Category Archives: 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.

COGOS has ramped up its fleet by more than 1000 vehicles to meet the festive demand. This new addition of fleet will address the surge in demand during the festive season which is expected to be high till the end of Q3, FY 2021- 22 According to reports, this festive season has seen a 100% spike in demand from Tier 2 & Tier 3 markets. With the additional fleet, COGOS also expands to 30 new towns and improves reach. COGOS has seen a huge hike in demand for E-Commerce and FMCG Retail. However, this year segments like pantry products, beverage and pharma have also seen an uptick. There is an increase in demand observed for Mini Trucks 1 tonne & 2 tonne and medium trucks above 4 tonne. During this season, driver fleets are ensured higher earnings. Every driver on the COGOS platform enjoys the season perks, and payouts are increased by 15% during the festive peak. In the foreseeable future, COGOS plans to continue to work with the newly added driver fleet for the quarter. Prasad Sreeram, Co – founder & CEO, COGOS said, “This festive season we are observing about a 100 % increase in demand from last year. With the COVID subsiding, consumers are willing to spend. Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities have witnessed good demand which has led to the spike in demand for inter and intra-city logistic services. We have massively improved driver onboarding making it easier, simpler, faster and thorough at the same time to ensure a faster response in the festive season.”

FM Logistic aims to double its revenue to €3 billion in 2030 with a strategy centered on omni channel supply chain services, urban logistics, sustainability, distribution and customer experience. The company outlined its strategy, “Powering 2030”, at a press conference in Pune. FM Logistic aims to become a reference partner in the field of sustainable, omnichannel supply chains. Earlier this year, the company introduced its new tagline, “Supply Change”. The new tagline acknowledges that supply chains must transform to foster a more responsible consumption and sustainable economy. Alexandre Amine SOUFIANI, MD, FM Logistic India, asserts, “Despite the economic turmoil caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, FM Logistic in India has proved its resilience. We recorded a growth of 58% in turnover during the first half of this financial year and we aim to finish the year at 35-40% growth. In our endeavour to become the reference partner in the field of sustainable omnichannel supply chains in India, we continue to carry out our expansion plans and reinforcing our offer of end-to-end supply chain services. We are focussed on developing Grade A Multi-client Facilities (MCFs), dedicated warehouses near our customers’ manufacturing centers, and modern urban logistic hubs – all interconnected with an agile and dense transportation and last mile delivery network. We continue strengthening our value added services like copacking, automated labelling and last stage customisation for digital marketplace readiness. ”

After revolutionizing India’s steel buildings manufacturing market with the introduction of Pre-Engineered Steel Buildings (PEB), Kirby Building Systems sets its eyes on furthering the industry as it expands toward a third India-based facility in Gujarat. The global steel building powerhouse, part of Kuwait’s Alghanim Industries, one of the largest privately owned companies in the Middle East, broke ground on its new 114,000 m2 facility, with operations commencing by October 2022. Kirby India already operates in Hyderabad and Haridwar with an extensive PEB manufacturing capacity that supplies to the Indian market. With the new Gujarat facility soon to be added to Kirby’s arsenal, the company aims to revitalize the local economy with hundreds of new jobs, as well as plans to double the employment capacity in near future. Alongside this economic stimulus, Kirby India’s manufacturing will boast a higher metric tonnage (MT) among its trio of facilities, rising from 200,000 MT to 300,000 MT per year. “We are proud to announce a third addition to our Kirby India fleet in Gujarat,” said D Raju, MD – Kirby India and Head of Kirby International. He also expressed his gratitude to the authorities of Gujarat, adding “Our expansion in Western India reflects our commitment to maintain our innovative spirit in the PEB industry, while ensuring we meet the needs of our customers and energize our immediate economy with jobs and services alike.”

Emphasising on the need of the multi modal trasnportation in order to be more efficient,Yuvraj Sharma, Cluster Head, Sales and Marketing, India, Sri Lanka and Maldives, Kuhene+Nagel, said, “Today’s enviornment does not just demand to get into a multi modal option for servicing our customer but, it is the need since we have capacity issues, congestions happening, time definite deliveries. All of this require multi modal as a cost effective and time efficient mode of moving goods from one place to another. From logistics performance index point of view, India is today ranked at 44. Multi modal is definitely one way that can not only help in avoiding the challenges we face in today’s time we are working in and improve from the transit point perspective also. And see India becoming a leader not only in the export supply chain but also in the import supply chain.”

Explaining on how the country’s economy will be benefitted with the multi modal way of transportation, Chander Agarwal, MD, TCI Express said, “India is on the cusp of becoming a $5 trillion economy meaning that the logistics cost is going to be $1 trillion approximately. This is a great opportunity for the logistics companies to enhance their capabilities and become leading service providers in the country. Multi modal will benefit the Indian economy in a big way because of a vast coastline and land area. Multi modal may help in bringing down the cost for the logistics sector, moreover, the overall efficiency and the transfer of goods from manufacturer to consumer will be at a much faster pace.”