Category Archives: Warehousing

As per the CBRE South Asia latest report ‘India Industrial and Logistics Market View, H1 2018’, cities like Bengaluru (25 per cent), Delhi-NCR (21 per cent) and Mumbai (20 per cent) are driving the potential demand for logistics and warehousing space, followed by southern markets including Chennai (12 per cent) and Hyderabad (10 per cent). Leasing activity was primarily driven by consolidation and expansion initiatives of firms belonging to sectors such as e-commerce, 3PL, retail, and engineering and manufacturing, which together accounted for more than 75 per cent of the leasing reported during the review period. The findings stated that the transaction activity continued to gain strength in H1 2018 as close to 10 million sqft of space was leased across the seven cities, an increase of about 45 per cent as compared with H1 2017. This is due of policy reforms that the sector has undergone in the past two years (particularly the implementation of the GST), as more and more corporates in this sector consolidate their operations and locate closer to consumption hubs, thereby driving demand for larger warehouses.

DHL Express has opened its ninth facility in Madurai, Tamil Nadu. Located on Theni Main Road, the 5000 sqft, the state-of-the-art facility will cater to the areas of Madurai, Virudhunagar and Sivakasi. Its strategic location allows easy access between Madurai and DHL Express’ Bengaluru gateway, benefiting customers by saving at least one to two days on overall shipment transit time. RS Subramanian, Country Manager, DHL Express India, said, “With Madurai evolving as a prominent trade hub for numerous industries, DHL’s investment will help the growth of international trade from this cluster. Our new service center reinforces our ongoing commitment towards the thriving business community in Tamil Nadu and provides significant service improvement for customers. We remain focused on being a key trade facilitator for small and medium enterprises, making it easy for them to do business globally.”  

With an objective to deliberate on trade related issues and policy matters pertaining to exports from Eastern India, an interactive session was organised under the aegis of FIEO with Suresh Prabhu, Minister of Commerce & Industry & Civil Aviation recently. Nari Kalwani, Regional Chairman, FIEO Eastern Region, stated that trade restrictive measures, volatility in currencies and liquidity challenges were rising threats to India’s exporters’ community. He stressed on the need for streamlining infrastructure and logistics issues to boost exports from Eastern Region. The issue of cargo detention at Indo-Bangladesh border due to infrastructural bottlenecks, was a matter which should be taken up through bilateral discussion between the two countries. Prabhu stated that he was glad that the number of exporters were rising in India. In the month of June 2018, there was a 20 per cent rise in exports of India as compared to the previous month. The government has taken large number of measures in few months to promote exports, amidst rising protectionism in developed countries. He also mentioned how India has taken a firm stand at international level to emphasise on the role of WTO for resolving global trade disputes.

The 8th edition of India Warehousing Show, underway at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, gained a good start through numerous product launches and an increased number of footfall this year. The summit, which is themed as ‘The evolutionary leap forward – India warehousing optimising procurement, manufacturing and distribution services in India’, aims to cover pertinent interesting subjects of the industry, be it the e-Way Bill, warehouse of tomorrow, age of automation, to name a few. The summit will conclude on June 23, 2018.

Avvashya CCI Logistics (ACCI), a subsidiary company of Allcargo Logistics is likely to invest almost Rs.60 crore in the next two years to build an auto engineering part warehouse in Guwahati. The warehouse will be partially HD (heavy duty) racked warehouse, auto specific with shelving and block storage for odd dimensional cargo. The warehouse, located at DPS road, Gorchuk on NH 27 Amingaon, Guwahati, on the highway from Kolkata towards Assam, has an advantage of being a gateway to the whole of Northeast. Spread across three lakh sq ft, the warehouse will provide end-to-end management for aftermarket spare parts to service the Northeast sector, which includes last mile delivery. Explaining the rationale behind the move, Adarsh Hegde, Joint Managing Director, Allcargo Logistics, said, “The Northeast region in India has huge potential and is emerging as one of the strategic geographical markets. Our foray into the Northeast completes our pan India presence and enhances our journey to provide the best of facilities in logistics across the country.” In the first phase, the facility will be spread across one lakh sq. feet and provide employment to around 100 employees. In the second phase, the company plans to expand to three lakh sq. ft and employ more than 250 employees. A large part of the investment will be used towards automation in the state-of-the-art facility designed to meet global standards. “The new facility launch is part of our business expansion strategy, thereby strengthening our leadership position and meeting our Prime Ministers mission to generate higher employment in this region,” Hedge added.

Knight Frank India launches the third edition of its flagship India Warehousing Market Report 2018. The report unravels the present scenario of the Indian logistics sector along with providing a definitive view on the country’s top warehousing markets which include Mumbai, NCR, Bengaluru, Chennai, Pune, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad. The National Capital Region (NCR) attracted the highest footprint in terms of transactions in the warehousing space with leasing of 6.5mn sq.ft in 2017, followed by Mumbai at 5.2 mn sq. ft. Mumbai recorded the largest YoY growth over other key Indian markets with a staggering 231 per cent jump in warehousing space leasing in 2017. NCR followed closely with 129 per cent YoY increase. Bengaluru (90%), Ahmedabad (86%) and Hyderabad (68%) witnessed flourishing double-digit growth.

Embassy Industrial Parks has announced roping in Mahindra Logistics as its client for their project in Chakan, Pune. Mahindra Logistics has signed one of the largest spaces, which is now ready to lease for warehousing purpose. Embassy Industrial Parks invested Rs 350 crore to build a 1.1-million sq. ft. industrial park at Chakan, Pune. The project mainly comprises built-to-suit facilities ranging from 50,000 sq. ft. to two lakh ft. in size. Embassy Industrial Parks has already strongly established itself by acquiring strategic land parcels lands in select areas across the country. The company plans to invest US $250 million to build seven industrial parks in major cities and has already invested in Pune, Haryana, Delhi, West Bengal & Chennai further to MOUs signed with the governments of Haryana & West Bengal. Anshul Singhal, CEO, Embassy Industrial Parks, said, “Service to us is as important as the product and we continue to set new benchmarks for Grade-A quality warehousing solutions.”

RS Subramanian, Country Manager, DHL Express India and P. G. Jadeja, CMD, Jyoti CNC Automation inaugurated the fourth service centre in Gujarat, further enhancing the company’s network capabilities in the state. Located in the Saurashtra region, the 2,518 sq. ft. facility will support the growing demand for international express services in Gujarat. “Setting up our Service Center in Rajkot is a significant step towards strengthening our network capabilities to support our customers’ growing business needs. With Rajkot set to become one of the largest automobile zones in Asia, and exports from Jamnagar and Morbi on the rise, the opening of this facility reinforces our commitment to connect Gujarat to the global market,” said Subramanian.

DTDC has launched its largest integrated hub in Delhi’s Samalka region. The hub will house the operations for four big verticals of express delivery business, i.e. air, ground, international and B2C. The state-of-the-art hub, occupying an area of 1,00,000 sq ft, will be equipped with an array of cutting-edge devices and state-of-the-art amenities such as automated sorter, x-ray machines, hydraulic trolleys, and several other devices that enhance the facility’s compliance, efficiency, and productivity quotients manifold. Abhishek Chakraborty, Executive Director, DTDC, said, “With the launch, DTDC has taken a step further in its efforts to establish a strong operational backbone that emboldens the entire logistical framework of the country. We envision the hub at Samalka to emerge as one of the largest, busiest integrated express hubs of the country, and equipped with all the latest technological solutions to help achieve this goal. With an ideal balance attained between labour intensive activities and automation, we hope Samalkha hub sets an example in optimising productivity without compromising on job creation, efficiency or compliance to regulations.”

Safexpress has announced the biggest-ever investment by a logistics company in the Northeast region. Out of the 12 focus industries identified by the Government for investment in Northeast in general and Assam in particular, logistics is one of the major industries. Vineet Kanaujia, Vice President – Marketing, Safexpress, said, “Given the vital role Assam plays in connecting Northeast to the rest of the country, Safexpress has recently built up an ultra-modern Logistics Park at Guwahati. We have invested Rs. 30 Crore in creating this state-of-the-art Logistics Park at Guwahati. This facility spans over an area of more than 1 million square feet, and is located strategically on National Highway 31. This logistics facility is functional 24x7x365 and ensures excellent connectivity of Northeast with the rest of India.”