Category Archives: Warehousing

Robinsons Global Logistics Solutions (RGL), an asset-light third-party logistics and warehousing company, is on an accelerated growth trajectory. The company will be investing in excess of INR 20 Cr in 2022, and expanding its footprint across key metros, with a push in tier 2 and tier 3 towns across the country also. RGL will be adding more than 6 lakh Sq. ft warehousing space, and adopting a technology-driven approach to efficient and green operations. The company is also looking to increase their workforce by an additional 50%, inviting skilled talent that can be a part of the tech-driven vision. RGL’s expansion plans are driven by the management’s confidence in providing unmatched service delivery to existing and new customers whose demands are dynamic and evolving. The expansion plans for RGL involve setting up additional Grade A warehousing spaces of 6 Lakh sq. ft, across key locations of Bhiwandi, Kolkata, Gurugram, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Chennai. The expansion activities kick-started with long terms agreements of 90,000 and 30,000 sq. ft area in Bhiwandi and Kolkata respectively in January, followed by launching a 75,000 sq. ft. in Gurugram in February. The company will also be leasing warehousing space in key metros in the South, starting with an RGL designed build-to-suit warehouse of 30,000 sq. ft in Hyderabad in May, 100,000 sq. ft in Bengaluru and 70,000 sq. ft in Chennai, by August 2022. There will be another 3 warehouses that have been identified in Gurugram, Indore & Bhiwandi which will be added in November and December 2022.

The year 2021 saw leasing of about 22 million sq feet across warehousing and industrial facilities in the top 5 cities, steered by robust warehousing demand from the E-commerce segment and strong production growth. Demand for high-quality warehousing space was steered by 3PL (Third party logistics) players with a 33% share, followed by e-commerce companies with a share of 29% in total leasing. During the year, Delhi-NCR continues to lead industrial and warehousing demand with a share of 29%, followed by Pune and Mumbai at 21% and 20% each respectively. The majority of the space off-take was for warehouses, followed by industrial sheds. “Robust leasing momentum was witnessed in 2021 irrespective of the fact that the Covid-19 situation continues to evolve. Supply introduction in most markets is witnessing a strong revival in spite of material price escalation continuing to be a challenge. The Grade A absorption across key cities stood at 22 million sq ft with E-commerce and 3PL sectors once again dominating the space uptake. We are witnessing industrial demand pick up across cities such as Chennai, Pune and Delhi-NCR. We are also witnessing active leasing inquiries in emerging Tier II markets on account of the need for last mile delivery for customers.” said, Shyam Arumugam, Managing Director, Industrial and Logistics Services, Colliers India.

A.P. Moller – Maersk (Maersk) is strengthening its operations in Bangladesh, where it has served the country’s exporters connect to the global market for almost three decades. Bangladesh has been one of the most important sourcing markets for the garments and apparel industry worldwide. The garment manufacturers exporting to global markets have significantly contributed towards building the country’s economy. Despite the impressive growth of garments’ exports from Bangladesh, the number of warehouses in Chattogram have not increased since 2012 with the sole exception of ISATL that became operational in 2018. Optimizing utilization of available capacity assisted to an extent, however it did not scale enough to meet the trade’s requirements. The logistics ecosystem and the Chittagong Port get stretched, particularly during the peak seasons. In 2021, a fallout of this structural challenge was felt by all the stakeholders involved in import-export trade when the Container Freight Stations (CFS) got clogged with cargo resulting in delayed clearance, stuffing and consequently dispatch of containers to the port. Delay in offloading cargo also led to longer truck waiting time, and delay in despatch of containers to the port, consequently resulting in lack of overall productivity. These challenges have serious consequences on the overall economy of the country given the fact that the Chittagong Port handles in excess of 90% of the total containerized trade to and from Bangladesh. Recognizing these challenges, Maersk Bangladesh has partnered with ISATL to build a 200,000 sq. ft custom bonded warehouse. ISATL are pioneers in constructing and operating warehouses and CFS and operate four CFS within Chattogram and the River Terminal at Dhaka. Under the scope of this partnership, ISATL will construct a brand new custom bonded warehouse …

GreenBase, a joint venture between the realty major Hiranandani Group and US-based private equity firm Blackstone Group announced its plans to invest over INR 3,000 crores to develop industrial, logistics, and warehousing parks across key cities in India. The joint platform is looking to build and expand its portfolio by at least 15 million sq ft, taking it to more than 20 million sq ft in the next five years. The company is targeting a valuation of between Rs 5,500 crore and Rs 6,000 crore for its portfolio once the proposed expansion is completed. “The demand scenario for India’s logistics sector looks promising with rising consumerism and higher economic activity. We are optimistic about the growth in this segment, led by a conducive economic scenario, and our plans have been aligned to make the most of this rapid progress.” said N Shridhar, CEO of GreenBase. He adds, that the joint platform is also considering a plan to list the industrial and logistics portfolio through a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) in India or even overseas. GreenBase plans on financing the proposed investment through equity worth Rs 1,000 crore and the balance with leverage. The company’s current leverage level stands at around 25-30% of its existing capital.

Welspun One Logistics Parks (WOLP), announced that it has acquired 40 acres of land, located on the Malur-Hosur road, to set up a large-scale warehousing facility. With a development potential of ~1 million square feet and a total project cost of INR 300 Cr, the facility will service the Bengaluru Metropolitan region’s (BMR’s) industrial and warehousing demand for space. Bengaluru has historically been a warehousing supply starved market with limited institutional developer presence in the Grade A space; however, demand has witnessed a significant uptick on the back of the post COVID E-Commerce boom. As per research estimates by various International Property Consultants (IPCs), demand for both warehousing and industrial space in Bengaluru is expected to be ~15-20 million square feet over the next 3 years. This acquisition comes at an opportune time giving WOLP an early mover advantage while helping the firm capitalize on the shifting customer preference towards Grade A warehouses. Talking about the strategic expansion, B.K. Goenka, Chairman, Welspun Group commented, “South India has always been an important market for us, and this is a crucial first step towards building a presence in the region by developing logistics infrastructure. WOLP has made significant progress in supporting the county’s warehousing network in a short span of time – from our flagship Park in Bhiwandi, Maharashtra to the more recent acquisitions in Farukhnagar, Haryana and Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. Our current acquisition will deepen our Fund Portfolio as well as strengthen our vision of being a pan India warehousing player.”

QuickShift has launched its second fulfillment center in Bengaluru to cater to the surging demand, owing to the rapid growth in online transactions across marketplaces and brand portals. The sprawling 65,000 sq. ft. facility will give thrust to the company’s commitment of providing excellent services such as warehouse fulfillment, logistics, order management and last-mile delivery in the burgeoning markets of South India. “The growth in e-commerce and online transactions fuelled by the pandemic, has created a huge demand in Bengaluru. Now, this facility will help to ease and smoothen delivery services in this thriving market and will ensure the product reaches the right place, right hands, hassle-free with 100% accuracy. Same-day delivery today has made a tremendous impact on online businesses and we believe that by reducing the amount of time between making an order and receiving it, can greatly enhance customer satisfaction levels and experiences,” said Anshul Goenka, Founder and CEO, Quickshift Catering to a large number of D2C brands, QuickShift has already set up fulfillment centers in major metropolises like Bengaluru, Delhi-NCR and Mumbai. At this new center, all individual units would be completely scan-based to ensure tracking across the facility. Quickshift is investing in a new ‘Warehouse Management Software’ to ensure pre-assignment of storage locations and reduce order processing TATs. It aims to achieve order accuracy of 99.9% with this deployment. The new fulfillment center also has arrangements to store products needing ambient conditions viz cosmetics, perfumes, skincare products apart from the regular general merchandise like clothing, footwear, and electronics.

Industrial and warehousing space absorption stood at 44 mn sq. ft in 2021 to include 35.1 mn sq. ft from Tier I cities and 8.6 mn sq. ft from Tier II & III cities. Inspite of Covid restrictions and lockdowns impacting construction activities, India witnessed a fresh supply of 45 mn sq. ft. in 2021 where 36 mn sq. ft was from Tier I cities and 8.9 mn sq. ft from Tier II & III cities, as per data released by International real estate advisory firm Savills India. Similar to 2020, 3PL and e-commerce sectors continued to drive warehousing demand accounting 62% of the total absorption in 2021, followed by manufacturing sector at 14%. Among the major cities in India, Delhi NCR led with the highest absorption in 2021 at 18% followed by Pune at 15%. Mumbai and Bangalore saw absorptions at 14% and 11% respectively, while tier II & tier III cities accounted for 20%.

Lodha Group has signed a deal with third party logistics firm Flyjac Logistics, a subsidiary of Hitachi Transport System Group, to sell a 22.3 acres land parcel at the Palava industrial park. Real estate major Lodha Group, or Macrotech Developers said it has closed a deal with an affiliate of Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing (MSREI) to develop 1.9 million sq ft at Palava Industrial and Logistics Park (PILP), near Mumbai. This would entail an investment of about ₹600 crore to build grade-A warehouses across 72 acre at PILP. Mumbai-based Lodha Group would be the project development manager, and will be responsible for leasing, project development, and asset management. MSREI is the private real estate investment management arm of Morgan Stanley. “Our marquee acquisitions and key partnerships for PILP have helped us establish a solid track record in the logistics sector. Through this formidable collaboration, we will leverage our development expertise along with MSREI’s industrial know-how as we continue to expand and enhance this best-in-class industrial park. These are exciting yet crucial times for us as we expect more such strategic partnerships in the near future,” said Shaishav Dharia, CEO, Townships, and Rental Assets, Lodha Group.

The center plans to introduce a warehousing policy laying the roadmap for developing exclusive warehousing zones through public-private partnerships to ease transportation and logistics costs. To be set up with proper storage facilities the zones will be on the outskirts of major cities to avoid traffic congestion within city limits. The policy will be framed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) that will also be the implementing agency. NHAI member Manoj Kumar said the policy is at the final stages and will be out in the public domain before the year-end. The zones will use land banks along highways and expressways available with the NHAI. Under the public-private partnership (PPP) model land will be offered to private developers for constructing warehousing zones on a revenue-sharing basis or for a fixed fee. The terms of the agreements will be finalized later. The fast-moving consumer goods companies along with steel and cement makers will benefit from the warehousing zones as they will be able to stock inventory efficiently near major hubs.

Atmos Systems, leading name enabling widespread warehouse automation, has introduced Atmos A42N – an autonomous case handling robotic (ACR) system that can significantly enhance both inbound and outbound efficiency of a warehouse. Following thorough research and development, the A42N robots comes with an increased load capacity of 150 kg and is engineered to support cases of various size and material. The system is loaded with easy to use features, thereby providing higher flexibility for warehouse location. Speaking about the innovative product, Atmos Systems co-founders Khursheed Alam and Faraz Alam said, “The idea behind the development of Atmos A42N is to boost the storage density of a warehouse by at least 80-130%. It connects with the warehouse’s business management systems, it supports both operations and analytics. Also, as it is based on reinforcement learning and deep learning, it ensures optimized scheduling of multiple robots along while ensuring real-time monitoring and pre-alert malfunction.”