Category Archives: Rail/Road

Shadowfax Technologies has announced the signing up for exclusively managing the Dark Stores for Drums Food International – Epigamia’s newly launched ambient product line for its Ghee Spread and Almond Milk across 7000 + pin codes in India. Shadowfax has integrated its cutting-edge warehouse management and last-mile delivery system with Epigamia’s demand management platform to help track customer orders real-time, which will ensure faster fulfilment and hence faster deliveries. Shadowfax has expanded its warehousing space from 5 lakh square feet to 6 lakh square feet this month in response to increased demand from its customers. With the E2E Rapid service, the company will provide end-to-end logistics and warehousing along with express distribution for effective supply chain management, faster deliveries, flexibility with proximity to consumers, and real-time tracking of Epigamia products. On the new acquisition, Abhishek Bansal, Founder, and CEO, Shadowfax Technologies, said, “Signing up Drum Foods is a big win for us as they are a recognized and loved brand in India. Our micro fulfillment centers or the Dark Stores, will enable faster deliveries along with our unique WMS which will help capture customer orders real time on the client website. We’ll be investing significantly in our WMS which will allow our clients to offer differentiated value offerings to their end customers. Further, we’ll also target on expanding our network to newer markets, in step with rising demand.” Rohan Mirchandani, Co-Founder at Drums Food International said, “The onset of COVID prompted Indian shoppers to go online to shop and discover brands, while brands like us strengthened our online presence via D2C platforms. Though Epigamia is all about innovative offerings, our key focus has always been customer delight. We wanted to …

Tata Motors has unveiled its newest range of intermediate and light commercial trucks (I&LCV), the Ultra Sleek T-Series, designed and engineered to suit contemporary demands of urban transportation. Available in three models – T.6, T.7 and T.9, the Ultra Sleek range is available in varied deck lengths from 10 to 20 feet to adapt to all the required applications. A sleek 1900mm-wide cabin provides superior driver comfort yet swift movement in confined city spaces, and smart features provide for easy manoeuvrability. Launching the Ultra Sleek T-Series range, Girish Wagh, President, Commercial Vehicle Business Unit, Tata Motors said, “Tata Motors has consistently set new benchmarks by introducing smarter, future-ready products and solutions across its various segments. The launch of the Ultra Sleek T-Series range marks a new landmark in urban freight transportation. These trucks are sleeker and smarter enabling faster movement and hence higher utilisation and revenue with more trips. Built on the internationally recognised Ultra platform, the trucks are engineered to cater to a diverse set of applications.” The Ultra Sleek T-Series range combines futuristic styling with comfort, provides significantly lower Noise, Vibration and Harshness (NVH) levels, ease of movement on congested and narrow roads and a fatigue-free driving experience. The walk-through cabin is rigorously crash-tested for superior safety and comes equipped with adjustable seat height, tilt-and-telescopic power steering, and a dashboard-mounted gear lever. The addition of an in-built music system, USB fast charging port and liberal storage space offers enhanced comfort, while air brakes and parabolic leaf suspension provide better safety and control with clear-lens headlamps and LED tail-lamps improving night visibility. Affirming its versatility, Ultra Sleek T-Series has variants available in 4-tyre and 6-tyre combinations and varied deck …

Ecom Express has received additional funding from CDC Group. CDC Group, the UK Government’s development finance institution and impact investor in South Asia and Africa has announced that it has closed a US$ 20 million investment round in Ecom Express. This will be CDC’s second round of investment in Ecom Express after its initial investment in December 2019. CDC’s latest commitment will support Ecom Express in advancing the company’s sustainable development and impact agenda of enhancing skills and boosting job creation in the Indian hinterlands. With the high demands for jobs in India, the country needs to create 8.1 million jobs a year to maintain its employment rate. This investment supports India’s effort as it will enable Ecom Express to create 8,000 new jobs in addition to an initial target of 15,000 roles – prioritising employing women for jobs at delivery centres, fulfilment centres and warehouses across the nation. Additionally, Ecom Express will be utilising the equity infusion by CDC Group investments for strategic initiatives such as growth driven capital expenditure, working capital requirements, new business initiatives, expansions, and potential strategic acquisitions/partnerships. Srini Nagarajan, Managing Director and Head of Asia at CDC, said, “Ecom Express is playing a vital role in enabling e-commerce growth and expanding product reach across India. CDC’s additional investment in the company reflects our support for the company’s pan-India expansion, and a commitment to channelling our patient capital toward a business that aligns with our development, impact, and sustainability goals. Moreover, we are delighted that this investment will further enhance efforts India is making to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals of achieving gender equality and empowerment, and promoting sustainable growth and decent work for all.’’ …

COGOS Technologies, on the occasion of International Women’s Day, has announced to employ and train 500 women drivers in its EV fleet by December 2021. The company will provide training, support in order to build entrepreneurial skill-sets in women drivers under its full-stack platform. As part of the pilot, they have already successfully trained and hired 50 women under the aegis of this initiative. In the entire supply chain ecosystem, the role of women is deemed as small with them only being a part of desk jobs. COGOS, a first in the industry, will impart both functional skills (such as driving, vehicle maintenance) as well as soft skills training (such as communication while delivering, customer orientation) to female employees along with full ecosystem support. Commenting on this, Prasad Seeram, Founder & CEO, COGOS Technologies, said, “We understand the immense potential of women in the workspace and hence have taken it to ourselves to aid in their process of achieving their full potential. The growth of women in the sector can only be triggered by valuing diversity and promoting its scope, which shall in turn add innovation and new perceptions to the business.” The company now has a presence in 21 states of India, with a network in 300+ cities and plans to focus on 100 Smart cities and 400+ cities across the country by 2021. They aim to target onboarding 100K truckers including women and a revenue growth of 3X YoY by the end of 2021.

DP World and CMA CGM jointly received their maiden Block Train from Mundra, Gujarat to DP World PFT (ICD) Panipat, Haryana. This new service is the first block train by a shipping line between Mundra and Panipat. The fully loaded 90-TEU train was flagged off from Mundra port on February 27, 2021. The service was received in the presence of representatives from DP World and CMA CGM India. The dedicated connections between the Port of Mundra and the inland container depot of Panipat will provide dedicated and seamless connection from Mundra Port to PFT (ICD) Panipat, thereby, making customers’ cargo reach internal markets faster. With priority rail out option and fixed train schedule, customers will be able to minimise waiting time at the Port as well as plan their cargo movements effectively. Train will depart Mundra Port on Saturday/Sunday. Ranadhir Reddy, CEO, Rail & PFT, Subcontinent, DP World said, “At DP World, it is our constant endeavors to offer bespoke solutions to our customers to solve their supply chain challenges and support their strategic growth ambitions. Our pan India network provides seamless connectivity that helps customers connect their cargo to global markets as well as across India’s vast hinterland. Through our investments, we are committed to enhance India’s rail freight share and offer trade solutions using multimodal logistics.” Atit Mahajan, General Manager, CMA CGM India, declares, “We are pleased to be the first shipping line to offer a block train service between Mundra and Panipat in collaboration with DP World. This service is the 10th dedicated block train service being operated by the CMA CGM Group in India. This service will provide a dedicated and direct loop from port to …

Bajaj Electricals (BEL) and Mahindra Logistics (MLL) signed an agreement for innovative logistics optimisation and outsourcing arrangement. This deal is a complete end-to-end redesign and outsourcing of Bajaj Electricals’ entire logistics by Mahindra Logistics, with the twin objectives of achieving enhanced & industry-best service levels, coupled with a logistics cost saving in excess of 25 per cent. The total contract value, of this one-of-its-kind deal in the Indian Logistics industry, will be in excess of Rs 1,000 crores over the next 5 years and is the outcome of a unique and collaborative solution. Working together closely, MLL has developed for BEL a fully redesigned and consolidated logistics network, with storage optimisation, transportation management and inventory movement through technology, best practice and automation. At the heart of the network, there will be two large ultra-modern mega-warehouses in Delhi and Mumbai, with latest technology, automation and skill-building, enhanced by environmentally conscious, greener & sustainable warehouse practices. This network will further operate fully IT-enabled fulfilment centres from which BEL’s dealers, distributors, customers will enjoy market-leading delivery lead times. As part of the solution, MLL will be deploying a healthy mix of dedicated long-haul fleets and local distribution trucks, enabled by the latest tracking technology and control tower operations. There will also be a transition towards sustainable logistics using electric delivery trucks from EDel by Mahindra Logistics. For BEL, this project marks a significant transition towards leveraging logistics management as a competitive advantage. Speaking on the occasion, Anuj Poddar, Executive Director, said, “At Bajaj Electricals, we have been actively working towards various strategic initiatives to enhance value for our customers and other stakeholders. This collaboration with MLL is one such key initiative and I …

Locus has announced a new integration with Lytx® to ensure sustainable transportation operations with the next generation of fleet management technology. While Lytx provides GPS location information on vehicles, Locus uses the information to prepare the most optimised route. Additionally, Locus can utilise the planned route and location information to compare planned versus actual performance as well as power analytics and insights. The combined product offering of Locus and Lytx will enable fleet managers to optimise the total cost of ownership (TCO) driven by fuel economy monitoring, driver analytics, visibility, compliance management, and predictive maintenance alerts. For fleets, this smart management platform will help with higher asset utilisation, optimised route planning, better driver communication, and seamless interactions with shippers and warehouses, translating into cost and time savings for the fleet managers. “This partnership offers the perfect blend of analytics and routing capabilities to our customers,” said Krishna Khandelwal, Chief Business Officer, Locus, in adding, “The optimised routing reduces both capital and operational costs for local distribution while increasing service levels and revenue-generating activities.” “Many fleet managers today leverage multiple technologies and are looking for ways to consolidate so they can save time and focus on things that matter more,” says Frank Schneider, Director of Integrations & Partnerships at Lytx. “This integration will allow customers of Locus and Lytx to have a seamless view of all the data they need from both systems, so they can make informed decisions in an instant. Fleet managers can keep track of their vehicles through GPS, get insights into driving behaviors through our proprietary video and machine vision and artificial intelligence (MV+AI) offering, dispatch technicians, and route vehicles.”

Railways undertook a successful trial run of double stacked dwarf container train from Mehsana (Gujarat) to JN Port on March 3, 2021. The ‘dwarf’ containers provides 67 per cent increase in volume when double-stacked and can carry a weight of 71 tons, against 40 tons by an ISO container. Indian Railways has given 17 per cent discount on haulage cost for double stack dwarf container trains compared to double stack ISO container trains coupled with additional volume benefit. JN Port is in the process of finalising an Operator for “Management, Maintenance and Operation of Dedicated Dwarf Container Depot (D-Depot) inside the Port area at JNPT”. Inside the D-Depot, ISO EXIM containers will be destuffed/restuffed and then re-stuffed in Dwarf Containers for further movement on rail to and from JN Port. The train with five wagons of double stacked dwarf containers arrived at 11:30 hours and departed at 13:00 hours. The concept of Dwarf container would be game changer as the rail movement of EXIM cargo through double stacked dwarf containers would significantly provide cost advantage to the customers and enhance rail traffic at JN Port.

Tata Motors has launched its latest offering in M&HCV segment – the Tata Signa 3118.T – India’s first 3-axle 6×2 (10 wheeler) rigid truck with 31 tonnes Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW). The Tata Signa 3118.T offers a unique blend of value proposition in terms of both, revenue and operating cost, for its customers. With a 3,500kg* higher certified payload than the corresponding 28-tonne GVW rigid truck and equivalent cost of operations with similar fuel, tyre and maintenance cost as a 28-tonne truck, this product is conceived to significantly enhance the net operating profit for its customers by ~45%* over a 28-tonne truck. The incremental investment on the Signa 3118.T, over the corresponding 28-tonne truck, can be recovered in less than one year of operations and followed by years of incremental earnings. Commenting on the launch of the new model, Rajesh Kaul, Vice President, Sales & Marketing, Commercial Vehicle Business Unit, Tata Motors, said, “The Signa 3118.T is a landmark in Tata Motors’ journey towards customer excellence. The model is evidence of unmatched customer-focused engineering and unique value positioning by Tata Motors. Value features like fuel economy switch, gear shift advisor, ICGT brakes, Fleet Edge telematics system with inbuilt anti-fuel theft, reverse parking assistance perfectly complement the pioneering vehicle design exceeding the expectations of the new-age customer. The Lx version also comes with air conditioning and unitised wheel bearings. This model expands the array of choice for customers seeking to enhance their profitability through revenue growth model”. The Tata Signa 3118.T, with its 12.5-tonne dual tyre lift axle configuration, marks the value discovery of white space in M&HCV segment. It can operate at 31-tonne GVW with the lift axle down and …

In spite of Covid challenges, on February 28, 2021, Indian Railways has surpassed last year’s cumulative freight loading for same period corresponding. Freight figures continue to maintain the high momentum in terms of loading, earning and speed in the month of February 2021 as well for Indian Railways. According to the release shared by Ministry of Railways, loading on February 28 crossed 5 million tonnes; Indian Railways cumulative freight loading was 1102.17 million tonnes for this year, as on 28 February 2021, which is higher compare to last year for the same period (1102.1 million tonnes). On a month to month basis, up to February 28, 2021, Indian Railways loading was 112.25 million tonnes, which is almost 10 % higher compared to loading up to February 28 of last year. (102.21 million tonnes). On day to day basis, on 28th February, 2021, the freight loading of Indian Railways was 5.23 million tonnes, which is 36% higher compare to last year’s loading for the same date (3.83 million tonnes). The average speed of Freight Trains in the month of February 2021 was 46.09 kmph which is more than double as compare to last year for the same month (23.01 kmph). On 28th February, the average speed of freight trains was 47.51 kmph compare to 23.17 kmph last year for the same date which is also more than double. Also in the month of February 2021 Indian Railways earned Rs 11096.89 crores from freight loading which is 7.7% higher compare to last year’s earnings for the same period (Rs 10305.02 crores). On 28th February 2021 Indian Railways earned Rs 509.44 crores from freight loading which is 34% higher compare to last year’s …