Category Archives: Supply Chain

The Third-Party Logistics (3PL) sector in India is set to grow phenomenally along with its key growth drivers including E-commerce, digitization, and infrastructure modernization. According to the recent report unveiled by Technavio, a leading global technology research and advisory company, the Indian 3PL market is set to grow by $10.74 billion at a CAGR of 8 per cent during 2021-2025. Mordor Intelligence, another study puts the growth of Indian 3PL at 11 per cent during the same forecast period. The global 3PL market accounted for $1027.71 billion in 2019, and is expected to reach $1,789.94 billion by 2027 registering a CAGR of 7.1 per cent from 2020 to 2027. It is noteworthy that the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region claimed majority share in the global 3PL market in 2019. While, the Indian 3PL market remains to display its promise with the introduction of recent tax reforms, and the behavioural shifts in consumer patterns such as preference for online shopping, and other industry and government advantages to build capacity and infrastructure.

To be aware of the actual number of traders in the country, the Commerce Ministry announced deactivation of all importer-exporter codes (IECs) that have not been updated after January 2005 with effect from October 6 this year. The Importer -Exporter Code (IEC) is a key business identification number that is mandatory for exports or imports. Without the IEC number granted by the DGFT, no individual shall make any import or export. On August 8 this year, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) was mandated all IEC holders to ensure that details in their IEC are updated electronically every year during the April-June period. “All IECs which have not been updated after January 1, 2005, shall be deactivated with effect from October 6, 2021,” according to a trade notice of the DGFT.

The US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) announced its fourth Annual Leadership Summit, titled “Looking Ahead: Strengthening Resilience, Expanding Prosperity,” which will convene virtually this year from September 29-October 1. The program will include a range of strategic discussions between USISPF’s board members, including Fortune 500 CEOs and senior government officials from both countries. On Thursday, USISPF will honor Natarajan Chandrasekaran, Executive Chairman of Tata Sons, Punit Renjen, CEO of Deloitte Global, and Rajesh Subramaniam, President, COO and Director, FedEx Corp., with the USISPF Global Leadership Award 2021 for leading the corporate community in their heroic efforts of responding to India’s second wave of Covid-19. Congratulating the awardees, John Chambers, Chairman of the USISPF Board, said, “The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted all of us in so many ways since the start of 2020. When the U.S. experienced the height of the pandemic, India stepped up to help us, sending critical medicines to Americans. It was amazing to then see that help reciprocated during the second wave of COVID in India. Partnership is built on trust, collaboration, and people-to-people connections. This year’s three awardees exemplify qualities of true leadership, as demonstrated by their tremendous individual efforts to help India in their time of need earlier this year. We are incredibly grateful for their courage, integrity, and hard work during this time of uncertainty, and are inspired by their actions to build a stronger U.S.-India partnership and more resilient global community.”

E-commerce giant Amazon India has entered into an agreement with GMR Logistics Park Pvt Ltd as of August 19, 2021, to lease a 10 lakh sq ft of warehousing space for a period of 20 years, in Hyderabad, as revealed by Propstack. The chargeable area is 10.08 lakh sq ft and the starting rent is around INR 2 crore per month (INR 20.15 per sq ft). The lease starts from April 15, 2022, as per documents. As per the clause mentioned in the lease agreement, there will be a rental escalation of 15 percent every three years. GMR Logistics Park Pvt Ltd is expected to hand over the first phase of the leaseable premises on April 15, 2022, and phase 2 of the leasable premises on September 1, 2022, the documents showed

In a landmark achievement, Indian Railways’ Western Railway (WR) zone successfully operated the first electric train from Bhavnagar Division’s Pipavav Port, making it the country’s first Indian port connected with High Rise over head electrification(OHE). With this, Pipavav Rail Corporation Ltd., a new customer, has been added as Container Operator. The first rake was loaded from Pipavav port siding to Bhagat Ki Kothi, Jodhpur. This port is now directly connected with DFC with AC Traction of High Rise OHE. A senior railway official stated that this newly established connectivity will benefit in various aspects, such as elimination of undue detention on account of Traction change, acceleration will be quicker, direct connectivity through AC Traction between Pipavav Port and DFC and other major destinations. “The new connectivity with Pipavav Port is the beginning to a new era for Western Railway as well as Indian Railways towards a smooth, easy and quick transportation from ports in India,” according to an official statement by the Western Railway.

Emirates SkyCargo, an air transport of temperature sensitive pharmaceuticals, announces the completion of more than 400 million kilos of pharma transport in 5 years, marking an important operational milestone. In September 2016, Emirates SkyCargo raised the bar in the air cargo industry for the safe and efficient transport of pharmaceuticals by launching its dedicated GDP certified pharma handling facility at Dubai International Airport and at the same time unveiling its three-tiered specialised product – Emirates Pharma. Nabil Sultan, Emirates Divisional senior vice president, Cargo, said, “At Emirates SkyCargo, we recognised very early on that our customers were looking for increasingly specialised solutions for their cargo and this was true especially for valuable and life-saving medicines that have to be transported under very strict conditions. We introduced our 360 degree transportation solution backed by state of the art GDP certified Dubai handling facility for our pharma customers in September 2016. The response from the market was overwhelmingly positive and we managed to very quickly transform the perception that Dubai was a destination to be avoided for pharma cargo in the summer to that of Dubai being a reliable hub for pharma customers all year round. Our pharma volumes have continued to grow over the years and to date we have transported more than 400 million kilos (400, 000 tonnes) of pharma cargo under our Emirates Pharma umbrella.”

project44, the global leader in real-time supply chain visibility, has acquired Austin-based Convey, the last-mile technology leader. Together, the two companies now serve the global supply chain end-to-end, providing real-time visibility and actionable insights from raw materials to the front door to help brands deliver differentiated direct-to-consumer and eCommerce experiences for their customers. Covey has direct-to-consumer delivery experiences for more than 200 of the world’s largest brands, including The Home Depot, Nieman Marcus, Ferguson, Ingram-Micro, and others. Convey, recognized as a Challenger in the Gartner 2021 Magic Quadrant for Real-Time Visibility Platforms, combines real-time visibility, post-purchase experiences, and machine learning-powered analytics to improve the overall customer experience.

In a major development at the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), one of India’s premier container handling port, the Union Minister for Ports, Shipping, and Waterways, Sarbananda Sonowal, virtually flagged-off the dwarf container train service from JNPT in the presence of Dr. Sanjeev Ranjan, IAS, Secretary, Ministry of Ports, Shipping, and Waterways, Sanjay Sethi, IAS, Chairman, JNPT and Unmesh Sharad Wagh, IRS, Deputy Chairman, JNPT. With this, the first consignment of laden Dwarf containers from Dwarf container depot (DCD) at the port was being moved by train to ICD Kanpur. The port is set to gain steadily from the implementation the Dwarf container train services from JNPT, as the rail movement of EXIM cargo through double stacked dwarf containers, would offer competitive cost advantage to the EXIM community, resulting in an increase in port cargo traffic via rail route.As the name suggests, the ‘Dwarf Containers’ are lesser in height by 660 mm than normal ISO containers, giving them a logistical edge. The Low height of dwarf container loaded on trailers can pass through rural, semi urban and urban roads, through limited height subways & level crossing in electrified sections. Furthermore, the ‘Dwarf’ containers provide a 67% increase in volume when double-stacked and can carry a weight of 71 tons, against 40 tons by an ISO container.

The Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) has launched an ease of Logistic Portal to facilitate the process of container demand fulfilment in a systematic manner with the provisions for exporters to post their requirements. The portal is an initiative of FIEO to bring service seekers and service providers on a single platform to discuss and finalize business. It gives visibility of exporters logistics requirements (ocean freight, air freight etc) on Pan India basis to be fulfilled by Logistics Service Providers. The platform also gives large business outreach and networking opportunities to users.

Logistics operator LOGOS, in one of the largest warehouse lease transactions, leased out a million square feet of warehousing space in Devanahalli Industrial and Logistics Park in north Bengaluru to e-commerce major Amazon India. The 20-year long lease tenure has a rental outflow of $100 million. Built by LOGOS, the Amazon India facility will comprise a receiving centre, sorting centre, fulfilment centre and Amazon Retail in a single location, thus enabling the firm to enhance operational efficiencies and service the growing demand in this region. “The Indian warehousing sector has seen significant attraction from both global and domestic investors and occupiers on the back of the GST changes and significant growth in e-commerce. LOGOS is committed to establishing a new benchmark of high quality and sustainable logistics warehousing in India to support the critical infrastructure services needed for new economy businesses in India.” said Mehul Shah, CEO, LOGOS’ Indian business