Category Archives: Supply Chain

In its attempt to reduce logistics cost, the government has decided to allow introduction of ‘road trains’ on select routes and between identified points.The transport ministry’s draft rule for road trains comes at a time when the Centre is putting more focus on building 2,500 km of greenfield expressways like the Delhi-Mumbai corridor. The draft specifies the length, height and width of the roads. Even state governments are constructing more such roads. The NHAI has also been tasked to take up building economic corridors on priority, which would connect major manufacturing hubs. This move will encourage multi-container transport on the road, simultaneously reducing logistics cost. This mode of transporting freight is popular in countries including Australia, United States and in Europe to move huge quantity of cargo. Road trains consist of a conventional prime mover – truck – pulling two or more trailers. One road train in India can replace at least three trucks and is expected to prove beneficial for movement of freight.

China Airlines Cargo is set to launch a freighter service from Mumbai. Group Concorde, which has been the airline’s general cargo sales agent in India, will look after the sales in Mumbai. The airline will operate four flights a week, two per week coming from Taipei to Mumbai and going forward to Amsterdam, and two per week coming from Amsterdam and going to Taipei. The operations will focus on active and passive pharma. For pharmaceuticals, the airline offers services for products requiring the strictest temperature control, products that need to be kept in a certain range of temperature, and products that need to be stored in temperature-controlled facilities or room temperature. The first flight is scheduled to operate on November 16 (subject to all government approvals) westbound, and November 17 eastbound. Pukhraj Singh Chug, Chairman, Group Concorde, said, “China Airlines Cargo is a premium carrier and well-known brand in Delhi. It’s time we showcase its strength to customers in Mumbai. It is a service-oriented carrier and have always satisfied its customers. We are positive that the Mumbai market will be elated to have the services of CI to enhance the customer experience.”

GreyOrange has announced the deployment of its 12,000 picks per hour Sorter. The new sorter is a first-of-its kind automated solution by GreyOrange for QuadX, Philippines. The GreyOrange Flexible Automation system has been deployed to provide an enhanced and seamless shopping experience for customers, along with the ease of payment and delivery. The 12,000 per hour Sorter, is a combination of two 6,000 per hour sorters, each having 11 arms and capable of sorting up to 480 and 240 unique destinations with and without pre-sorting respectively. It can sort up to 150,000 packages within 12 hours of operation. Speaking about the partnership, Vivekanand, Country Manager, India & APAC, Grey Orange said, “GreyOrange technology will help QuadX realize their vision of re-inventing the shopping experience for customers by optimizing operations and throughput. By effectively sorting packages for the company’s hubs across Manila and Philippines, this solution will help QuadX meet customers’ order delivery timelines more efficiently and complete orders with less manpower than before.”

CEVA Logistics has announced the launch of a specialist installation service for large-scale medical equipment using its own dedicated team of engineers and technicians in India. In a further expansion of its global healthcare capabilities, CEVA’s expert team will be responsible for unpacking, installing and setting up equipment such as MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) Scanners, Cath Labs, Digital Radiography machines and CT (Computerised Tomography) Scanners on behalf of several global manufacturers. Akash Agarwal, Director Business Development India and Head of Freight Management Sales, India, Middle East, Africa & Turkey, CEVA Logistics, says, “Cutting-edge medical machinery requires specialist handling and installation, a complex and technical process. As our clients are increasingly relying on our know-how in this regard, CEVA Logistics decided to bring its healthcare logistics expertise to the next level by setting up a dedicated team of medical equipment installation specialists.” Initially based in Mumbai, India, the team will work on installations there as well as in Pune, Nagpur, Ahmedabad and Belgaum, before being gradually expanded across CEVA Logistics’ network.

FreightBro became the first Indian startup to join the Digital Hub Logistics Hamburg in an exclusive event titled ‘Digital Hub Logistics Hamburg Roadshow – An Indo-German Logistics Startups Connect.’ Johannes Berg, Managing Director, Digital Hub Logistics Hamburg, believed, “There is immense potential for partnership and expansion opportunities for Indian startups in Germany. We have collaborated with an Indian startup for the first time and introduced FreightBro to one of our hub partners, DAKOSY who are keen on working on Indo-German synergies. We eagerly look forward to further connect Indian startups to hub partners in Germany and connect German startups with the Indian market. We are grateful to FreightBro for organizing a unique event for us in India and enable us to connect with startups which has been immensely satisfying.” Mohammed Zakkiria A, Co-Founder, FreightBro, said, “Joining hands with Digital Hub is a strategically sound decision for us and is the perfect platform for us to connect with the right partners in Germany and plan future expansion in the European market.”

Fareye launched a machine learning algorithm that self-learns the ‘correct’ address by analysing historical data and geocodes customer locations to boost address accuracy for e-commerce. Particularly focusing on the festive season that witness huge surge in online deliveries, the tech company aims to help e-commerce businesses to scale cost-effective delivery operations to fulfil customer expectations. Kushal Nahata, CEO, FarEye, said “Inaccurate customer address remains a critical logistics problem for many countries and it’s a major reason that fuels the need for multiple delivery attempts. Businesses need to leverage advanced logistics platform that quickly learns a customer’s exact delivery location based on previous delivery failures or success.”

GMR Hyderabad Airport Cargo launched Hyderabad Cargo Charter Circle (HC3) for facilitating cargo charter operators via Hyderabad Air Cargo Terminal. The move is to develop Hyderabad as an air charter hub in South and boost the regional direct connectivity and link it to the main hubs across the globe. The innovative and dedicated platform for enabling cargo charter operations was launched in the presence of charter operators, freighters, shippers, consolidation agents, freight forwarders and other airport stakeholders. “Cargo charters in India is still in nascent stage but holds a lot of promise, hence, we have launched the HC3 platform to give value and advantage to this segment and thereby boost trade and logistics,” said S.G.K. Kishore, Chief Executive Officer, GHIAL.

DP World plans to make Container Multimodal Terminals (CMTL), its Hyderabad Private Freight Terminal (PFT), as a multi-modal distribution hub for South India cargo. The company has already established private freight terminals and rail-road linkages connecting the city with other trading hubs across the country. The global trade enabler will leverage its rail-road transport connectivity and warehouses. The announcement was made during the conference themed ‘India’s Logistics Sector on the Path of Transformation’ in Hyderabad. The company said Hyderabad will act as the catalyst to drive more trade in the state of Telangana. CMTL houses a Multi-Modal Logistics Park (MMLP) at Thimmapur (near Hyderabad in Telangana state) with proximity to National Highway 7. The MMLP is equipped with a railway siding and over 250,000 sq ft. of warehousing to cater to the needs of both domestic and EXIM trade.

The Federation of Freight Forwarders’ Associations in India (FFFAI) elected new office bearers of the Executive Committee for the period of 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 in its 56th Annual General Meeting (AGM). AV Vijaykumar, who earlier was Chairman-elect, has taken over as Chairman of FFFAI and Shankar Shinde has been elected as Chairman-elect for ensuing two years. PS Atree, Rajesh Verma and Sudip Dey have been re-elected as Vice Chairmen while Vijay Sharma, Alan Jose and Mandava Satyanarayana have become the newly elected Vice Chairmen of the Federation. Dushyant Mulani and Sudhir Agarwal have been elected unopposed Honorary Secretary and Honorary Treasurer respectively. Vijaykumar made it clear that in the days to come FFFAI would play more effective and key role in the growth of ex-im trade as well as logistics industry in the country, through collective initiatives.

Nippon Express has agreed to acquire a 22 per cent stake in Future Supply Chain Solutions (FSC). This transaction is a combination of primary issuance and secondary purchase from an existing Investor. As part of this transaction, FSC will issue 37,89,350 shares to Nippon Express at a price of ₹664 per share (22 per cent premium to the current market price). Through this primary issue Nippon Express will hold 8.6 per cent stake on a fully diluted basis and FSC will raise around ₹252 crore for funding its near-term growth plans. Nippon Express and FSC plan to explore synergies between the two organizations. FSC and Nippon Express will jointly evaluate leveraging Nippon Express’ competency in diverse sectors for the Indian market. FSC plans to leverage Nippon Express’ Japanese and MNC clients for exploring new business opportunities in India, especially for 3PL and express logistics operations. Nippon Express will also have representation on FSC’s Board of Directors, which will further strengthen its board through their strategic direction.