Category Archives: Supply Chain

Spoton Logistics has launched its air express cargo services. With this announcement, the company now offers a range of specialised multi-modal express cargo services to B2B customers, significantly reducing turnaround time for time-sensitive deliveries to over 25,000 pin codes across India. Abhik Mitra, Managing Director and CEO, Spoton Logistics, has said, “The air express service will play a major role in catering to the rising demand for safe and faster deliveries. We expect our new service to act as the cornerstone in increasing our market share and provide competitive advantage to our clients.” The newly-launched Air Express service will be driven by Spoton’s road express pickup and delivery infrastructure and supported by its excellent usage of engineering, data and technology which helps the company deliver greater reliability and consistency to its customers.

Reacting to the April 2019 trade data, Ganesh Kumar Gupta, President, FIEO, said, “The export data of US$26.07 billion with a growth of 0.64 per cent is not at all encouraging as almost all the labour-intensive sectors including leather and leather products, gems and jewellery, engineering goods, cotton yarns, man-made yarns, carpets, marine products, few plantations and various other sectors of exports dominated by MSMEs are into negative territory. These sectors are still facing the problem of liquidity besides various other challenges including global trade war, protectionism, fragile global conditions and constraints on the domestic front.” He said that there may be front loading of exports in the past as exporters were apprehensive of withdrawal of GSP in US and development in Iran. Only 14 out of 30 major product groups were in positive territory during April 2019 including petroleum, organic & inorganic chemicals, drugs & pharma, RMG of all textiles, electronic goods, ceramic products & glassware, handicrafts, commodities besides some plantation, agri and dairy products have shown growth during the month.

With a focus on unblocking bottlenecks and capitalising on opportunities, PHD Chamber of Commerce organised the ‘National Maritime Conclave-2019’ in New Delhi. The conclave was graced by the presence of N Sivasailam, Special Secretary (Logistics), Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India, Dilip Kumar Gupta, Managing Director, Sagarmala Development Company and V Kalyana Rama, Chairman & Managing Director, CONCOR along with the industry professionals. Being a moderator of the session themed ‘Port modernisation & multi-modal transportation system’, Pawanexh Kohli, CEO, NCCD, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmer Welfare, Government of India, said, “As an industry, we must all try to make logistics more productive. Increasing port capacity to cater to the growing traffic will automatically bring down the cost of operations and per unit cost of goods handled. The mindset, however, needs to be changed in terms of being productive for the same cost. For instance, we can increase our capacity utilisation which should be done with greater operational efficiency.” He added that the industry must speak to the government about turnarounds to help them become more productive.

To expand its reach in India, Kerry Indev Logistics has launched eight services, each catering to different B2B and B2C segments of the Indian market under the Kerry Indev Express brand. Dr S Xavier Britto, Chairman, Kerry Indev Group, says, “The Express service will enable our company to reach the doorsteps of consumers, thus completing our dream to offer truly end-to-end logistics solutions to them.” The eight pan-India last-mile delivery services launched under the Kerry Indev Express brand are Same Day Express, for guaranteed delivery within 6-8 hours in the same city or between designated cities; Early Express, for guaranteed overnight delivery across designated cities; Priority Package Express, for door-to-door delivery of valuable documents and packages across 200 cities/towns covering 3000 pin codes and expanding to 6,000 pin codes by end 2019; Priority Freight Express – Air, for next-day/committed door-to-door delivery solutions for commercial and urgent shipments to major metros and non-metros; Priority Freight Express – Surface, for a day definite door-to-door delivery solution for commercial and urgent shipments to major metros and non-metros; E-Commerce Business Express, for time-definite deliveries, international courier clearances for cross-border e-commerce services, cash on delivery, drop ship service, reverse logistics; Warehousing Solution Express, for fulfilment centre services and first & last-mile distribution services; Critical Solutions Express, for temperature-controlled distribution, passport and critical documents handling/jewellery cargo handling and clinical trial/biological sample supply chain solutions and other value added services.

To attract new entrepreneurs in exports and bridge the gap in availability of qualified skilled manpower in Exim trade, Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Prin. LN Welingkar Institute of Management Development and Research (WeSchool) to launch a post-graduate programme in foreign trade management (PGP-FTM) at Mumbai. The MoU was inked by Khalid M Khan, Regional Chairman, FIEO (WR) and Dr Uday Salunkhe, Group Director, WeSchool. It aims to jointly develop and deliver the programme, which will help develop human capital for meeting the growing demand in the international trade ecosystem.

Hilti has tied up with FarEye to gain real-time visibility of goods movement, predictability with actionable insights, and build a digital integrated ecosystem with third-party vendors. Working with various 3PL partners across the country, a major pain area for Hilti was to manage these partners, map them against each other, track individual shipments, and keep the customers informed on the status along with actionable insights. Additionally, manual processes and lack of proper communication between transporters and logistics managers resulted in manpower wastage and high wait time at warehouses for loading and unloading of products.

Mumbai International Airport (MIAL) has become the first Indian airport and third in Asia to receive International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) Center of Excellence for Independent Validators (CEIV) Pharma certification. MIAL has achieved this quality milestone for pharma logistics following successful completion of training courses, on-site assessment, and complex validation processes. Acknowledging the importance of this initiative, MIAL has initiated the certification process with a community approach, together with its air cargo supply chain partners. The IATA CEIV Pharma certification has been introduced to prevent temperature excursions of pharma products during air transport, with the key objective of patient safety and reduction of losses attributed to logistical issues. It aims to improve the handling of pharmaceutical cargo by complying with existing national and international regulations.

DHL Express has launched the ‘Yellow Yatra’ programme, a multi-city series of events focused on equipping entrepreneurs from micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in different Indian cities with the know-how to succeed in international e-commerce. Commenting on the launch, RS Subramanian, Country Manager, DHL Express India, said, “MSMEs are crucial to the Indian economy because they contribute over eight per cent to India’s GDP and constitute more than 70 per cent of our business here in India. The launch of ‘Yellow Yatra’ is part of our ongoing commitment to promote the growth of Indian SMEs through participation in cross-border e-commerce trade. Our extensive local, regional, and global network is a key enabler for SMEs who want to venture out of their cities.” At the event, entrepreneurs had the opportunity to hear from industry experts, share best practices with e-commerce players, and most importantly, build important business networks.

Maersk Trade Finance has announced its global loan disbursement projection of US $500 million for the year 2019 with US$ 200 million target for India. The company has disbursed a total of US $0.7 billion globally, till date, since its inception in 2015, with over 150 million in India in the year 2018, a 53 per cent Y-o-Y increase as compared to 2017. Vipul Sardana, Global Head, Maersk Trade Finance, said, “Indian Small & Medium-sized Enterprises (SME) sector continues to play a significant role in India’s economic development. As the sector is gearing up for its digital transformation, the rapid technological advances are putting trade finance in the spotlight and playing a significant role in changing the way global supply-chains are managed and monitored.”

Recognising the export potential of Madhya Pradesh and its ability to attract export-centric FDI in pharma, auto components, machinery, textiles, processed agriculture products, etc., Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) has submitted to Kamal Nath, Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, its proposal to assist the government in working towards an increase in the state’s share in the country’s exports from the current 1.6 per cent to over three per cent in the next five years. Ganesh Kumar Gupta, President, FIEO, emphasised the need for identification of more products under GI, and marketing of such products through exclusive shops in the departure area of international airports, beginning with Mumbai and Delhi. FIEO has also requested for inland freight subsidy for all products, as the cost of carrying cargo from MP to JNPT, in many cases, works out to be more than overseas freight. In response, the minister assured that he will proactively look into the issue of freight subsidy and exclusive showrooms for GI products at India’s international airports.