Category Archives: Rail/Road

The year 2020 has disrupted and challenged the logistics sector in different ways. However, the logistics sector still serves as one of the key economic drivers because of its thriving infrastructure and improved connectivity. Sharing his expectations from Union Budget 2021, Prem Kishan Dass Gupta, Chairman & Managing Director, Gateway Distriparks, says, “We expect strong support and initiatives for the EXIM industry which will help in increasing volumes. We hope the budget will have enhanced allocation to the Indian Railways for completion of the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) project at the earliest, so that the industry can benefit from the new rail infrastructure at this time when the focus is to increase manufacturing in India. This will immensely benefit ports, exporters, importers, shipping lines, container train operators and other consumers of rail transport.” “As a Logistics company, we are looking at government’s increased investment in infrastructure, which will provide further impetus to boost the overall economy,” he adds.

Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV) has unveiled the BharatBenz ‘BSafe Express’, a specialized reefer truck designed for the safe transportation of COVID-19 vaccines. Equipped with state-of-the-art connectivity, the BSafe Express uses newly developed refrigeration units that ensure the temperature and stability of the vaccines is accurately monitored and maintained at all stages of delivery. The reefer is mounted on the BharatBenz 2823R heavy-duty chassis.At the premiere of the truck in the Indian capital Delhi, Satyakam Arya, Managing Director and CEO, Daimler India Commercial Vehicles said, “The combination of a strong, reliable chassis with a lightweight, insulated reefer and state-of-the-art connectivity device makes BharatBenz’s ‘BSafe Express’ the perfect solution to India’s cold-chain infrastructure challenge. With this truck, we can deliver vaccines in perfect condition to even the most remote destinations, bringing hope of a return to normalcy to over 1.3 billion people.” India has recently started its corona vaccination campaign, aiming to vaccinate 300 million people by July 2021. The BharatBenz BSafe Express offers a solution to Indian logistics companies in the efforts to contribute to the nation’s goal of bringing COVID under control as quickly as possible. A daunting challenge in the second most populous country in the world.

Shree Maruti Courier Services has launched an eco-friendly delivery service using electric two-wheelers in five cities in India. The Ahmedabad headquartered company has kicked-off a pilot project in five major cities in India including Ahmedabad, New Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, and Chennai. It has joined hands with Hero Electric, India’s largest electric two-wheelers company, and became the first company in the courier and logistic sector to initiate a novel concept of creating a green energy supply chain. The company plans to expand this service into 20 cities and to add more than 500 E-bikes in the financial year 2021. Speaking about the initiative, Ajay Mokariya, Managing Director, Shree Maruti Courier Services said, “We have launched a pilot project in the five cities in India and the response for the same has been very encouraging. The courier and logistics industry is very price sensitive and fuel cost is an essential element in our business. With the E-bike adoption, we would be able to reduce the fuel cost significantly, contribute to reducing carbon footprints, and provide competitive services compare to the traditional delivery tools. The delivery persons will also find it easy and comfortable to deliver the parcels within the city. This model seems more sustainable and cost-efficient for us and we are planning to roll-out the same in multiple cities in a coming time”. Speaking about the association, Sohinder Gill, CEO, Hero Electric said, “It has been our endeavor to partner with more and more businesses to convert their fleets into electric two-wheelers. We are happy to have partnered with Shree Maruti Couriers who are among the largest in our country to create this green corridor with our bikes. The new Nyx-HX …

To overcome the challenges of space availability and connectivity, Maersk has provided landside movement of cargo from Kolkata to Nhava Sheva port on a dedicated train for its customer. Offering a truly integrated container logistics solution, Maersk also provided customs clearance in addition to ocean shipping. Flexibility and reliability in supply chains have become an important aspect for importers and exporters, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic hit global trade last year. Indian exporters have been exploring possibilities of scaling up production and shipping it out of India to global markets. The underlying challenges in the post-COVID ecosystem, however, have limited the opportunities from time to time for such exporters – one of the biggest challenges being that of space availability from certain pockets within the country. Building a truly end-to-end solution for the customer, Maersk offered to move the Doha-destined cargo on a dedicated train from Kolkata to Nhava Sheva port – this was the first time that such a movement took place from the East Coast of India to the West Coast – and then connecting the cargo to the required vessel. Not only was the landside transportation taken care of, Maersk also executed export customs clearance of the cargo before loading it on to the vessel. The cargo is expected to reach its destination in Doha over the coming days. Commenting on the historic move in landside logistics in India, Steve Felder, Managing Director, Maersk South Asia said, “At Maersk, we believe in enabling trade by designing solutions that connect and simplify our customers’ supply chains. We have recognised the challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic has triggered in the ecosystem and are innovating solutions that didn’t exist in …

Based on the views of road freight executives and experts from around the world, Shell and Deloitte have put out a joint study on how to decarbonise the road freight sector. The ‘Decarbonising Road Freight: Getting into Gear’ report offers a detailed 10-year roadmap with 22 solutions aimed at addressing the economic, technical, regulatory and organisational factors influencing the sector’s ability to decarbonise. The report shows that more than 70% of study participants view hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles and battery electric vehicles as the most viable long term zero-emission heavy duty truck technology, and many believe these trucks will become commercially viable in the next 5 to 10 years. “Trucks move virtually everything modern society depends on for daily life and during the current COVID-19 crisis, society has experienced just how critical road freight is in delivering essential goods,” said Huibert Vigeveno, Downstream Director, Shell, in adding, “However, road freight is currently responsible for around 9% of global CO2 emissions and with demand for road freight services set to double by 2050, urgent action must be taken now to put the sector on a pathway to net zero emissions by then. Fleet companies, truck manufacturers and energy providers have already started investing in low and zero emission solutions, but the sector requires a more robust set of policies and regulations to accelerate change.” Shell has also released a companion report named ‘Decarbonising Road Freight: Shell’s Route Ahead’ outlining Shell’s role in helping the sector decarbonise. The report outlines Shell’s climate ambition and plans to reduce the emissions intensity of its fleet of close to 3,000 contracted road haulage tankers by 10% by 2025 and by 30% by 2030, both …

The Indian logistics sector has witnessed a sequential recovery in months following the severe disruption in Q1 FY2021 on account of the nation-wide lockdown. The pandemic induced disruptions had created demand-side and supply-side challenges, however, as the restrictions eased and economic activity revived, the freight availability for logistics players also improved. Although the Y-o-Y volume and revenue contraction continued even in Q2 FY2021, the recovery has been faster than expected, with volumes reverting to year-ago levels by September 2020 and improving thereafter. According to Shamsher Dewan, Vice President, ICRA Ratings, “As the economy opened up and industrial, manufacturing, construction and consumption activities picked up pace, freight availability also improved, aiding recovery in the sector. Freight rates also held up in this period. As such, although revenues continued to contract in Q2 FY2021, the pace of contraction mellowed down. As per industry estimates, freight volumes reverted back to year-ago levels by the end of Q2 FY2021, and have improved further in the third quarter, with festive-led demand and specific sectors like e-commerce leading the growth. This trend was visible in E-way bill and Fastag data, which reached pre-pandemic levels in September 2020 and posted Y-o-Y growth in October and November 2020.” The rail freight traffic has also reported similar trends, although it was able to improve on its year-ago volume levels within Q2 FY2021 itself. The volumes thereafter have also held up, expanding 12% on the base of the previous year during the third quarter so far. The seaways freight traffic, on the other hand, is yet to reach pre-pandemic levels, with supply-side/infrastructure constraints limiting the volume recovery. Overall, the aggregate revenues of ICRA’s sample of logistics companies recovered sequentially in …

DB Schenker has identified significant problems relating to the new customs formalities that now apply to shipments between the European Union and the United Kingdom (UK) as a result of Brexit. Only around 10 per cent of the customs documents submitted for consignments that DB Schenker has been commissioned to ship have been complete and free of errors. Most of the documents are incomplete and/or contain errors. DB Schenker employees who have been specially trained for Brexit are available around the clock to assist customers in completing the required customs documents correctly. Nevertheless, every consignment accompanied by incomplete and/or erroneous customs documents delays the departure of the associated full-load shipment. Consignments that are not properly declared cannot be delivered to their destinations. To effectively manage the increased workload that has resulted from this situation, DB Schenker is mobilizing personnel for the Brexit Task Force that the company established more than a year ago. These employees will be responsible for supporting corrections and producing compliant customs documents. Despite this extra effort, DB Schenker has been forced to put a temporarily hold on the acceptance of new consignments for shipment to the United Kingdom. The company bhas also announced that all consignments that have already been accepted will, as always, be delivered as quickly as possible. DB Schenker expects shipping volumes to increase further in January. The logistics services providers can only process consignments quickly if the share of correct and complete customs documents also increases significantly. Both shipper and consignees need to ensure that compliant documents are provided. With the UK’s withdrawal from the EU, such documents now include a proof of origin, a compliant invoice in conformance with current customs …

Widening its range of worldwide project logistics services, GEODIS is positioning this offer with a new name in the market, changing from GEODIS Industrial Projects to GEODIS Project Logistics. The name change reflects the more diversified service portfolio of GEODIS in this sector which now goes beyond serving the industrial segment. In addition to GEODIS’ growing activity in the Renewable Energy market, as well as the company’s evolving offer for the Oil & Gas industry, GEODIS is integrating its Aid & Relief business as well as its Marine Logistics teams into the expanded project logistics organization. “GEODIS Project Logistics represents the full spectrum of services we offer today”, said Luke Mace, Senior Vice President Project Logistics at GEODIS. “While the logistical challenges of each sector can be very different, all have very important requirements in common: expertise in handling, attention to detail and quality of service. Such are the foundations of GEODIS Project Logistics. Our clients can have confidence that our diversification will strengthen our services through extended expertise, a continuous drive for innovation and our high standard for safety and compliance.” GEODIS Project Logistics is offered in over 30 countries. 550 project logistics specialists worldwide operate in the sectors of Oil & Gas, Renewables, Rail, Nuclear, Mining, Power, Infrastructure, Petrochemical Production and Refining, Aid & Relief, Marine Logistics and Governmental Services.

CEVA Logistics has launched an express train service from Jinhua (China) to Dourges (France) to provide additional freight capacity for shippers amid unprecedented demand for transport and logistics services. Loaded with 22 full containers of various supplies, CEVA Logistics’ first train has left China on 18 day journey. The train connects a string of “Belt and Road” countries such as Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, and Germany with a journey of over 11,000 km. Having Dourges as the transit point, the destination delivery outreach will cover Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and Italy as well as France. Through the Jinhua-Dourges express train, CEVA Logistics can provide its existing customers with a fast, convenient, and sustainable China-Europe rail solutions. Compared to cargo movement via truck, the block train option reduces CO2 emissions by up to 67%. Xavier Bour, Global Ground and Rail Product Leader, CEVA Logistics, says, “With global supply chains experiencing unprecedented demand for transport and logistics services, CEVA Logistics is committed to providing its existing and potential customers with convenient and sustainable solutions. Our rail and multi modal solutions, together with our parent company the CMA CGM Group, between China and Europe are part of that strategy. France is an important logistics hub on the European market and with this new service, CEVA Logistics has tapped into the rail market for Eastern and Western Europe. Our next extension of our rail footprint will be the development of the southern Europe market.”

Ecom Express has announced a strategic investment worth of US$ 11 million in Bangladesh’s largest third-party e-commerce logistics (3PL) firm Paperfly. Through this investment, Ecom Express is entering Bangladesh marking its maiden venture outside India. After having covered the length and breadth of the country reaching over 1.2 billion people daily, Ecom Express is now looking at expanding into adjacent countries, starting with Bangladesh. T.A. Krishnan, CEO and Co-Founder, Ecom Express, says, “We see a lot of growth opportunities in adjacent markets and the current investment is one of the many things in the pipeline. We looked at multiple aspects before identifying Bangladesh for our first international venture. The market draws parallel with India in terms of growth and demography and we want to leverage our experience and domain expertise to enable high scalability growth and build a strategic backbone of e-commerce logistics in Bangladesh. Paperfly is quite similar to Ecom Express in its operations and we admire what the company has accomplished in the Bangladesh market. We look forward to enabling Paperfly to unlock new avenues for an enhanced third-party logistics and home delivery in the country.” The investments will be used by Paperfly towards transformation of logistics through intelligence driven automations and data sciences that would enable the company to meet the fast-growing demand for quality e-commerce logistics services in Bangladesh. It will further accelerate the company’s implementation of advanced supply chain and logistics processes, agile solutions in delivery and warehouse management, and other operational facets in the logistics and supply chain. With more than 167 million inhabitants and over 90 million internet users, the e-commerce industry in Bangladesh is emerging and has become one of the fastest …