Category Archives: Warehousing

Deepak Tiwari, COO, KSH Logistics, while sharing his expectations from the upcoming budget 2023-2024, which will be presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, said, “In 2023, we need the government to address some crucial issues like rising rental prices, fuel prices, and infrastructure cost which has significantly increased the operational cost for any logistics company. There should be an incentive-based system where people building warehouses are rewarded, and the tenant gets the place at a much cheaper rate/sq. ft. The government should also consider investing heavily in automation and incentivizing warehouses that integrate these technologies. On the banking front, interest rates are very high. The interest rate on Capex investment must be decreased. Logistics is a manpower-intensive industry, and while the Skill Council is trying to upgrade the skillsets of human resources, we also need training institutes to train them in the latest technologies and promote R&D and innovation. We also need to bring diversity in the workforce and create equal opportunities for women and 3rd gender individuals. Lastly, with all the infrastructure development that the government is doing in tier 2 and tier 3 cities, if that gets expedited, then we get a better landscape to work. Today the metros are saturated. It’s time to focus and build the rest of India.”

Geodis officially put a newly built multi-user logistics facility into operation in Aurach, in the district of Ansbach. The new facility has direct transport links to the Nuremberg metropolitan region. It has 26,757 Euro pallet spaces in the high-bay warehouse and 9,000 m² of block storage space and is equipped with a photovoltaic system. With the new logistics center, GEODIS optimizes its market access to one of the economically strongest regions in Bavaria and continues its Europe-wide expansion as a global transport and logistics service provider. With 28 loading ramps and 4 ground-level gates, the new logistics center offers GEODIS’ e-commerce customer a wide range of services for the distribution of, for example, large electrical appliances, consumer electronics and furniture. Antje Lochmann, Managing Director of GEODIS Contract Logistics activities in Germany, is delighted with the successful start of operations at the logistics center. The first two halls were already equipped and began test operations in October. The 3rd and 4th halls were commissioned at the beginning of November. “In terms of transport links, our new logistics center in Aurach is directly connected to the A6 federal motorway, which is part of the important Paris-Prague long-distance connection. The project development and the construction of the new plant took place in close cooperation with more than ten companies. Added to this was the expertise of GEODIS colleagues from locations in France, Italy and Germany, who provided excellent support to the team in Aurach by adding their knowledge and experience during the planning and technical setup of our new WMS system,” said Antje Lochmann.

Safexpress has launched its ultra-modern Logistics Park in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. This state-of-the-art facility is strategically located near Mappedu in Thiruvallur district. The logistics facility in is spread over a land area of 6.5 Lakh square feet, enabled with ultra-modern transhipment and 3PL facilities, which will boost storage & warehousing needs of the businesses in this region while providing for faster connectivity. The new Logistics Park is cross-dock, equipped with loading and unloading of over 200 vehicles simultaneously. It has a column-less span of over 80 feet, which facilitates uninterrupted movement of goods within the facility. To enable all-weather loading and unloading of goods, the facility is equipped with 16 feet wide Cantilever Shed. The Logistics facility has the required firefighting equipment and trained manpower to deal with such exigencies. It is equipped with an integrated rainwater harvesting system, has a dedicated green zone and will be using sunlight during the daytime to conserve energy. Operations at the Logistics facility is highly streamlined, which ensures the country’s fastest transit-time from Tamil Nadu to all destinations across India. Safexpress Logistics Park at Mappedu intends to help greatly in minimizing the infrastructural gaps and serve their supply chain & logistics requirements needs effectively and efficiently.

Due to globalisation, dynamic market and consumer behavior, the warehouse management systems (WMS) should be integrated with the external systems for accurate and timely data communication and effective business collaboration, says E-Handbook on Warehousing Standards in India released by the Warehousing Association of India (WAI). Managing these systems integration becomes complex and tedious when the business runs on different industry verticals and on different platforms. Hence, it becomes very important and necessary for the logistics service providers to standardize the systems with integrated solutions when it comes to WMS implementation, it adds. Different aspects of WMS are Training and deployment, Project management, Business requirements, Configuration, Integration and Testing. The WMS should be deployed after detailed evaluation of the functionalities that exists in the system and are relevant to the processes and flows adopted in a warehouse. The WMS should be able to provide all reports and performance dashboards that show the health of the operations like productivity, efficiency, work done and pending, time taken for various activities etc., adds handbook. The broad functionalities of the WMS are to: (a) Process fresh receipt and return of goods, (b) Putting away of goods to storage (c) Sampling, inspection & grading (d) Picking, checking and packing of goods (e) Dispatch of goods (f) Integration with Transportation Management System (TMS) (g) Inventory count and reconciliation (h) Inventory management and its visibility to clients (i) Seamless integration of advance inward shipment notices, dispatch notes, outbound orders, triggering of alerts and notifications. (j) Integration with Warehouse Control Systems (WCS) between equipment like sorters, diverters, put to and pick to light systems, advance storage equipment like ASRS, pallet shuttles and robotics.

Damco India, a subsidiary of international container shipping and logistics giant AP Moller-Maersk, has taken a warehousing facility spread across 243,000 sq. ft. on lease for five years. The facility is in Bhiwandi on the outskirts of Mumbai, documents accessed by CRE Matrix showed. The starting monthly rent is Rs 47.62 lakh. The company has paid a security deposit of Rs 1.90 crore for the property, the documents showed. The leave and licence agreement was registered on October 21, 2022. The lock-in period is for three years and the rent escalation provision states that there would be a 4 percent increase in rent at the end of every 12 months, the documents showed. Damco, a separate brand earlier, has now been integrated with the Maersk brand. In September, Maersk India inaugurated its fifth warehousing facility this year spread over 250,000 sq ft, in Bhiwandi taking its total footprint to over 2.1 million sq. ft., including the warehouses from the recently completed acquisition of LF Logistics, a company statement said. Maersk’s new facility in Bhiwandi is the fifth to go live in 2022 after one each at Sikandrabad in Uttar Pradesh, Kolkata in West Bengal, and Pune and Bhiwandi in Maharashtra. Being strategically located on the Mumbai-Nashik highway, it provides excellent connectivity to manufacturing hubs and the Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Mumbai, it said.

As part of its expansion plan and to tap rising demand from e-commerce and third-party logistic companies, Macrotech Developers, which markets its properties under the Lodha Green Digital Infrastructure (LGDI) platform, has acquired around 8 acres of land in Kurla, Mumbai, the company said in a statement. The land will be used for the development of about 4 lakhs square feet of Grade-A in-city fulfilment centre to provide the last mile warehousing infrastructure to 3PL, e-commerce and quick-commerce companies. “The development will involve a total investment of around Rs 330 crore and is expected to be completed in the next 12-18 months in phases,” it added. Shaishav Dharia, Director, Lodha Green Digital Infrastructure, said this is the second acquisition in Mumbai. “We see that there is a huge demand for Grade-A digital infrastructure in our country and we are aligned with our aim to develop industrial and logistics parks as well in-city logistics assets across multiple cities in India,” he said. This is the second acquisition by the LGDI platform in Mumbai and it seeks to acquire more such assets in the city and other key consumption/manufacturing hubs across India like Pune, Bangalore, NCR, and other cities.

Warehousing and logistics supplies are likely to double to cross 700 million square feet by 2030, for which more than USD 20 billion additional investment is needed, CBRE Group’s latest report stated. According to the report, the first nine months of 2022 saw the sector getting only about USD 144 million across greenfield and brownfield assets from global investors. The report said that leasing activity in the segment grew 40 per cent to 9.2 million square feet in the third quarter over the second quarter. The warehousing and logistics sector requires at least USD 20 billion of fresh investments by 2030 to develop incremental warehousing spaces, most of which will be needed in tier-II and III cities, said the report. It is also estimated that the warehousing and logistics stock will double by 2030 to cross 700 million square feet as occupiers continue to expand across segments such as e-commerce, third-party logistics, and engineering & manufacturing. Further, the share of grade-A warehousing and logistics stock is also expected to rise from 35 per cent now to more than 50 per cent by 2030. During the first three quarters of 2022, leasing remained stable, with around 22 million square feet of space getting leased. Third-party logistics players led the leasing activity with a 50 per cent share, while the total supply addition in the period stood at 13 million square feet, according to the report. Cities like Lucknow, Nagpur, Indore, Kochi and Coimbatore are driving supplies and these demand centres are also expected to witness stronger leasing as several occupiers prefer to locate their warehouses closer to consumption hubs to reduce transportation costs.

FTH Daily, the subscription-based e-grocery initiative of FreshToHome, through partners launched a state-of-the-art warehousing facility spanning up to 75000 sq. ft. in Bengaluru. Built with a capacity to hold more than 70,000 SKUs across 100 categories including farm fresh fruits, vegetables, groceries, household essentials, dairy, among others, the warehouse will play a vital role in the operative procedures of an efficient supply chain. With an advanced grading process unit that is exclusively set up to follow the 25+ quality control protocol, the warehouse adopts a three-point grading system to segregate, grade, and approve the farm fresh fruits, vegetables, and green leafy vegetables that are directly sourced from farmers. To sustain the freshness of fruits, vegetables, green leafs, FTH Daily, through its partners, has geared all its processes for quick turnaround from the source to the customers doorstep. At 6 PM, the harvest that is at the farm is delivered before 7.30 AM next morning to the customers. In its vision to enable easy access to farm fresh fruits and vegetables to millions of families, FTH Daily has facilitated its vendors to partner with a community of over 1200 farmers. More than 150 varieties of fruits, vegetables, and greens are available on the app at mass market prices. Speaking about the new facility centre, Shan Kadavil, Co-Founder, FreshToHome, said, “FTH Daily has been a key enabler in making daily nutrition accessible to lakhs of families. Our community of FTH Daily customers has grown from 10,000 families to 1.5 lakh families who trust us for quality, affordability, and wholesome nutrition. It’s our turn to extend appreciation and thankfulness to our customers, and build infrastructure solutions that will help us reach them faster, …

According to the E-Handbook on Warehousing Standards, released recently by the Warehousing Association of India, ‘Digital Twins’ and ‘Industry 4.0’, can transform the future of warehousing in India and enhance logistics efficiency and cost-competitiveness. Digital twins in warehousing lets companies design, simulate, and test new warehouse operations and product movements virtually, before starting up new sites or making changes within existing sites. As technology drives innovation, the warehouse of today will transform into an increasingly digital environment in future, it stated. WMS enables consistent performance at a low cost. Change will be driven with real- time transaction processing, optimised storage, and selection strategies, directed task management, and integrated labour standards. Operational and strategic teams need to be able to make accurate decisions about ongoing situations. Real-time visibility provides actionable information that can help swiftly adapt plans, improve processes, minimize threats and maximize opportunities. With the advent of Industry 4.0, technology has aided visibility and real-time decisions. From RFID tags, IoT sensors and cloud- based management systems, the real-time supply chain has enabled greater agility and flexibility via machine learning and predictive data analysis. The advantages conferred by supply chain visibility may be individually small, but they can be applied to every movement, operation and transaction in a supply chain, thereby saving time and creating efficiencies that add up to significant savings.

The National Logistics Policy (NLP), launched by the Government of India in September 2022, aims to promote the seamless movement of goods, overcome transport-related challenges, encourage digitisation and significantly reduce logistics time and cost. The policy is aimed at reducing India’s logistics cost considerably and bringing its percentage of GDP in line with the developed economies. Reduced logistics costs shall help improve India’s competitiveness, both in the domestic and export markets, by improving efficiency across all sectors,” said Suprio Banerjee, Vice-President & Sector Head, ICRA Limited. He added, “The Introduction of NLP is a long-term positive for the Indian logistics industry, given its overall focus on attaining better integration of different modes of transport, which in turn shall lead to faster turnaround and higher efficiency. It is also expected to lower the cost of logistics by reducing the over-dependence on the road sector, thereby reducing congestion and ensuring better asset utilisation. Implementation challenges, however, are expected as multiple agencies, stakeholders, and physical entities are involved, which will require proper coordination for the successful implementation of the policy. The implementation will also entail heavy capital investments to be policy-compliant. The benefits of the policy should also be evaluated against its compliance costs. Nonetheless, the long-term benefits of the policy will outweigh the short-term challenges.” The salient features of the NLP include setting key targets, which include a reduction in the logistics cost in India to be comparable to global benchmarks by 2030 and be among the top 25 countries by 2030 (currently ranked at 44) in the logistics performance index rankings as also creating a data-driven decision support mechanism for an efficient logistics ecosystem. The policy will be implemented through an …