Category Archives: Warehousing

ESR, the Warburg Pincus-backed company, is planning to develop a 300,000 square metre (3.2 million square foot) logistics park on the site in Haryana state. The company acquired the land parcel, which is adjacent to the 223,000 square metre Keystone Knowledge Park science and technology hub. “ESR India is committed to building institutional grade logistics infrastructure to facilitate the development and modernisation of the nation’s supply chain. ESR Sohna will be well-positioned to cater to the needs of the expanding e-commerce industry with state-of-the-art infrastructure to aid advanced supply chain and logistics processes,” says, Abhijit Malkani and Jai Mirpuri, Country Heads of ESR India, in a joint statement. Located in the city of Sohna, 55 kilometres south of Indira Gandhi International Airport, the proposed high-spec park will support last-mile delivery for the business hubs of New Delhi, Gurugram and Faridabad.

  JSW Infrastructure has signed a Concession Agreement with New Mangalore Port Trust (NMPT) to develop and operate its first container terminal project at the port for 30 years. JSW Infrastructure is investing nearly Rs300 crore to develop the container terminal which will have a capacity of 400,000 TEUs. As part of the proposed investment, JSW Infrastructure will undertake mechanisation of Berth No 14 for handling containers and other cargo on Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer (DBFOT) basis. The container terminal will have a quay length of 350 meters and accommodate vessels up to 9000 TEUs. It will have a backup storage area of 15.5 hectares for storage of container. Commenting on the development Arun Maheshwari, Joint MD & CEO, JSW Infrastructure said, “Container terminal at NMPT will enable us to expand our footprints in container segment and diversify our cargo mix. We expect to commission the terminal by mid of next year. It will play a key role in economic development of NMPT and the entire region expanding upto Mysore, Hassan and Bengaluru.”

N Sivasailam, Special Secretary – Logistics, Department of Commerce, Government of India has kindly consented to grace the India Cargo Awards 2019. India Cargo Awards 2019 are scheduled to be held on January 27, 2020 from 7 pm to 10 pm at the Crowne Plaza Greater Noida. Sivasailam is an officer of the 1985 batch of the Indian Administrative Service allotted to Karnataka Cadre. He graduated in Mechanical Engineering from Delhi College of Engineering, University of Delhi. He did his Master’s in Business Administration at the Faculty Management Studies, University of Delhi, and Master’s in Social Policy & Planning from the London School of Economics and Post Graduate Diploma in Intellectual Property Rights Law (IPRL) from the National Law School of India University, Bangalore. Prior to this assignment, he served as an Additional Chief Secretary in the Department of Public Enterprises, Government of Karnataka. He has served in the Departments of Health & Family Welfare and Medical Education, Forest, Ecology & Environment Departments of the Government of Karnataka as Principal Secretary.

To develop logistics parks in key consumption hubs in India, Allcargo Logistics has partnered with Blackstone Group. Blackstone will invest up to Rs380 crore in Allcargo Logistics to develop industrial and logistics parks across India. Blackstone proposes to make its investment in the platform, by way of debt and equity. Allcargo will retain a minority stake in the various logistics assets and transfer its debt as it relates to these specific assets to their relevant subsidiaries. The transaction is expected to conclude in a phase wise manner over the next 12 months, subject to satisfaction of customary closing conditions and achievement of certain milestones. “Through this strategic tie-up, we reiterate our commitment and positioning to create a global benchmark in warehousing infrastructure and provide state-of-the-art warehousing solutions to our customers,” states Shashi Kiran Shetty, Chairman, Allcargo Logistics.

The MCCI Logistics Forum 2019 emphasised on regular communication between importers of Nepal and the service providers in India to bring down logistics cost. Sudip Dey, Vice Chairman, Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations in India (FFFAI), suggests, “There must be regular interactions between the importers of Nepal and Kolkata Service providers to bring down cost of Nepal import. It was only due to lack of communication that anomalies were happening (e.g. port ground rent, penalty by Railways etc). KOPT may keep a liaison officer in Nepal for dealing with day to day issues. Border restrictions for transit into Nepal should be done away with and vigilance should be done with the help of risk management & IT.” Highlighting the importance of Indo-Nepal as well as regional trade MCCI officials maintained that an efficient logistics and transportation infrastructure would be critical for strengthening India’s trade and economic engagement with its neighboring countries like Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar.

GMR Hyderabad Aerotropolis (GHAL) has formed a joint venture with ESR Hyderabad 1 (ESR) to develop a 66-acre logistics and industrial park at the Hyderabad airport city. Both the companies, for the aforesaid transaction, have entered into definitive agreements with an equity interest of 70 per cent and 30 per cent respectively in the SPV viz., GMR Logistics Park. The total project outlay would be around Rs550 crore. “This collaboration would set new standards for the warehousing and industrial real estate sector. It would also benefit the burgeoning cargo industry in the region,” said Aman Kapoor, CEO – Airport Land Development, GMR Group.

Seeing the improved connectivity of Madhya Pradesh with other states in all directions, Walmart, Amazon and Reliance are preparing to tap the strategic location of Madhya Pradesh to set up logistic bases by locating national distribution centres and warehouses in the state. The state is likely to see intense activity on this front in March and April. The business heads of the retailers are planning visits in the couple of months to figure out details of logistics business. According to Rajesh Rajoura, Principal Secretary to the state government for industrial investment policy and promotion, “Walmart, Amazon and Reliance have expressed interest in building logistic hubs and warehouses in the state. Setting up retail outlets is neither their priority nor the state government. But logistic hubs will get due consideration.” Amazon also plans to enter fresh fruit and vegetable markets in a big way and would want to set up centres for supply in Madhya Pradesh and the rest of the country.

Adani Logistics has signed an agreement to acquire a majority stake of Rs296 crore in Snowman Logistics from Gateway Distriparks to enter the cold chain logistics. The acquisition gives Adani Logistics platform to double its capacity in next five years. Karan Adani, Chief Executive Officer and Whole Time Director, APSEZ said, “The acquisition is in line with our strategy and vision to be a leader in providing integrated logistics services in India and moving from port gate to customer gate. Cold chain is key product in customer gate strategy given India’s consumer driven demand. With focus on increase in utilisation, higher realisation from product mix and operational efficiencies, this vertical will help further improve returns of logistics business”

Jabil Circuit India has leased approximately 60,000 sq ft of customised modern facility for light manufacturing and assembly at IndoSpace Ranjangaon, Pune. KA Lee, Senior Vice President and Chief Operations Officer, Jabil Green Point, said, “This facility will help Jabil Green Point, a division of Jabil Inc, in leveraging the growth potential of the Indian market which is continuing to emerge as a key manufacturing hub for our global customers.” Rajesh Jaggi, Vice Chairman, Real Estate, Everstone Group, said, “We are very pleased to have Jabil as a tenant and look forward to working with them on future expansion endeavors in India. Our global industrial real estate experience along with local execution capabilities enable us to anticipate the needs of Jabil and structure solutions that support their business plan.” Spread across 104 acres, the IndoSpace facility in Ranjangaon is a fully integrated industrial park located in MIDC Ranjangaon. The park consists of more than 2.4 million sqft of modern warehouses and light manufacturing facilities that are designed to meet the manufacturing, logistics and supply chain needs of global companies.

Increasing demand for warehousing from both domestic and international players is driving demand for efficient and international practices of storing and moving goods. LEAP India expects the demand for pallets on lease to go up to four million during the year 2020-21 from three million deployed currently. The company is expanding its client base to 550 spread across FMCG, beverages, auto, food, e-Commerce and large logistic players. Sunu Mathew, Managing Director, LEAP India comments, “We see enough opportunity in both pallets and Foldable Large Containers (FLCs). We are all geared up to tap this huge opportunity as we are well positioned to expand our pallets base. The company has good number of veterans from logistics and other sectors managing various functions professionally.”