Category Archives: Supply Chain

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released September 2021 data for global air cargo markets showing that demand continued to be well above pre-crisis levels and that capacity constraints persist. 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 September 2019 which followed a normal demand pattern. • Global demand, measured in cargo tonne-kilometers (CTKs*), was up 9.1% compared to September 2019 (9.4% for international operations). • Capacity remains constrained at 8.9% below pre-COVID-19 levels (September 2019) (-12% for international operations). “Air cargo demand grew 9.1% in September compared to pre-COVID levels. There is a benefit from supply chain congestion as manufacturers turn to air transport for speed. But severe capacity constraints continue to limit the ability of air cargo to absorb extra demand. If not addressed, bottlenecks in the supply chain will slow the economic recovery from COVID-19. Governments must act to relieve pressure on global supply chains and improve their overall resilience,” said Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General.

The first full reefer rake titled as “The Maersk Processed Food Express” was flagged off from ICD Viramgam to Pipavav Port. The reefer train operated by Gateway Rail Freight Ltd, carried agro-based commodities from Gujarat to be exported to South East Asia. This service will help in safe and quick passage of frozen food from Ahmedabad and nearby area, thereby shifting the transport of commodities from road to rail, an environment friendly mode. The flagging off ceremony was graced by Ashok Pandey & Bhumik Bhatt from Gateway Rail. Senior executives from Maersk & APM Terminals Pipavav were also present. Commenting on reefer rake movement, Jakob Friis Sorenson, MD, APM Terminals Pipavav said, “The reefer rake facility is going to be a boon for exporters from Gujarat as it will open up a whole new global market for their produce. We are excited to be a part of a logistics supply chain for ‘Made in India’ products from Gujarat to the world. This initiative by Maersk and Gateway Rail is commendable and we believe that with collaborative efforts of ICD, Liner and the Customer, this service will benefit the agro based trade.”

There is immense congestion in cargo clearance at Airports, especially in Delhi Airport Cargo Terminals due to sudden mandate by the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) to follow the order of 2015 regarding rules of screening export cargo, said Pradeep Multani, President, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, in a press statement issued here today. The order regarding the change in the operational method of x-ray of cargo (Aviation Security Service (AVSEC) Order no. 11/2015) states that before delivery to air carrier, all cargo processed at the terminals shall be subject to 100% X-Ray screening at piece level. This decision of screening cargo on a piece level basis is a cumbersome task, which requires more manpower, security staff and x-ray machines, said Multani. The catastrophic effect causes high congestion at the airport due to slow cargo clearance at piece level, average time for a shipment has increased from 12 hours to 1-2 days, shippers have to pay higher demurrage, staff of the shippers has to work for a long shift to clear the order and even some export orders are getting affected, said Multani.

SafeStorage®, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Imperial Supply Chain Solutions. Safestorage will support them with on demand space to scale up/down business as per requirements. This would include storage space support, third party logistics, and support for technical/non-technical staff. To optimize warehousing and to facilitate ease our operations, Safestorage has incorporated AI&ML models in their processes. Artificial Intelligence is used to identify unused space across warehouses and it then suggests best fit space based on the inbound customer goods/items. The company has employed Machine Learning & Deep Learning to assign pickups based on geography resulting in optimization of transportation. Sharing his thoughts, Ramesh Madisetty, CEO & Co-founder of SafeStorage, said, “We are excited to partner with Imperial Supply Chain solutions. We hope this collaboration sustains for a long time and we achieve newer heights. We have seen a significant positive growth in our business this year as well. Our target is to be one stop shop for storage & logistics solution in the country.”

Along with the launch of 21 new commercial vehicles, Indian multinational Tata Motors also announced its plans to launch Electric Small Commercial Vehicles (SCVs) for the Indian ecosystem. The EVs are being developed in synergy with a few e-commerce organisations as Tata targets last-mile transportation. Though an exact timeline has not been revealed, Tata Motors Executive Director Girish Wagh said it was going to be ‘soon’. EVs have a substantial advantage over conventional vehicles in reference to the cost of operating as fuel prices continue to surge by the day. Moreover, demand for EVs in the e-commerce and logistics sectors have increased multi-fold as organisations strive to achieve net-zero emissions as a part of sustainable supply chains. Girish Wagh cited the advantage of operating cost, shrinking price gap between EVs and conventional vehicles and ballooning demand of EVs for last-mile transportation as the grounds for electrification along the supply chain.

The Union Ministry of Civil Aviation launched the Krishi UDAN 2.0 scheme on with additional 4 locations – Ahmedabad, Vadodra, Rajkot and Bhavnagar – in Gujrat have been identified to set up cargo terminals with the development of hub and spoke model along with a freight grid. Jyotiraditya Scindia, Union Minister of Civil Aviation, said, “This scheme will open up more avenues of growth for the agricultural sector and help attain the goal of doubling farmers’ income by removing barriers in supply chain, logistics and transportation of farm produce.” The Krishi UDAN 2.0 scheme has given a full waiver of airport charges at select airports including Srinagar, Dibrugarh, Imphal, Jorhat, Lucknow, Tuticorin and Kozhikode among many others.

Minister of Civil Aviation, Jyotiraditya Scindia met the Cargo Advisory Group today to discuss key issues in further boosting the Air cargo services. Members present during the meeting were Vipin Vohra, Cyrus N Katgara, Keku Bomi Gazder, Sanjiv Edward and others. The presentation was given by the Cargo Advisory Group, led by Cyrus Katgara, President ACFI. The discussion involved making an effective Air Cargo Eco-System with strong International Airline network, robust domestic air connectivity, Multi Modal connectivity and Hinterland Connectivity through AFS Spokes. Members from FFFAI also shared some key issues required to be addressed such as: * TDS on Freight Commissions charged by Airlines/Shippers – Double Deduction, * TDS Lower Deduction/ Nil Deduction Certificate issued u/s 197 of the Income Tax Act to the Airlines. * “Foreign Exchange Earner” recognition to the Freight Forwarders (FF’s) and Custom Brokers (CB’s) under service exports. * Clarity Sought by Freight Forwarders on certain points regarding SEIS scheme.

Air freight rates were 86 percent higher in August 2021 compared to the 2019 baseline and 20 percent more than the 2020 level. Rates will remain high on huge demand growth against the limited capacity increase, according to the DHL report on the Airfreight state of the industry. Volume growth was strong at +21 percent year-on-year in August 2021. The airfreight market is set to see strong demand due to the upcoming ecommerce events like Black Friday and Singles Day. Another key reason for the high demand is the conversion of ocean freight to air due to port congestion in the U.S. Rates continued to remain high in August as manufacturers were replenishing stocks using air freight, the report said.

Dachser, DB Schenker, duisport and Rhenus established the Open Logistics Foundation in Berlin. The purpose of the non-profit foundation is to build a European open-source community aiming to promote digitalization in logistics and supply chain management based on open source and standardize logistics processes through de facto standards. Not only is a technology initiative like this unique in logistics to date, the founding members are also taking on a pioneering role as to the future topic of open source. “We want to drive the digitalization of logistics forward together. That is why open source is an important success factor for the entire logistics industry and, at the same time, a driver for harmonized processes in digital supply chains. We consider the Open Logistics Foundation to be the first step towards a platform economy based on European legal standards and values. It is both a beginning and an appeal to the logistics sector to think of technology and processes together and actively participate in the open-source community,” the founding members declared in a joint statement. Now it is about anchoring open source in the logistics sector and implementing the internal structures to work with the corresponding hardware and software. The foundation addresses all logistics-related companies and their IT developers. Through Open Logistics e.v., the funding association, which was also founded in Berlin, it is open to new members from all areas of logistics, ranging from industry, retail and services to freight forwarders and political organizations. Numerous companies already announced their participation in the funding association, including AEB, BLG Logistics Group, GS1 Germany, Lobster Logistics Cloud and the Bochum-based Setlog Holding, but also associations such as the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft zur Förderung der …

As India’s most-awaited festival, Diwali, is around the corner, Shiprocket has released its annual Festive Season Report for the D2C sector. The report highlights various aspects such as growth in the number of sellers from Tier-II and Tier-III cities, top cities for delivery and pickup, most popular categories, and more. The report focuses on shipment trends just before the grand festive season in the D2C sector between August 2020 and August 2021. As opposed to 2020, Shiprocket has observed a 191%+ increase in sellers in the Tier-III market while the Tier-II cities saw a surge of nearly 176%, and Tier-I cities registered an increase of over 138%. The report also revealed an uptick of over 213% in the percentage of first-time sellers in Tier-III cities, while Tier-II and Tier-I cities saw a growth of more than 138% and 175%, respectively. The platform now has over 47,000 sellers from Tier-III cities as compared to the 16,000+ sellers in 2020. Shiprocket also noted that offline channels were the most popular this year, having registered a growth of over 301% compared to last year. While the social media witnessed the growth of more than 153% growth, followed by online stores that saw an increase of 115%+ sellers. Among the various channels, marketplaces observed the least change at just over 71% compared to 2020.