Category Archives: Technology

Aiming to reduce the total cost of ownership (TCO) for fleet owners, provide better control over operations and increased protection against fraud, Shell has launched Shell Fuels, Shell Fleet Prepaid program and Shell Telematics. Parminder Kohli, GM – Business Development, Marketing and Operations for Fleet Solutions, Shell, said, “Our mission is to be our customers’ first choice for sustainable mobility solutions. We would like to achieve this through understanding their fleet management problems and then providing customised solutions addressing their pain points.”

N Sivasailam, Special Secretary – Logistics, Department of Commerce, Government of India has kindly consented to grace the India Cargo Awards 2019. India Cargo Awards 2019 are scheduled to be held on January 27, 2020 from 7 pm to 10 pm at the Crowne Plaza Greater Noida. Sivasailam is an officer of the 1985 batch of the Indian Administrative Service allotted to Karnataka Cadre. He graduated in Mechanical Engineering from Delhi College of Engineering, University of Delhi. He did his Master’s in Business Administration at the Faculty Management Studies, University of Delhi, and Master’s in Social Policy & Planning from the London School of Economics and Post Graduate Diploma in Intellectual Property Rights Law (IPRL) from the National Law School of India University, Bangalore. Prior to this assignment, he served as an Additional Chief Secretary in the Department of Public Enterprises, Government of Karnataka. He has served in the Departments of Health & Family Welfare and Medical Education, Forest, Ecology & Environment Departments of the Government of Karnataka as Principal Secretary.

The second LOGIX India 2019 – International Buyer Seller Meet was held on December 12, 2019 at New Delhi, launched by the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) with the active support from Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India. The three days mega event saw well over 3500 business to business meetings along with parallel sessions on different issues, challenges and above all opportunities about the logistics sector across India and the world. Inaugurating the event, Som Parkash, Minister of State for Commerce & Industry, Government of India, said, “Logistics is the backbone of any trade and industry. Currently the logistics cost in India is 30-40 per cent higher than the global benchmarked logistics cost. And therefore, it is a big challenge for the government. However, the government aims at reducing it to 10 per cent of the GDP. The government is also planning to invest around 100 lakhs crore in logistics infrastructure in the next five years. We are also in the process of coming out with a new National Logistics Policy and creating data bank by getting feedback from different stakeholders.

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.

DMICDC Logistics Data Services (DLDS) has announced the launch of its container tracking service ‘Logistics Data Bank’ (LDB) at Paradip International Cargo Terminal (PICT) in Odisha and Mormugao Port Trust in Goa. The extension of LDB’s services to India’s eastern corridor and Goa comes after it has tracked 20 million EXIM containers in three years. With an 11-digit tracking code, the container tracking solution helps supply chain operations to reduce the port dwell and transportation time of export and import shipments. LDB is a single-window ICT-based container tracking solution of DLDS currently operational across 24 port terminals in India since it began operations at the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) in 2016. In 2017 it was extended to Hazira and Mundra ports of Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ).

In order to take the ease of doing business initiatives to next level, customs department is rolling out the concept of faceless assessment of cargo across the country in next few months. The consignments will be assessed by virtual group irrespective of where the Bill of Entry is filed. Baswaraj Nalegave, Commissioner of Customs (City and ICD), Bengaluru, says, “We are moving ahead with the concept of faceless assessment,” in adding, “From now onwards, in a phased manner, we will ensure that the assessment of cargo need not be done at the same place where the Bill of Entry is filed,” he stated. “We have already started the pilot in Bangalore. So, all machinery will be assessed by a virtual group no matter where the Bill of Entry is filed. In Chennai, it’s already being done. It’s a matter of a few months before it is rolled out across the country,” he noted.

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.”

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.”

FreightBro, associated with the Journal of Commerce, hosted their first India Logistics Technology Summit at the Centre of Incubation and Business Acceleration, Navi Mumbai. The summit witnessed sessions on how software can make key ocean freight processes and capabilities more efficient and less costly, potentially positioning India as the key growth market for world trade in the coming years. The panel discussion brought up interesting conversations and observations; plug and play software start-ups offer a layer of flexibility and standardisation to the freight-forwarding community, the technology platforms act as salespersons reducing customer acquisition costs and older players are opening up to technology once they realize that it is enabling them in all possible ways.

With a launch of Relay-as-a-Service (RaaS), the company aims to bring benefits of its disruptive relay trucking model to millions of fleet owners and truck pilots in India. RaaS will be offered to fleet owners using its technology, pilots and countrywide network of relay pit-stops. Relay Trucking is an operating model where drivers change over after every few hundred kilometers of driving through a network of relay pit-stops and then get rostered back to their home base to return to their families every single day. Gazal Kalra, Co-founder, Rivigo, said, “With RaaS, we aim to offer the benefits of relay trucking to millions of fleet owners in India and bring in efficiencies in the logistics industry while directly addressing one the biggest challenges of chronic truck driver shortage. In addition to the relay network, technology and pilots, we will be making our fuel, maintenance, cashless payment solutions also available to fleet owners in the country through RaaS. Rivigo’s mission is to make logistics in India humane, more efficient and offer better service. Offering RaaS to fleet owners in the country is a significant step in that direction.” Ramratan Singhi, Owner, Sure Cargo Logistics, a fleet of 70 Bharat Benz trucks and who has signed up for the RaaS program, said, “RaaS model helps make trucking efficient. We achieved 25-30 per cent extra running per month per truck through RaaS, compared to using our resources. Hub-hub TAT was excellent, and the use of tech in all aspects of operations (fuel, maintenance) is helping us see the areas of concern in our trucks. It frees our management time and resources on getting more business while our trucks are operated by RIVIGO Relay …