand, measured in cargo tonne-kilometres (CTKs*), was up 3.7% compared to November 2019 (4.2% for international operations). This was significantly lower than the 8.2% growth seen in October 2021 (9.2% for international operations) and in previous months. * Capacity was 7.6% below November 2019 (-7.9% for international operations). This was relatively unchanged from October. Capacity remains constrained with bottlenecks at key hubs. • Economic conditions continue to support air cargo growth, however supply chain disruptions are slowing growth. “Air cargo growth was halved in November compared to October because of supply chain disruptions. All economic indicators pointed towards continued strong demand, but the pressures of labor shortages and constraints across the logistics system unexpectedly resulted in lost growth opportunities. Manufacturers, for example, were unable to get vital goods to where they were needed, including PPE. Governments must act quickly to relieve pressure on global supply chains before it permanently dents the shape of the economic recovery from COVID-19,” said Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General.