Category Archives: Technology

To make the airline’s cargo services available to a wider global freight market and provide customers with industry-leading visibility across the shipment lifecycle, Unisys Corporation has announced that MAB Kargo Sdn Bhd (MASkargo), the cargo division of Malaysia Airlines, will further enhance the digital transformation of its business using two secure, cloud-based Unisys Digistics digital logistics solutions. Under a five-year engagement, MASkargo will join the Unisys Digi-Portal e-commerce platform to promote its inventory to a wider global community of more than 25,000 buyers – forwarders, airlines, general sales agents, and handlers across 140+ countries.

To check Goods & Services Tax (GST) evasion, the government is planning to integrate the GST e-way bill system with the National Highways Authority of India’s (NHAI’s) FASTag mechanism, from April. The revenue department has set up an officers’ committee to integrate the e-way bill, FASTag, and DMIC’s Logistics Data Bank (LDB) services, after consultation with transporters. “It has come to our notice that some transporters are doing multiple trips by generating a single e-way bill. Integration of the e-way bill with FASTag would help find the location of the vehicle and when and how many times it has crossed NHAI’s toll plazas,” an official told PTI, adding that the integrated system on an all-India basis was planned to be rolled out from April.

JNPT (Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust) has organised a five-day seminar on ‘Engineering & Procurement’ as part of its industry skill development initiative. Commenting on the programme, Neeraj Bansal, IRS, Chairman-in-Charge, JNPT, said, “We started the JNPT APEC Training Centre with an aim to provide timely skill and knowledge upgrade to port professionals so they would be abreast with the latest trends in the industry. This will thus enhance the overall efficiency and quality of the port services across India and Asia.” The seminar will focus on all engineering aspects related to the port and an in-depth understanding into workings of procurement and their importance in port strategy.

Allcargo Logistics has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with JNPT and CIDCO, wherein Allcargo will set up the operations, maintenance and management of a skill development centre in Bokadveera, Uran near JNPT. Youth from the underprivileged sections of the society will be provided skill-based training at the centre to boost their employability opportunities in the domestic port and maritime logistics sector. Conceptualised as Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendras (PMKK), a flagship scheme of the Union Government’s Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE), the skill development centres will offer industry-centric training and job skilling initiatives to needy youth across diverse industry verticals like logistics. The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship is supporting skilling in Sagarmala through its stakeholders including National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), Sector Skill Councils (SSCs), and the flagship scheme of Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) and Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendra (PMKK).

Courierhome has launched its first Chatbot powered by ALIS (Advanced Logistics Intelligence Solution). This new service of Courierhome will help in queries of the users with automatic replies, product demo and much more and which will eventually help in the time management of the company. Chatbot assists users step by step and helps them in answering the customer’s query. As Chatbot do not suffer from the limitation of customer support, it can be available for as many as 1000 customers at the same time. The company is using this technology to provide personal assistant and help to the user and resolving the common issues of a making a booking in the courier platform. Prateek Sharma, Founder & CEO, Courierhome, say, “Through Chatbot the users will be provided with a conversational UI which is more familiar and efficient. Since visibility is the key in logistics, Chatbots will help the users with real time information and thus this will help us in giving customer satisfaction and engagement”.

To power the future growth for its end-to-end air cargo and logistics business, IndiGo has partnered with SmartKargo; a cloud-based air cargo management solution. The airline will deploy SmartKargo for its cargo business across all destinations, including domestic and international operations. IndiGo operates on a fleet size of 189 aircraft including 47 new generation A320 NEOs, 127 A320 CEOs and 12 ATRs, across 57 destinations – 48 domestic and nine internationals. Mohan Kash, Managing Director, SmartKargo India, says, “With our unmatched cloud-based technology and out-of-the-box deployment approach, our customers have significant improvements in key performance indicators, in three main areas, i.e. real-time and complete visibility, higher flown and higher yields.” William Boulter, Chief Commercial Officer, IndiGo, said, “IndiGo cargo has ambitious plans to grow its revenues and remain competitive in this fast-growing area. We needed to have a state-of-the-art technology platform that was fast to deploy and easy to use. SmartKargo includes the local as well as international features needed for our business. Especially important for us was to adopt to best practices in the air cargo industry and deploying SmartKargo can bring us closer.”

OceanPro , an intensive 120-day accelerator programme, is offering start-ups an opportunity to partner with Maersk to bring innovative technology solutions to ease the global supply chain for customers. Pioneered in India, OceanPro complements Maersk’s innovation efforts worldwide. Seven external start-ups and one internal start-up have been identified for collaboration to create solutions that serve customers and manage operations better, leveraging Blockchain, Internet of Things, Advance Text Analytics and Artificial Intelligence. “We recognise the immense potential of India’s technology and digital talent and are looking to capitalise on these capabilities to help the logistics industry worldwide, to reinvent itself,” says Søren Skou, CEO, A.P. Moller – Maersk.

To enable a boon for industries and trade in the state of Punjab, three mega logistics parks have been initiated in Ludhiana. This was disclosed by Sunder Sham Arora, Punjab Industry and Commerce Minister at the Punjab Logistics Conclave, held recently. The parks, which will come up near Kila Raipur village, include multi-modal logistics park by Adani group, a logistics park by Punjab Logistics Infrastructure Limited and another one by Punjab State Warehousing Corporation. Arora shares, “These parks would act as a stimulus for growth of our industry. Logistics has been added in the state industrial policy as it is the backbone of the industry; it cannot be left out.”

To create transparency and digital transformation in the courier industry, CourierHome has necessitated to bring out  ‘Blockchain technology & AI,’ for enabling disruption in the logistics industry. The aim is to create transparency of all documents and transactions across the freight landscape, ultimately, increasing the efficiency, agility and innovation of supply chains. With the implementation of the new-age technologies the entire courier process will get automated, making the process more efficient.   Sushant Kumar, Co-Founder & COO, CourierHome, commented, “Today, the application of Blockchain technology is innumerable.  The logistics industry, which is a trillion-dollar industry, is going to alter the landscape of the logistics industry with this revolutionary technology. Seeing the advantages that blockchain brings in logistics, it can prevent frauds, eliminate inaccuracies, increase data security and transparency, improve efficiency, and reduce expenditure.”

The National Institute of Design (NID) has given visual identity to India logistics in the form of a logo. The logo was unveiled recently by Suresh Prabhu, Minister of Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation. The logo has been designed by a team consisting of faculty members: Tarun Deep Girdher, Amit Sinha, Sudip Adhikary, NID alumna Ankita Talapatra along with T G Shaikh.  According to the concept note, the symbol represents a pair of swans — the bird known for its ability to travel long distances and being compatible in the sky, water and earth. It also represents the agility of India Logistics as the pair portrays teamwork and coordination between various stakeholders. The overlapping white wing represents transparency. The logo is set in Indian tricolour to denote a progressing nation.