Category Archives: Warehousing

In a major land deal in NCR, the Capital Markets division of leading independent real estate advisory ANAROCK Group has successfully closed the sale of a 41-acre land parcel on the Ballabhgarh-Sohna Highway. Pardos Logistics, a subsidiary of Pardos Real Estate (a development platform incubated by the DMI Group’s Alternative Investment Fund) will utilise this land parcel to develop 1 million sq ft of prime warehousing space. The prevailing land prices around the Ballabhgarh-Sohna Highway region range from Rs 1.4 to 1.5 crore/acre. Akshay Uday, Sr. Vice President – ANAROCK Capital, says, “The land, which was acquired from a group of Delhi-based investors, will be developed over a period of 18 months with an investment corpus of approximately Rs 200 crore. The land is ideally located, benefiting from proximity to critical road infrastructures like the Delhi-Vadodara Expressway, Eastern Peripheral Expressway, National Highway 8, and KMP Expressway.”

The India Cargo Awards commenced with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, recognising true leaders and their hard work, passion, and commitment to the industry. This year’s awards were all the more meaningful since they were a homage to all those who overcame unprecedented challenges during the pandemic. The event was attended by Chief Guest Amrit Lal Meena, Special Secretary (Logistics), Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Department of Commerce, Government of India, and Guest of Honour Piyush Shrivastava, IES, Sr. Economic Advisor for the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India.

Keku Bomi Gazder, CEO of AAI Cargo Logistics & Allied Services Co. Ltd., has almost three decades of experience in the Middle East and India in the aviation sector, holding key roles in firms such as Air France-KLM Cargo, Martinair Cargo, and Saudi Arabian Airlines, among others. He has been with AAI Cargo Logistics and Allied Services Company Limited since June 2017, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Airports Authority of India, which is part of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India. He oversees cargo and logistics operations at over 90 AAI airports, identifying business opportunities across the company’s many verticals for future growth and developing business strategies to stay ahead of the competition in the cargo market. AAI Cargo Logistics and Allied Services Company Limited has begun managing the In-line Hold Baggage Screening System at AAI-managed airports. He works closely with the Ministry of Civil Aviation on a variety of initiatives. Gazder is a part of the following initiatives and committees: the Ministry of Civil Aviation’s Krishi Udaan initiative; the Ministry of Civil Aviation’s Defence Convergence Committee; the Governing Council of the Logistics Skill Council (LSC), established under the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship; the Ministry of Civil Aviation’s Investment Clearance Cell; the Air Cargo Forum of India (ACFI); and the Confederation of Indian Industries’ National Committee on Civil Aviation.

Shailender Anand, Managing Director (India) & Director (Dubai) of Pronk Multiservice India Pvt. Ltd., began his career in sales after graduating with honours from Punjab University, Chandigarh. Anand’s career in the forwarding sector began with Airfreight Ltd, and he then relocated to Dubai to work in the same industry. After 10 amazing years in Dubai, visiting about 60 countries and learning about the global industry, he chose to return to India to pursue better future opportunities. After nearly two decades in the forwarding industry, Anand joined Logistics & Supply Chain in 2011 to work in value-added services, specifically industrial packaging. In 2011, he joined Pronk as a partner and launched Pronk in India. Anand’s adventure at Pronk has spanned over 11 years, and it continues in the industrial packaging and solutions market. Pronk India was approached by Bharat Electronics Ltd., Bengaluru, to develop a solution and boxes to pack 30,000 ventilators for COVID-19 patients in 2020. When India was trying to deal with the pandemic, the Pronk India team, led by Shailender Anand, was working full-time at all of Pronk’s plants across the country, with special clearance from the Ministry of Home Affairs to operate from all of their locations in India.

Softlink Global was founded by Amit Maheshwari, who also serves as its CEO. Having begun his career as a freight forwarder and customs broker, the logistics technology guru, Maheshwari, founded Softlink Global with the objective of providing a single platform software to integrate and automate the entire logistics operation of the company. An engineer by education, he is a technology evangelist well-known in the logistics business for his thought leadership and game-changing ideas. His attention to detail, technical and creative skills and commercial awareness enabled Softlink to achieve success with each software product created. Maheshwari’s knowledge and experience include strategic planning, information management, financial resource management, product development, and marketing. He is in charge of Softlink’s worldwide operations, which comprise all regional business operations as well as corporate activities including marketing, product development, quality, and technology.

Viraj Vohra is the Director of Continental Group, a global supply chain management company. He has consistently maintained an innovative approach to the company’s growth, being persistent, devoted, and meticulous, as well as a dedicated and enthusiastic leader. He has directed the group’s expansion into numerous areas by taking an innovative approach to business and people. Vohra, an international business leader, has been instrumental in forging significant alliances with partners from over 60 countries and increasing the group’s global reach. He has extensive experience collaborating with global leaders of supply chain organisations from around the world. Vohra completed the Port of Antwerp’s Certified PA3 Experiential Training Programme for Breakbulk Handling and Port Operations, which assisted the group’s diversification initiatives.

The India Cargo Awards will commence tonight. The event will be commemorated by celebrating true leaders and recognising their hard work, passion, and dedication to the cargo industry. The event will be attended by Amrit Lal Meena, Special Secretary (Logistics), Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Department of Commerce, Government of India, as the Chief Guest, and Piyush Shrivastava, IES, Sr. Economic Advisor for the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India, as the Guest of Honour.

Ecom Express Limited announced that it has been certified as a Great Place to Work from March 2022 to March 2023. The company has been recognised for its efforts in building a high-trust, high-performance culture. The certification is a validation of all the varied efforts of Ecom Express that are channeled in the right direction to create an exceptional working environment and promote a culture that supports employee well-being, safety, and learning. Over the last nine years, Ecom Express has built its diverse and inclusive, talent-focused culture with care and trust for its employees. They are valued and nurtured, making them highly productive and result-oriented. As an organisation with 60,000+ employees (on roll and off roll), Ecom Express truly believes in the voice of its people getting heard, acknowledged, and actioned upon to enhance employee experiences and empower them to achieve their business goals.

The global integrated logistics service provider, cargo-partner, plans to expand its network across Western India by opening a new office in Pune. The logistics giant opened its offices in Vadodara and Indore in the last quarter of 2021. This takes cargo-partner’s total network strength to a total of 14 offices across India. While the company has now been present for over 15 years in the Indian market, the management believes that today’s logistics landscape requires a more decentralised approach as the cargo-partner needs to be where the customers need the company to be. “We take it personally. We intend to move closer to our customers and become faster in implementing our solutions. This is important in these challenging times with freight rates continuously rising and space in carriers coming at a premium,” said Rajesh Mallah, Regional Head – West, in an official statement. cargo-partner has dedicated a budget of more than a million EUR specifically to invest in and grow its presence in the Indian market. A sizeable share will be invested in creating new jobs and further developing the teams. cargo-partner plans to grow its workforce by an additional 50%, inviting skilled talent that wants to be part of the tech-driven vision. cargo-partner’s expansion plans are driven by the management’s confidence in providing excellent services to both existing and new customers whose demand is constantly growing. In line with the company’s vision of digitalisation and being future-ready to cater to our customers’ needs, cargo-partner is currently in transition to revamp and upgrade its systems across operations, sales, and human resources. cargo-partner with around 4 decades of experience in specialised warehousing services, has been at the forefront of delivering customised …

Ascendas Property Fund Trustee Pte. Limited., the Trustee-Manager of Ascendas India Trust (“a-iTrust”), is pleased to announce that it has entered into definitive agreements for the proposed acquisition of all of the issued share capital of Anomalous Infra Private Limited, which owns a 0.33 million square feet warehouse at the Arshiya Free Trade Warehousing Zone, Panvel, Navi Mumbai. This is a recently constructed operational warehouse and is being acquired from the Arshiya Group (“Vendor”) as part of the forward purchase agreement executed in July 2019. a-iTrust acquired six operating warehouses from the vendor with a total leasable area of 0.83 million square feet in February 2018. Like these six warehouses, the seventh warehouse will also be leased and operated by a subsidiary of the vendor for a period of six years. The acquisition of this warehouse is expected to be completed shortly. The gross acquisition consideration for this seventh warehouse is approximately Rs 2.15 billion (US $38.7 million). It comprises an upfront payment of INR1.94 billion (US $34.9 million) and additional deferred consideration of up to INR0.21 billion (S$3.8 million) to be paid over the next four years, upon achievement of certain performance milestones. Sanjeev Dasgupta, Chief Executive Officer of the Trustee-Manager, said, “The acquisition enables a-iTrust to further expand its presence in the logistics sector. Given the unique benefits offered by the FTWZ logistics segment, we are seeing growing demand in this space, and this acquisition puts us in a good position to capitalise on this growth.”