Category Archives: Rail/Road

The Indian Railways has decided to forgo close to Rs 700 crore a year that it collects from companies running freight businesses on its network. Under a new cargo policy, which came into effect on December 15, owners of private sidings, or short railway tracks, and private freight stations — about 1,200 in total— will no longer have to pay land licensing fees for using railway tracks that connect their private sites to the nearest rail line. The cargo policy was rolled out after the railway board had approved a 76-page document titled Gati-Shakti Multimodal Cargo Terminal (GCT) policy on the premise that the national transporter will now focus more on leveraging its land resources rather than simply earning some money out of it, according to an officer close to the development. So, the decision to forgo a sizable fixed earning, that too at a time when the pandemic has eroded its revenue base, is based on a risky calculation that such a waiver will woo more private players into cargo terminal businesses, which in turn will augment the Railways’ freight movement and revenue. And that will not only offset the losses to be incurred due to the waiver, but will fetch more profit.

Sampark India logistics, an independent leading services provider evolving the interplay of infrastructure, technology, trained manpower and transportation facilities. Recently, Sampark India was a logistics partner for the Filmfare OTT awards 2021 wherein the legends of Bollywood got together with the leader of the Logistics industry. The company is ramping up its efforts to enter the new target market with plan to diversifying its revenue streams with higher standards of excellence ensured at each level. By focusing on the need of the hour the company provides unparelled logistics services at the global level. We at Sampark consider the good management of logistics as vital and provide fast, reliable, on demand industry solutions with its leading-edge networks. Sampark offers a complete range of end–to-end Supply Chain capability from manufacturer to end customer. We always try to satisfy customer’s requirement with Cost Effectiveness & limited time frame.

Gujrat Pipavav Ports and Indian Railways’ joint venture – Pipavav Rail Corporation – launched a regular double stack, hub-and-spoke rail connection to Jodhpur last week. APM Terminals Pipavav is a growing private harbour on India’s west coast and rolled out customer-centric container rail services connecting to Jodhpur Inland Container Depot, a key interior point in the north. The move was made keeping in mind the growing importance of value added services in long-haul freight contracts and the shift of terminal operators’ priority towards inland services. It increases the carrying capacity per trip from 90 teu to the double figure of 180 teu. The initiative is likely to help the trade to connect with their markets quickly and competitively. It is a weekly service but not always double-stack” APMT Pipavav

Union minister for road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari while addressing the National Conference on Investment Opportunities in Highways, Transport and Logistics invited investors and urged them to take advantage of the diverse opportunities spanning asset classes in the infrastructure sector, including highways, multimodal logistics parks, wayside amenities, ropeways, and warehousing zones. At the conference, Gadkari said, “The internal rate of return in the road sector is very high and, hence, there is no need to worry about economic viability.” He informed that the government has addressed the early delays due to land acquisition, and now, projects are not awarded before 90% of land acquisition is complete and environment clearances are obtained. Highlighting the benefits of projects under the Bharatmala program Gadkari said, “Travel time from Mumbai to Delhi, via road, will go down from 48 to 12 hours in one year; road and multimodal infrastructure projects will reduce logistics costs and boost manufacturing, increase exports and help the economy grow.”

In its latest joint report with Indospace titled ‘Electric Mobility in Full Gear’, Colliers estimates that the Electric Vehicles (EVs) segment in India is likely to witness investments of USD12.6 billion or INR94,000 crore across the automotive value chain, over the next five years. The investments are likely to benefit the Indian real estate sector in the form of setting up new or augmenting manufacturing units, industrial parks, and clusters with focus on last mile delivery by E-commerce firms and 3PL companies, government push for electrification of public transport, tax benefits and incentives for first time buyers amongst others. Tamil Nadu is the frontrunner accounting for about 34% share in total planned investments for EV, followed by Andhra Pradesh and Haryana with a share of 12% and 9% respectively. Currently, 15 Indian States have either approved or notified EV policies, with 6 more states in the draft stage. States like Delhi, Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Meghalaya are focusing on demand incentives, whereas southern states and Uttar Pradesh are focusing on manufacturer-based incentives. States like Maharashtra, Delhi and Gujarat having strong demand side incentives should have provisions to set up industrial parks/clusters for EV or manufacturing of ancillary components with plug-and-play.

APM Terminals, Pipavav in collaboration with Pipavav Railway Corporation Limited (PRCL), is now going offer double stack rail service to Jodhpur via Sanand on a hub & spoke model, which will further provide access to other ICDs in India. The service is managed by PRCL, the joint venture between Gujarat Pipavav Port Ltd. and Indian Railways, the first such service by PRCL. Customer centricity is at the core of all our initiatives. The rail connection to Jodhpur via Sanand on hub and spoke model will give an edge to our customers in connecting to their markets/ICDs quickly. We extend all our support to the PRCL to make this connection big success.” Jakob Friis Sorenson, APM Terminals Pipavav The hub & spoke arrangement via Sanand will ensure timely evacuation from the port in lesser dwell time there by swift movement of the cargoe for the customers. The initiative is likely to help the trade to connect with their markets quickly and competitively.

QuickShift has launched its same-day delivery service QS-Rapid in Delhi-NCR. With this, the company will cater to the consumers’ growing needs by ensuring all deliveries across the Delhi-NCR region are done within the same day. The company that has set a target of providing unique supply chain solutions for large and small enterprises for product deliveries to happen on time, has launched this service to cater to the online orders received for D2C brands on its system to be delivered on the same day to its customers. Also, with the launch of same-day delivery in Delhi-NCR, Quickshift RAPID plans to further consolidate every brand’s ‘customer first’ positioning. “Delhi is the national hub of business with a nine times bigger market. Its robust connectivity across NCR regions and neighbouring states, catering to growing urban demands makes it a prime location for Quickshift to launch the same-day delivery service. The reality is that consumers want quick, easy, and accessible products straight to their door. Same-day delivery is a game-changer because it combines the immediate product availability of brick and mortar retail with the convenience of ordering from home. The option of having same-day shipping reduces cart abandonment by close to 25%. It encourages consumers to shop more online. While it has its own challenges, we feel that few cities in India today provide the dynamism to make it work,” said Anshul Goenka, Founder, QuickShift.

WebXpress has identified a few key trends in the logistics sector which will be trendsetter in 2022. Covid-19 has shaken the roots of the well-oiled world of Logistics. Before Covid-19, most companies assumed seamless movements, stable freight rates, unlimited capacity, and minimum buffer. But an even bigger disruption is on the way as major economies enforce climate commitments and consumers force companies to comply with them. Key tech trend that would drive logistics industry in managing climate goals: * Climate Measurement / Monitoring Tools * Localized Climate Data * Optimum EV Asset Utilization Tools * Carbon Trading Apurva Mankad, CEO and Founder, WebXpress adds, “World is entering a new phase of energy challenges. There will be a gap between cutting fossil fuel dependence while ramping up green energy sources. Logistics is one of the biggest emitter and its also technically easier to solve the issue of excess emission when compared to cement production. All you need to do is convert all vehicles to EV and run all warehouse on Solar energy. Of course, the reality will be far more complex and it will vary across nations. Companies need to offset emissions in one part of the supply chain with initiatives in distant locations. Here, technology will play a crucial role to track every movement, every km and measure its impact. The coming decade belongs to Global Green Tech.”

RAAHO, an On-Demand intercity trucking marketplace, has raised INR 12.5 crore in Pre-series A round of funding led by new investors IPV , Nitish Mittersain (Founder – Nazara) and participated by its existing investors Roots Ventures, Venkatesh Vijayraghavan (Group CEO, Board Member, Cavinkare) , Miten Sampat from CRED and others. The asset-light, capital-efficient company plans to utilize the fresh funds to grow nationally and make the whole product “100% On-Demand”. The $100bn Trucking industry in India is unorganised, largely offline and is plagued with massive deadhead and wastage (wherein a truck drives empty for a load). It’s estimated that 25% of total travel by a truck is empty which leads to huge loss for the trucker, loss for the economy and also a huge environmental challenge.

Ecom Express Limited announced the launch of its first all-women Delivery Center in Delhi. The all-women Delivery Center is an initiative towards empowering women and providing them financial independence while strengthening the company’s Diversity and Inclusion agenda. Women force have already been inducted in the Delivery Center and it will be the first time in the company that a 10-member team, exclusively comprising women from the ranks of Delivery Center Head to Delivery Associates, will be engaged independently in all operational activities. Inaugurating the all-women delivery center, Manju Dhawan, Co-founder, Ecom Express Limited, said, “The launch of our all-women delivery center is a conscious agenda and an extension of our continued effort to supporting women with opportunities that empower them to grow and economically elevate them. Our aim is to create more and more opportunities for female team members across roles, including front-line delivery role as we remain steadfast in our approach to support them and their career progression.”