Category Archives: Warehousing

According to Knight Frank India’s latest report, India Warehousing Market Report-2022, Bhubaneswar recorded an exponential surge of 700 per cent taking the warehousing transaction volume to 0.86 million sq. ft.., in FY 2022 from 0.11 million sq. ft., in FY 2021. “Warehousing in Bhubaneswar is clustered around Bhubaneswar-Cuttack Road (NH-16), Tangi, Pitapalli and Chandaka. The demand for warehousing in the city has been picking up gradually in recent years and is widely dominated by local developers. In the last few years, development of industrial and logistics parks around the city has further boosted warehousing activities in the market,” the report stated.

Safexpress has launched two new ultra-modern Logistics Parks in Maharashtra and one in Nagpur and another in Ranjangaon MIDC in Pune. Safexpress Logistics facilities in Maharashtra has a combined land area of 5.25 Lakh square feet, enabled with ultra-modern transhipment and 3PL facilities to boost storage and warehousing needs of the region, while providing for faster connectivity. The new Logistics Parks are cross-dock, have a column-less span of over 80 feet to facilitate simultaneous loading and unloading of multiple vehicles and unhindered 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 facilities have the required firefighting equipment and trained manpower to deal with such emergencies. The physical infrastructure will be backed by a robust IT infrastructure and an efficient warehouse management system.

“The launch of the National Logistics Policy is a watershed moment for Indian logistics’ sector and a step closer to developing a digitized, seamlessly integrated and efficient logistics ecosystem in India,” said Sunil Tyagi, Secretary, Warehousing Association of India (WAI). He shared his views and added, “Its emphasis on standardization and digitization to warehousing value chains is a welcome initiative. It will improve efficiency, productivity, and quality of services in the warehousing segment, canonized in the e-Handbook on Warehousing Standards, a guiding document launched alongside the Logistics Policy. The pivot towards promising technological initiatives such as the ULIP will help in integrating the logistics sector and ensuring first and last mile connectivity for seamless movement of people and goods.”

DHL Global Forwarding has inaugurated a new sustainable, solar-powered transhipment hub and head office in Johannesburg, South Africa. Located in the Sky Park Industrial Estate it provides easy access to OR Tambo International Airport. The facility’s temperature-controlled chambers and Good Distribution Practices (GDP)-trained personnel enable the new hub to cater to the unique needs of Africa’s rapidly advancing life sciences and healthcare (LSH) sector, said official release. The new EUR 7-million facility (R127 million) includes offices and a 10,000 m2 warehouse. It will serve as a hub for transport, logistics, and warehouse solutions, as well as international freight expertise for different industries.

Strengthening its position as a global integrated logistics company, A.P. Moller – Maersk inaugurated two new warehouses in India, that are strategically located near the National Capital Region (NCR) in the northern part of the country, the company said in a statement. The 420,000 sq. ft. Farrukhnagar Warehouse is a brand new, state-of-the-art warehouse connected to the busy manufacturing hub of northern India. With proximity to the Western Direct Freight Corridor (DFC), Farrukhnagar Warehouse will be a key facility for retail, FMCG and large e-commerce customers. The 100,000 sq. ft. Maersk Dadri Warehouse, located within the Inland Container Depot (ICD), offers customers bonded warehousing solution. Being at the confluence of Western and Eastern DFC, having a rail head connection, proximity to eight national highways, and Jewar Airport coming up within 60 km range, this warehouse has all the prime attributes that will add value to customers’ supply chains.

According to a latest report by property firm, Knight Frank India, the warehousing market in India grew 62 per cent year-on-year (YoY) in eight major cities of the country taking the total space covered to 51.3 million sq. ft. The Indian warehousing sector, which has witnessed tremendous growth because of the boom in online shopping especially during the pandemic has seen fund flow to the tune of $1.2 billion in 2022 through June, against the $1.3 billion raised in all of 2021, stated report. Shishir Baijal, Chairman and Managing Director, Knight Frank India said, “The high growth rate of organised warehousing sector in India is a result of its rising GDP and consumerism. With warehouse leasing in India surpassing the pre-pandemic levels, the sector is poised to take a quantum leap to match its more mature peers around the world.” A survey of the sector in the top 13 secondary markets including cities like Guwahati, Lucknow, Jaipur, and Coimbatore revealed a 31 per cent YoY increase in transaction volumes taking the total area covered to 12.6 million sq. ft in FY22 from 9.7 million sq. ft in FY21. The National Capital Region (NCR), followed by Mumbai, is leading the market with the highest overall transaction volumes, while Pune and Hyderabad exhibited maximum percentage growth in annual transacted volumes at 166 per cent and 128 per cent YoY respectively, the report added.

Considering the rise in the warehousing demand in India, the Noida Authority is planning to offer plots in sectors 161 to 166 located along the Expressway for warehousing needs. “Earlier we did not consider ‘warehousing’ in the industrial plots scheme launched by Noida Authority (for Old Noida) in September 2022. But we will, going forward as part of new schemes (of Old Noida),” said Ritu Maheshwari, CEO, Noida Authority, at the recently held Noida Stakeholders Meet. Since large land banks are not available in Old Noida, the New Noida Draft Master Plan proposes to focus on industrial development and is expected to plug the demand gap for warehousing requirements, she added. The draft plan, prepared by the School of Planning and Architecture (SPA), proposes to allocate as much as 8,800 hectares, or 41 percent area for industrial use on which warehousing can come up. “I agree that warehousing is needed. While we have not allowed warehousing in the new schemes launched earlier this month, we will try and include it in the forthcoming schemes,” Maheshwari said. The new schemes launched in sectors 162 and 164 are large plots but have been offered for industrial use. “With the recent government notification that warehousing is allowed in industrial facilities and on industrial land, we will try and include it in the forthcoming schemes. Earlier, we planned to include one sector for warehousing but were sceptical whether the response would be good. Post this scheme results we can earmark a few bigger plots for warehousing soon,” she said.

National Highways Logistics Management (NHLM) and Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the construction of a multimodal logistics park (MMLP) at Jalna in Maharashtra. Nitin Gadkari, Union Transport and Highways minister said, “The construction will serve as a stimulus for the growth of the Marathwada region. The development will serve as the region’s operational dry port linking the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridors with Samruddhi Marg.” The minister also added that Jalna will become the Marathwada region’s automobile hub, and that the infrastructure will encourage export of agricultural products. The state’s current auto hubs are the Pune-Chakan belt which is home to some of the biggest names in the auto sector including Bajaj Auto, Mahindra & Mahindra, and Tata Motors. The Aurangabad belt is another hub with the likes of Varroc Engineering. “The Centre has authorised the development of 35 multimodal logistics parks (MMLPs) as part of the Bharatmala Pariyojana with the aim to centralise freight consolidation and reduce logistics costs from 14 percent of GDP to less than 10 percent at par with international standards, while also connecting all modes of transportation, including roads, rail, water, and air,” said Gadkari. In addition to Jalna, Maharashtra is anticipated to have eight additional multimodal logistics parks in Ratnagiri, Bhiwandi, Akola, Sangli, Jalgaon, Solapur, and Nasik. The land will be made available by the state government.

The National Logistics Policy (NLP), which will help India propel into a top manufacturing and sourcing country globally, has been approved by the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Acknowledging the same, Manu Raj Bhalla, President, Warehousing Association of India (WAI) said, “The policy encompasses all aspects of the supply chain such as transportation infrastructure and technology to provide cost-effective, sustainable, and robust multimodal solutions with real-time visibility to industry stakeholders.” “The policy will complement the PM Gati Shakti National Masterplan, will facilitate investment in warehousing and logistics infrastructure, dovetailing into Make in India alongside the Aatmanirbhar Bharat initiative,” he added. The vision is to develop a technologically enabled, cost-efficient, resilient, sustainable, and trusted logistics ecosystem for accelerated and inclusive growth. The policy includes a detailed action plan to achieve reduction in logistics cost in India, to be in the top 25 countries in the Logistics Performance Index ranking by 2030, and to create data-driven decision support mechanism for an efficient logistics network. “Several initiatives under the policy, including Unified Logistics Interface Platform (ULIP), the Ease of Logistics Services platform, e-handbook on Warehousing, training courses on PM Gati Shakti Masterplan, and logistics on i-Got, were launched along with the NLP. All these initiatives will help facilitate the digital transformation of the Indian logistics and supply chain ecosystem, thus enabling integration with the global value chains in an efficient and cost-effective manner,” said Bhalla.

Rhenus UK has now opened the doors to a new logistics centre near Heathrow Airport, a major investment designed to considerably strengthen its offer across life sciences and healthcare, full vehicle logistics and its air and ocean freight operations, said official release. The new 58,000 square feet handling facility located in Ashford, just four miles from London Heathrow airport will be the new home for the brand-new specialist pharmaceutical, life sciences and healthcare centre. Spencer Davern, UK Managing Director at Rhenus Air & Ocean UK said in a statement, “Our investment in this state-of-the-art facility and in our specialist teams has been designed to meet the future needs of our broad spectrum of customers to ensure the safe and secure handling of …