Category Archives: Warehousing

Maersk Kanoo UAE, an integrator of container logistics, today inaugurated its first Integrated Logistics Centre in Dubai, UAE, at DP World’s leading trade and logistics hub, Jafza. The Maersk Integrated Logistics Centre was inaugurated by Richard Morgan, Regional Managing Director, Maersk West & Central Asia and Christopher Cook, Managing Director, Maersk UAE, in the presence of Maersk’s top W&D customers in the UAE. “It is an important milestone for us today as we inaugurate our first Integrated Logistics Centre in the UAE and strengthen our commitment towards our customers in the Middle East. Our journey towards creating end-to-end logistics solutions is taking a definite shape as we continue to connect and simplify our customers’ supply chains through solutions that are designed and executed considering their specific requirements and challenges,” said Morgan. Ocean shipping and inbound logistics and distribution have traditionally been shared amongst multiple stakeholders in the region, resulting in complex logistical requirements. With the brand new Integrated Logistics Centre in Dubai, Maersk is taking an important step towards building a truly integrated solution for its customers wherein the customers will get a single window access to multiple logistics requirements, not only for the goods flowing in and out of the UAE but even other Middle Eastern countries that use Dubai as a gateway to global trade. Decarbonising logistics and services Maersk has a strong commitment to decarbonising logistics and services. The facility will have solar panels on its rooftop to cater to all of its electricity requirements for facility operations. The 434 MWh/year clean energy production of this installation will reduce more than 1,700 tonnes of carbon emissions over 10 years, an equivalent decarbonisation feat achieved by planting over …

MSC is pleased to be part of the Freight Logistics Optimization Works (FLOW) data-sharing initiative, launched at the White House on March 15, 2022. This major project will help to clear supply chain bottlenecks by improving freight information exchange between key stakeholders and consumers, leading to faster delivery times and reduced costs for consumers. A diverse taskforce representing many stakeholders FLOW includes 18 initial participants, with the aim of welcoming more in the future. Representing diverse perspectives across the supply chain, partners include US-based port authorities, terminal operators, private businesses, logistics, and warehousing companies, as well as the ocean carriers MSC and CMA CGM. The FLOW partners will work together with the US Administration to develop a more efficient and transparent way of sharing information. The idea is to create a new digital tool where each company can share accurate, cargo-related data in real-time. “We are pleased to join and support the FLOW initiative led by the US Department of Transportation, as we strongly believe that a common and interoperable digital infrastructure throughout the container shipping industry is a critical step to making supply chains more efficient, secure, and resilient. Collaboration with governments and other key industry stakeholders is of paramount importance to MSC, and there is no doubt that this initiative will strengthen the foundation for the seamless, end-to-end exchange of information we all need to keep global trade moving today – and tomorrow,” said André Simha, Chief Digital and Information Officer at MSC. Shaping the future, together MSC is committed to building strong, cross-industry partnerships that pave the way towards a better future for shipping by taking advantage of digitalization opportunities. Examples of the company’s recent collaborations include …

The Dredging Corporation of India has signed a historic Ship Building Agreement for the first Make in India project for the construction of the first Beagle Series 12 Trailing Suction Hopper Dredger of 12000 Cubic Meter capacity at Cochin Shipyard Limited today in the presence of Union Minister of Ports, Shipping & Waterways, Sarbananda Sonowal, MoS Shripad Naik, and Secretary for Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Dr Sanjeev Ranjan. Speaking on the occasion, Sarbananda Sonowal said the Ministry, noting the importance of dredging for the operation of ports, has issued Dredging Guidelines for Major Ports. He said the need for sufficient dredgers is of utmost importance for timely completion of dredging and that the new dredgers would be able to bring in the much-needed efficiency and timely completion of dredging. He said this in turn would enable the smooth operation of vessels. Sonowal said the dredger built under the ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat’ concept is one of the largest initiatives under Atmanirbhar Bharat and is a true reflection of international collaboration for Make in India. He said the Ministry, under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, would be able to fulfill the objectives of the Maritime India Vision 2030 with well-equipped dredgers for the operation of ports to bring down the logistical cost of the cargo. Sonowal said that this Ship Building Agreement would also benefit from the Shipbuilding Financial Assistance Policy (SFAP) (2016) of the Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Waterways for Indian Shipyards for shipbuilding contracts secured between 01.04.2016 and 31.03.2026. Financial assistance is granted under this policy to Indian shipyards equal to 17 per cent of the lower of “contract price” or “fair price” or “actual payments received”, …

The FIATA Multimodal Transport Institute (MTI) gathered to address the implications of the ongoing events in Ukraine for freight forwarding and logistics spanning sea, rail, and road transport. Aside from the catastrophic human repercussions, which the industry is particularly sensitive to, global supply chains, which have already been weakened by the effects of the pandemic and the current maritime crisis, are being severely disrupted. Driver shortages, difficulty transporting freight within the impacted zone, and capacity challenges have all been cited. Rising fuel prices are projected to be a concern for the whole industry. It was observed that multimodal solutions are critical to guaranteeing the movement of commodities throughout the impacted area during this war, with border crossings apparently feasible by rail transit via Moldova and the Port of Galati, or via Romania, which gives port access. Trans-Caspian routes are projected to be crucial. Members of FIATA should be aware of the sanctions imposed by certain countries in reaction to the conflict, and should visit the appropriate government pages on a regular basis. Countries currently enforcing relevant sanctions include, among others, Australia, the European Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States. It is understood that more sanctions are being considered.

The Major Port Authorities Act, 2021 regulates, operates, and plans major ports in India and vests administration, control, and management of such ports in Major Port Authorities Boards. The legislation enables these ports to operate more efficiently as a result of improved decision-making autonomy and modernisation of their institutional framework. These ports have been given the authority to establish a scale of rates for port services and assets. Tariffs can be set by PPP concessionaires based on market conditions, for example. The compact Board of Directors, comprised of experienced independent members, is capable of boosting decision-making and strategic planning. Prior to the implementation of the Act, the overall capacity of major ports and the volume of cargo handled were as follows: *million tonnes per annum Connectivity is a vital enabler for ports since it is the end-to-end efficacy of the logistics chain that promotes industrial competitiveness. The Sagarmala initiative features a particular pillar of port connection projects to improve connectivity between ports and domestic production and consumption hubs. Under Sagarmala, 190 road and rail connectivity projects costing Rs 1.22 lakh crore have been identified for execution, with an emphasis on connecting large and minor ports. Fifty of these projects have been finished, while the remaining 140 are in different phases of development and execution. The Ministry of Road, Transport, and Highways (MoRTH), major port authorities, and other state organisations are principally in charge of implementing these projects. The government has launched a number of programmes aimed at port modernisation, automation, and digitalisation, with a focus on ease of doing business. This includes the implementation of web-based e-forms, direct port delivery, container scanners, radio frequency identification-based technologies for gate automation, a …

In the two weeks since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, there seems to be a negligible impact on container prices and leasing rates in China. Container availability has improved from soon after the Chinese New Year until Friday across key ports in China. However, with the announcement of nationwide lockdowns, the supply chain must prepare for more turmoil in the coming months, impeding the flow of container movement as importers worldwide prepare for the peak season later this year. At the port of Ningbo, average prices for a 40-foot high cube container fell by 10%, approximately from $5930 on February 14th to $5329 on February 27th. As of March 10, this price stood at $5248. Similarly, average prices fell by 10–15% at the ports of Shanghai, Qingdao, and Shenzhen till March 11. Shenzhen witnessed a drop of 8% in the past two weeks. However, the lockdowns in Shenzhen, Zhejiang, Shanghai, Jilin, Suzhou, Guangzhou, and Beijing (19 provinces as of Sunday, probably more to come in a few days) imposed now will clearly heavily restrict container movement at these ports, which will, as we’ve seen in the past, prove to be further damaging to the global supply chain. Clearly, 2022 has not brought any cheer to the supply chain industry. On top of this, war will just prove to be another disruption amongst the other innumerable factors for China’s supply chain. Freight rates and container prices were already at a record high even before the invasion started, and what happened immediately due to the war was that the Russian ports were not being called by the national shipping lines anymore, the Black Sea being somehow closed, and the Asia-European railway being quite …

Recently, Jeena Criticare, the critical healthcare division of Jeena & Co., India’s trusted and reliable logistics company, recently announced having completed a milestone of 100 tonnes of COVID-19 vaccine deliveries across the country in the last year.  Throughout 2021—the year when the nation was on a fast track to completing COVID vaccination after a devastating 2nd wave—Jeena Criticare was at the forefront of these efforts. Be it as an appointed distributor of Serum Institute of India’s (SII’s) COVISHEILD vaccine deliveries for private hospital supplies across the country or as a part of the strategic collaboration for Asia’s first drone-based vaccine delivery project for the Telangana government, Jeena Criticare has played a pivotal role.  Apart from the above milestone, during the peak pandemic time till the end of 2021, Jeena Criticare has been instrumental in clearing and moving 3,000 MT of COVID care equipment that includes oxygen concentrators, RT PCR kits, PPE kits, hospital beds, medicines, and critical care drugs, masks, vaccines, and ventilators. Jeena’s Pharma Division has also been instrumental in getting fast-track import clearance, from the normal 24 hours to a special 5 hours flat, for COVID Care Aid and other healthcare transportation from countries like South Korea, Germany, USA, Taiwan, China, Italy, and also the WHO. With their global logistics support, Jeena has also been a part of India’s export chain, enabling healthcare to various countries and also for customers like the WHO (World Health Organisation). Jeena & Co., an over-100-year-old logistics company, has always been at the forefront of innovation in end-to-end logistics solutions and continues to be a trusted and reliable supply chain partner.  Speaking about the milestone achievement and the strong thrust on critical healthcare …

Wiz, a tech-enabled full-stack freight forwarding platform for the modern-day, has announced the start of a new business entity exclusively for handling bulk cargo. The business division, headquartered in Singapore, will cater to the niche market of dry bulk shipping. Wiz has also announced that Punit Oza has been appointed as the CEO of Wiz Bulk. He will start his new assignment on April 11, 2022. Punit is a veteran of dry bulk shipping and comes with over 29 years of rich experience in the industry. Over the years, he has held senior management positions in some leading shipping and trading companies. In his previous assignment, he spearheaded the digital transformation of Klaveness Dry Bulk before moving to the board of Klaveness Asia. We are extremely excited to announce Wiz Bulk, a new business entity of Wiz that will cater to the dry bulk cargo market, and we will utilise our tech expertise to improve the customer experience for this market,” said Ramkumar Govindarajan, CEO, Wiz. It was immediately clear that Punit was the right choice to lead Wiz Bulk. I am looking forward to working with him to develop Wiz Bulk as a leading name for dry bulk cargo movements.” Punit Oza said, “I am extremely excited to join the Wiz family and look forward to building a sustainable and customer-centric bulk shipping solution to provide greater transparency and value, leveraging technology to the maximum possible extent.” I am extremely impressed with what Wiz has achieved in the container freight solution space, and I hope that we can achieve the same success in the bulk freight solution space as well. Punit will work with Wiz founders Ramkumar Govindarajan and …

The spectacular growth exhibited by the retail, ecommerce, grocery firms and third-party logistics providers have spurred up the demand for last mile deliveries, forcing top warehousing developers to ramp up their expansions in the tier-II locations and within metros. Aiming to have a better reach to the consumer, operators and investors such as ESR, LOGOS, Blackstone-led Horizon Industrial Parks, and Welspun One Logistics Parks (WOLP) are actively eyeing land acquisitions in smaller cities and vying for first mover advantage in setting up multilevel in-city logistics hubs. With focus on tier-II cities, ESR is currently in advanced discussions to acquire 3-4 land parcels. The company kicked off its urban logistics plan with the acquisition of 8.2 acres of land in Alipur, Delhi, to establish a distribution centre spread across 300,000 sq ft to cater to e-commerce, grocery, pharmacy, cloud kitchen, and other companies. “2021 was a mixed bag, with lot of leasing in e-commerce but slowdown in industrial. In the last six months light manufacturing and industrial sectors have revived. We are looking at significant expansion this year, incl-uding in tier-II markets, which have become important because of e-commerce penetration. Our strategy would be to build more plug-and-play (warehousing) facilities, which help customers to go live in three months,” said, Abhijit Malkani, chief executive officer (CEO), ESR India. Warehousing has been a sweet spot for the real estate industry during the pandemic largely because of the e-commerce boom. According to JLL India, the cumulative warehousing supply in the top 8 cities was 287 million sq ft in 2021-end and is expected to touch 500 million sq ft by 2025.

After two years of disruption, the logistics sector is riding on a growth wave as COVID-19 wanes, with the giant logistics provider DTDC leading this wave with a special focus on healthcare. The national player is taking the logistics game a notch higher and upgrading their infrastructure, launching several warehouses for positive growth and expansion. After the pandemic struck and several lockdowns, the demand for doorstep delivery of medicine and vaccines has soared. In order to meet this demand and facilitate people with speedy services that meet their life-saving medical requirements, DTDC is now on a mission to reach every large city and the remotest of villages in the country. Rolling this mission into action, DTDC has begun with the Guntur district in Andhra Pradesh. They have opened a new warehouse with state-of-the-art facilities and high-end technology-enabled. Partnering with e-commerce giants, the logistics provider is all set to provide enhanced deliveries across categories across the urban and rural segments of the state. “To further enhance our services and streamline operations to serve our customers better, we are building major logistic hubs across the country to facilitate business growth and deliver value to customers across the length and breadth of the country,” says Subhasish Chakraborty, Founder, Chairman and Managing Director of DTDC. “We are happy with the way the people of the country have supported us in the last 32 years. We started from Karnataka but are all over India today. With the trio element of service, support, and advanced infrastructure, we are sure to take care of everyone’s needs in the coming future. Moreover, we also run a foundation called SSCF (Shri Subhasish Chakraborty Foundation), where orphanages and the aged …