Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has been awarded the project to build India’s first multimodal logistics park (MMLP) in Chennai by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH). The project comes under the PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan (NMP) launched in October 2021 and is aimed at improving multi-modal connectivity and last-mile connectivity across the country, according to a statement by the ministry. The estimated project cost is Rs. 1,424 crore. The total concession period is 45 years. The SPV will provide four-lane NH connectivity of 5.4 km with an estimated cost of Rs 104 crore and new rail siding to the MMLP site of a length of about 10.5 Km with an estimated cost of Rs 217 crore. “The MMLP will be developed in three phases with an estimated developer investment of Rs 783 crore Phase-1 development is targeted within two years i.e., by 2025 leading to commercial operations,” statement from the ministry added. The MMLP at Chennai which is strategically located at about 52 km from Chennai Port, 80 km from Ennore Port, and 87 km from Katupalli Airport will be a focal point of logistics in the southern region. It is estimated to cater to 7.17 Million Metric Tonne (MMT) cargo in a horizon period of 45 years. MoRTH is developing 35 MMLPs, out of which 15 are prioritised in the next three years.

Envirotainer has expanded its production site in Rosersberg, north of Stockholm. “This is in response to incredibly high demand for secure, temperature-controlled units to transport vital medicines around the globe. This year alone, the business will add annual shipping capacity of ~200 million more doses. By the end of 2022, Envirotainer will be capable of shipping over one billion vials per year,” said an official release. The site is the largest in the world in terms of output, able to build more units each year. It has also been designed to allow further expansion in the future, the release added. Envirotainer is the global market leader in secure cold chain solutions for shipment of pharmaceuticals. “The Envirotainer fleet covers more than 2,000 pharmaceutical trade lanes in over 100 countries and 300 airports. Its services help pharma companies meet the strictest requirements in pharmaceutical air freight and include the new Releye® RAP and RLP models, which are the largest and most advanced of their type on the market, combining high capacity with superior features,” the release added.

Alaska Air Cargo has partnered with Boeing to convert two 737-800 Freighters to add to its dedicated freighter fleet. “The conversion work will be done at Cooperativa Autogestionaria de Servicios Aeroindustriales (COOPESA) in Costa Rica. The two 737-800BCF aircraft will increase the Alaska Air Cargo freighter fleet from three to five aircraft that are dedicated to serving the state of Alaska,” said a release from Alaska Airlines. “Fleet expansion positions our growing cargo business to meet increased demand that we see from industry and consumers,” said Adam Drouhard, managing director, Alaska Air Cargo. He added, “The 737-800 aircraft provides 40 percent more load space than our current 737-700 freighters, essentially doubling Air Cargo’s total freighter lift capacity. We look forward to getting these 737-800s into service to support Alaska’s supply chain and connect cargo to over 100 cities we serve across North America.”

The last two panel discussions focused on the ‘Warehousing standards – Logistics Parks and Buildings’ and ‘Importance of Automation, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in warehousing operations.’ The Vice President‭‬‬‬‬‬‬, WAI moderated the discussion while Mahendra Waghule- Head – Projects & Development, Horizon Industrial Parks, Anubhav Gupta- Chief Strategy Officer, APL Apollo Tubes, Parag Warerkar – CMD at MR Warerkar and Charter Member WAI Ejaz Nathani – VP & National Head, Welspun One, Parmeet Singh Bhalla – Managing Director, BGSB Concrete Solutions (P) Ltd and K Sampath Kumar -Senior Counsellor, CII IGBC participated as panelists. ‬ The concluding panel saw Shakti Choube – Asst. Vice President & Sales Head, Godrej Koerber Supply Chain, Umesh Madhyan – Vice President Supply Chain, Hindustan Coca-Cola, Sourabh Raghuvanshi – Vice President – Supply Chain & Sales, Lava IntI., Sandeep Chatterjee – Director, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India and Shashank Jaiswal – Country General Manager, UNL Global India as panelists while Vasu Ramanujam – Founder Member, WAI performed the job of a moderator emphasizing strongly on the relevance of advanced technologies in today’s times. Lot of stress was given on customer centricity, systems required for accurate demand fulfillment future projections. Vote of Thanks was given by Mohit K Kapoor, Chair- Events Committee, WAI, The event concluded on a positive note, providing a great platform to the industry stakeholders to unite, collaborate and discuss growth strategies to move forward to achieve the common goal – Growth. ‬

The discussion commenced with a speech by Dr SK Ahirwar, Joint Secretary, Logistics & Trade, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India. He threw light on the current scenario of the Indian warehousing sector, while highlighting the ongoing developments and investments, NLP – its potential benefits, and other government initiatives in pipeline. The panel discussion on ‘Equipment standards – Storage systems and Material Handling Equipment’ focused on the standardization of the various pieces of Infra required for smooth running of a warehouse. It was moderated by the President who has over 25 years of experience across Supply Chain, Logistics, Freight forwarding, NVOCC operations, Technology, KPO, and Engineering industries. The panelists included Joint Secretary, Logistics & Trade, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, GoI, Chetan Kumria – Managing Director, Xcell Supply Chain, Vikas Choudaha – Sr. Vice President & Business Head, Godrej Storage Solutions, Mohan – Director, Armes Maini Storage Systems Pvt. Ltd., and Founder Member WAI, Umesh Madhyan – Vice President Supply Chain, Hindustan Coca-Cola, Narendra Patidar, VE Commercial Vehicles, including a presentation by Vikas Choudaha – Sr. Vice President & Business Head at Godrej Storage Solutions

The first panel discussion saw the warehousing experts from across the country discussing extensively on NLP which is expected to bring global standards to the warehousing infrastructure and operations. The panelists included Er. S. Bhardwaj – Dy. Director-General, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India, Bipin Sapra – Senior Partner, Ernst & Young, Pawan Kumar, DGM (Buss.), Central Warehousing Corporation, Prasanta Biswal – Advisor on Public Policy, Regulatory & Government Affairs, Horizon Industrial Parks, Devan Mitra Chenoy – Public Policy Manager, Amazon and Pritam Banerjee – Logistics Specialist, Asian Development Bank while the session was moderated by Rajesh Lal – CA, Hon. Treasurer, WAI. The panelists discussed on the potential benefits of NLP which is a comprehensive long-term plan designed to achieve international standard efficiency in services and bring down the high logistic costs to single digit before 2030, thus enabling a rank among the top 25 nations in Logistic Performance Index (LPI). The experts also discussed on how relevant it is for the industry to collaborate and work towards developing an interconnected and tech-driven framework to drive an integrated, cost-efficient, resilient, and sustainable logistics ecosystem. This panel members discussed the key targets, their strategic plans, and the potential for attracting investments.

Focusing on the National Logistics Policy, which is aimed at promoting seamless movement of goods and enhancing the competitiveness of the industry, the Warehousing Association of India (WAI) organized its first ever conference in New Delhi on Friday, November 11, 2022, with the theme, ‘National Logistics Policy – The Road Ahead for Integrated, Best-in-Class Infrastructure Development.’ The event began with a welcome note by Manu Bhalla, President, WAI followed by the lamp lighting ceremony by the Chief Guest Som Parkash, Minister of State for Commerce & Industry, Government of India, and other Dignitaries namely, Suresh Kakani IAS, Managing Director of Maharashtra Industrial Township Ltd, Er. S. Bhardwaj, Dy. Director-General, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India, Amit Kumar Singh, Managing Director (M&CP) Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC), Bipin Sapra, Partner, Ernst n young, and Arif A. Siddiqui – Vice President WAI. The e-handbook on ‘Warehousing Standards’ by WAI was also released at the event. Devan Mitra Chenoy, on behalf of Chairperson – Policy Committee of WAI concluded the opening ceremony by presenting a report on the Ease of Doing Business in India.

DB Schenker is all set to launch the next chapter of greener transport in air freight, further extending its portfolio of climate-friendlier logistics solutions. “With immediate effect, customers can choose Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) for their air transport to anywhere in the world and independent of the type of aircraft or airline used. Via virtual allocation of the biofuel, it is possible to avoid up to 100 percent of CO2 emissions,” said an official release. Jochen Thewes, CEO, DB Schenker said, “We are very proud of the game-changing pioneer project we started with our trusted partner Lufthansa Cargo. Today, we take the next step by starting a global green air cargo network. We have purchased massive volumes of biofuel to push the decarbonisation of our industry. Customers of DB Schenker can now virtually book SAF on all trade lanes to thousands of airports. This new flexibility is a success factor and good for the climate. Every ton of biofuel counts.”

ESR India has inked a memorandum of understanding with the Karnataka government to invest ₹2,500 crore in the state. As a part of the MoU, the company will build industrial and logistics parks, urban distribution centres, and data centres in the state. Abhijit Malkani, CEO ESR India said, “Karnataka is a significant market for us due to its mature industrial ecosystem. We aim to bring world-class development expertise in industrial and logistics parks, urban distribution centres and data centres to enrich the state’s industrial, logistics and data infrastructure.” “The MoU will accelerate development and attract more investments from multinational and national companies. ESR has committed to a significant investment of Rs 2500 crores over a period of 3 years. Our vision is aligned with the government of Karnataka to champion industrial progress and socio-economic growth in the region,” Malkani added.

FedEx Express has opened new cargo facility for seamless cross-border trade, e-commerce growth and pharma logistics at Incheon International Airport in South Korea. The FedEx Gateway spans 23,395 sq. mt, more than double the size of the previous facility, and is equipped with 78 conveyor belts and an advanced automated sortation system that can sort up to 12,000 packages per hour, doubling the previous sorting capacity. It also includes a 15,207 sq m warehouse that can store up to 40,000 packages, said release. With 31 weekly flights, the new cold store facility connects Korea to over 220 countries and territories through the FedEx global network. Kawal Preet, president of the Asia Pacific, Middle East, and Africa (AMEA) region at FedEx Express said, “With South Korea tracking as the fourth biggest exporter in Asia last year and the world’s fifth-largest e-commerce market, the new Incheon Gateway will further boost our already extensive network to create possibilities for customers across the region. As trade lanes continue to diversify, businesses particularly across the North Pacific region will benefit from this newly opened facility as they continue to harness the full potential of global trade opportunities.” The new gateway’s cold storage area is now five times larger, to facilitate the transport of cold-chain shipments, including samples for clinical trials and healthcare products such as vaccines as well as perishable or temperature-sensitive items.