The National Rail Plan envisages that the share of freight traffic by rail should go up from current share of 28% to 44% by 2051. The construction of Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFCs) on the important high density route is an important policy measure by Indian Railways to arrest the trend of falling market share of railways in the country and also will shift the advantage in favour of rail transport. DFC operation will bring-in efficiency in freight operation and enable rail tariff being more competitive because of its following operational/design features: Higher throughput per wagon and per train: Run Heavy Haul trains. Lower Energy Consumption: Reduce Operation and Maintenances Costs Reduction in Transit time: Reduce logistic cost of transportation and better utilization of Rolling stock Moreover Indian Railway has taken number of multi-pronged strategy to increase its modal share in freight segment which includes tariff rationalization and Tariff/freight incentive schemes which includes; diversification of freight basket, Liberalised Automatic Freight Rebate Scheme in Traditional Empty Flow Directions, Rationalization of Station to station rates policy, Rationalization of Merry-Go- Round, Concession in short Lead Traffic, Discount in freight to fly ash traffic booked in Open/flat Stock & covered wagons, Round trip charging for ultra short lead (upto 50Kms) container traffic, Round Trip Traffic (RTT) Policy, Automobile Freight Train Operator Scheme (AFTO), Introduction of Cube Container for two wheeler traffic. A New ‘Gati Shakti Multi- Modal Cargo Terminal (GCT)’ policy has also been launched to facilitate development of cargo terminals on non Railway land, as well as on Railway land (partially or fully) etc. In addition, various other schemes have also been introduced to attract private investment in General Purpose Wagons, Special Purpose / …

Prozo, a full-stack supply chain company, announced the opening of its new fulfillment center in Village Khasarwara, Lucknow. The facility is a built-to-suite (BTS) warehouse with an area of ~23,000 sq. ft and within 5 KMs of the nearest highway, NH27. It has 900 LSS positions which can support 16,200 bin positions, and the facility also has the space for 435 ground pallet positions, providing storage space for around 3 lakh units of apparel, accessories, small electronics, etc. The PEB structure offers a clear height of 12 Meters and has FM2 flooring with a load-bearing capacity of 5MT, said release. The PEB structure offers a clear height of 12 Meters and has FM2 flooring with a load-bearing capacity of 5MT. The facility is fully compliant with all necessary approvals in place, and has 24X7 CCTV monitoring, patrol guards, and fire extinguishers, making it a safe and reliable storage location.

DP World and Grupo Puntacana have partnered to develop a new air cargo logistics hub in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, boosting the country’s position as the largest trade and logistics centre in the Caribbean. “The new facility is being created through an agreement between DP World and the Punta Cana Free Trade Zone (PCFTZ), a company of Grupo Puntacana,” says a release from DP World. “It will include a new logistics centre and infrastructure platforms capable of supporting multimodal air, land and sea cargo. Operations are expected to commence in late second quarter 2023.” The logistics centre will harness DP World’s extensive Dominican Republic multimodal cargo management experience and world-class standards for handling logistics operations globally as well as the high connectivity of the Punta Cana International Airport (PUJ) to global distribution centres, the release added. DP World began operations in the Dominican Republic in 2003 at its port facility at the Punta Caucedo peninsula, a strategic place for the redistribution of cargo to the Caribbean, the United States, Central America and South America.

Geodis has signed a 10-year lease agreement with PRD Group for a 20,000 square-meter multi-user facility in Minhang district, Shanghai. The facility is set to bolster GEODIS’ contract logistics capabilities for retail partners, providing improved storage and inventory processing to support the fast-growing e-commerce industry that is expected to be worth USD 2 trillion in Asia Pacific by 2025. The new facility is slated to officially open to GEODIS’ customers in July 2023 and will include a state-of-the-art storage system, consisting of mezzanine flooring, Very Narrow Aisle (VNA) pallet racks, and racking served by Autonomous Guided Vehicles (AGV). The facility will provide the space needed to support large merchandise inventory as well as inbound and outbound procedures. At peak capacity, the site will be able to manage an inventory of close to 20,000 Stock-Keeping Units (SKU). This will include having the space to process up to 300,000 lines per day for GEODIS’ Business-to-Consumer (B2C) customers, in addition to approximately 15,000 lines per day for its Business-to-Business (B2B) clientele. “Retailers today are facing a dynamic environment, where the rise of e-commerce and omnichannel platforms are changing consumer demands for goods and services. Our goal as a logistics provider is to support our customers – and theirs – by meeting these demands. With this strategic partnership with PRD Group, GEODIS will be tapping into the developed multi-user facility in Shanghai to optimize retail supply chains and provide innovative solutions that not only match but exceed the standards of service required by our retail partners to better serve their customers,” said Onno Boots, Regional President & CEO, GEODIS Asia Pacific and Middle East. “We are excited to work closely with our partners to …

Gati Ltd., an Allcargo Group company has expanded its EV-led last-mile delivery partnership with home furnishings retailer IKEA India for its store in Nagasandra, Bengaluru. In line with Gati’s vision to offer green express logistics solutions and support the government’s goal to cut the net carbon emissions to zero by 2070, Gati has deployed Electric three-wheeler cargo vehicles at IKEA’s Nagasandra store and plans to onboard larger capacity four-wheeler cargo vehicles in near future. Gati aims to increase the EV-led last mile deliveries for store to over 70 percent by 2023. Commenting on the collaboration, Pirojshaw Sarkari, CEO, Gati Ltd. said, “Deploying EVs for express distributions is a part of our sustainability and green logistics initiatives. Both Gati and IKEA are committed to last mile zero emission deliveries . Our association with IKEA is since 2019 and its subsequent extension from IKEA Hyderabad to Bengaluru store is a testament to that commitment. The collaboration is also in line with the government’s initiatives to promote green growth – economic growth keeping sustainability in focus. The EV deployment in logistics transportation is set to grow on the back of increasing ESG awareness among corporates and customer demand for sustainable logistics services. We look forward to extending our support to IKEA in its mission to achieve sustainable and greener deliveries. Saiba Suri, Country Customer Fulfilment Manager IKEA said, “Gati has been a pioneer in supporting IKEA India’s zero emission journey. We are very happy to extend our association with GATI for our Bengaluru store and thank them for the co-creation and smart execution which will surely support us in moving towards our aim of 100 percent zero emissions in home deliveries by 2025.” …

CABT Logistics is expanding into the Full Truckload – FTL segment to upgrade the current traditional Logistics model. Since its inception in 2018, CABT Logistics has witnessed steady growth. The company’s turnover was INR 250 Cr in FY23 and aiming for turnover INR 500cr in FY24. A trusted partner in the sphere of logistics needs in terms of First mile, Last mile and Warehousing, CABT Logistics is now all set to gain a strong foothold in FTL. Working closely with giant retailers and start-ups, CABT Logistics understand the nuances of seamless logistics and gaps their clients face. Therefore, as a part of their strategic growth plan, the organization is gearing up for a massive expansion into FTL business Nationwide both Intra and Inter-city. The project titled CABT Surface will ensure Logistics Service with the best SLA (Service level Agreement). Catapulting the sector towards growth and innovation, CABT Logistics will be working on quality offering, standardization of contracts, frequent reviews on the outcomes & performances and achieving customer service goals. Jagadish R, Head CABT Surface Business said, “CABT Surface is an endeavour to optimise and standardise the sector ensuring that we are able to offer superlative services to our clients. We are working actively towards executing the plan for the Nationwide FTL/PTL expansion targeting INR 200Cr turnover by FY24 under the CABT Surface business.” Shailesh Kumar, founder of CABT Logistics shared, “CABT Logistics has been at the forefront of seamless logistics. We have expanded regularly to ensure we give the best services to our clients. Be it warehousing or adoption of EVs, the company has always stayed ahead of the curve. We believe there is massive potential in India for the …

Virgin Atlantic Cargo is launching a new structure for its products that offers various levels of speed and priority across the portfolio. The new structure means that when customers select one of the cargo divisions products – General, Courier, Fresh, Pharma, Valuable, Vulnerable, Cars, mail, and Custom – they will also be able to select from three service levels: Classic, Priority, and Express. Classic is the entry service level, Priority includes preferred access to space and guarantees delivery on time and Express offers the fastest solution, with the shortest close-out times and highest priority. Sean Cruse, manager of commercial development at Virgin Atlantic Cargo, said: “The logistics space is evolving quickly around how our customers want to interact, and the operational requirements needed to efficiently transport goods around the world, which is why it is important to us to provide our customers with more choice so they can move cargo, their way. “This new structure will help our customers understand the range of capabilities we can offer across our network and allow for a tailored movement based on their exact requirements. “It also acts as our foundation for continuous improvement, where we will be reviewing and developing our offering based on customers feedback through our established Customer Survey programme.” The development follows the airline’s recent cargo management system upgrade to Accelya’s latest SkyChain solution. Maria Sanchez-Grant, head of distribution at Virgin Atlantic Cargo, said: “As we continue our digital transformation journey, this change in our products allows us to provide an intuitive experience across any channel for our customers. Having this as our foundation allows us to continually develop and enhance what we do to further improve our offering.” The …

Indicold inaugurated the latest location on its Network at Rai Industrial Area Sonipat on 9th March 2023. The brand-new facility is a completely frozen facility with a capacity of 4416 pallets. The facility is equipped with the latest machineries and technology. It is designed with a view to minimize temperature loss by efficient planning of operations, mechanized movement, computer controlled plant management etc. The facility was inaugurated by Sh. Kalyana Rama, Chairman and Managing Director, CONCOR in the presence of Directors of CONCOR, Sh. Rajesh Goyal – President of Federation of Cold Storage Associations of India, Ms. Pragya Nehru, Director CII FACE, Shri Mukesh Aggarwal, MD, Siddhi Enterprises, Sh. Kartik Jalan, CEO & Founder Indicold. Sh. Kalayan Rama keenly noted the achievement by Mr. Mukesh Agarwal and Indicold is putting up this facility in a timeline of less than 60 days. This is no mean feat and an industry record by any standards. Sh. Mukesh Agrawal, thanked the entire team, vendors and specifically Indicold team led by Mr. Kartik Jalan in driving these seemingly impossible time lines and ensuring early commissioning of a world class facility. The event was well attended by industry leaders and representatives of the cold chain sector across Indicold’s verticals of store, move and prepare. On the day of the inauguration the first trucks of ice cream were unloaded and the facility started operations.

Allcargo Group is strengthening its ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) framework and accelerating its initiatives. The priority for Allcargo Group is to ensure that its businesses across the world have a common, robust framework for their ESG initiatives at different stages of evolution to create sustained outcomes whilst strengthening the group’s commitment to environment and societies. It has engaged KPMG Assurance and Consulting Services LLP to assist in laying the foundational framework for ESG strategy and formulating the milestone goals. Due to the group’s global presence and for automating ESG reporting along with the requisite digital tools for tracking as well as driving ESG programs it has roped in GovEVA. The GovEVA ESG software is a unique technology which combines leading-edge, AI-enabled automation and domain-rich content that accelerates an organizations’ ESG journey. The Group’s ambitious ESG strategy will be governed by a core group, including senior leadership from across its offices in the world, led by Suresh Kumar R, CEO of Allcargo Logistics India. A comprehensive roadmap for the Group to achieve its ESG and sustainability goals is being created. To further understand how ESG could be integrated into the group’s business, over 300 senior leadership team members have been trained through an immersive program by NITIE (National Institute of Industrial Engineering). “We are reimagining our existing business models and believe that for sustainable growth ESG has to be integral and embedded in our business strategy. To scale up our ESG agenda further we have embarked on our journey of building a diverse workforce while nurturing the community we live in. Our ultimate focus with the ESG strategy is to help us in positioning for continued success, while supporting our …

An initiative will be taken to start cargo flights from Maharaja Agrasen Airport in Hisar, Haryana for exporting fruits and vegetables to the Arab countries, said Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar while addressing an event. “New experiments are being done to increase the income of farmers. The government has also formed the Export Promotion Council. Besides, an initiative will be taken to start cargo flights from Maharaja Agrasen Airport in the coming time, so that fresh fruits and vegetables grown by state farmers can be exported to the Arab countries,” said the CM. He also stressed on the need for starting a new agricultural revolution. “We are ready to give every possible encouragement and support to these universities so as to ensure that the said research work is smoothly carried out. This desired research work will not only ensure reduction in agricultural cost but will also improve the quality of crops produced, which will further play a pivotal role in increasing the income of the farmers,” said Khattar. The CM urged the scientists working at the agricultural universities of the state to conduct research on the subject for adopting best ways to get a high yield at minimum cost. The focus should be on improving the variety of seeds. Also, the marketing board should make proper arrangements for the marketing of food grains, said Khattar. He once again highlighted that because of the constant exploitation of water, the underground water level is going down. Farmers should adopt sowing cash crops including fruits, flowers, vegetables, along with shifting to beekeeping, animal husbandry and fisheries, he said. “We also have to ensure optimum usage of water…for this micro irrigation has to …