Cargo Connect March 2020

PAGES 96 inclusive of cover

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Budget 2020-21: Messages galore, but implementation won’t be so easy

38

Putting Pharma back in the air

48

Examining the viability of proposed India-Central Asia air corridor

VOL XI ISSUE IV March 2020 | `20

contents

Volume XI Issue IV

march 2020 Publisher & Editor-in-Chief Smiti Suri

Special Correspondent / Sub-editor Upamanyu Borah Principal Correspondent Ritika Arora Bhola Correspondent Saurabh Sharma Event Coordinator Pallavi Jain Director Ajeet Kumar

24 COVER STORY

Perishables drive softer air cargo growth in 2020

focus

Accounts & Administration Lavish Thakur

Maritime Organisation (IMO).............................. 70

Designer & Visualiser Ashok Saxena

Kitack Lim, Secretary General, International

special features

Angré Port...................................................... 72

54

30,338

Marketing Executive Akash Gupta Rahul Jain

interviews

Budget 2020-21: Messages galore, but implementation won’t be so easy.................. 14 Putting pharma back in the air................................38 Examining the viability of proposed India-Central Asia air corridor.............................................. 48 Unleashing the power of data in air cargo processes.............................................. 54

Marketing Manager Rahul Arora Gagan Duggal

Capt Sandeep Gupta, Head- Port Operations,

shipper speaks

Gaurav Pratap Singh, Head- Logistics,

CERA Sanitaryware........................................... 74

guest column

Dr seema narera, General ManagerSupply Chain, TATA Starbucks............................. 76

All materials printed in this publication is the sole property of CargoConnect. The printed matter contained in the magazine is based on research and analysis and information provided by the spokespersons featured.

The views, ideas, comments and opinions expressed are solely of those featured and the Editor and Publisher do not necessarily reflect the same.

Regulars

CargoConnect is owned by Smiti Suri,

Frontline............................ 6 Buzz...................................... 8 Hub...................................... 10 Trending............................ 12 Infrastructure.............. 66 Technology....................... 68 News............................. 78-85 Events.......................... 86-88 appointments.................. 90 Upcoming events............. 92 Peopleconnect................ 94

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frontline

Krishnapatnam, the second-largest private sector port in India, situated along the coast of the southern Andhra Pradesh state, handled 54 million MT of cargo last year.  The Coronavirus outbreak will shave approx. $30 billion from revenue of the global airline industry, with the effect most severe on Chinese airlines.

It is our fervent hope that the IndiaCentral Asia Business Council would serve to spread the message among the industry and the business that India and Central Asia, as neighbours, need to trade with each other more, promote investment and highlight various opportunities.

S Jaishankar, Foreign Minister

India is a very important market for us.

We reach 19,000 pin codes, and cover over 90 per cent of India’s manufacturing GDP, have 1,000 vehicles across India and have 23 weekly flights from India with international gateways in Delhi, Bengaluru and Mumbai.

Mohamad Sayegh, Vice-President, Operations, FedEx Express India

GMR is the first Indian airport operator to win bid to operate a European airport and also GMR Group’s first foray in the EU region. Along with our partner GEK Terna, we aim to deliver an airport of global standards which would be a matter of pride for Greece.

Srinivas Bommidala, Chairman, Energy and International Airports, GMR Group

From a slow start about two years ago,

the share of Director Port Delivery (DPD) in the overall imports has crossed 40 per cent, from about 5 per

cent.

 India's refrigerated container market is estimated at 70,000 FEUs a year and is growing at 10 -12 per cent a year.  Once the Major Port Authorities Bill is passed by Parliament and signed into law, each port authority would be free to fix tariff for its assets and services.  Bangladesh’s booming economy has earned it the status as the fastestgrowing economy in the Eastern hemisphere.

6 | CargoConnect march 2020

In order to bring transparency and to augment the ‘ease of doing business’ and to reduce the logistics costs, it has been decided that the exporters having AEO status may be permitted to pay THC directly to the terminal operators instead of paying through the lines.

Sanjay Mahendru Commissioner of Customs, Nhava Sheva-II

Capacity at Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad airport will increase a cumulative 65 per cent to 228 million annually (from 138 million now) by fiscal 2023. However, traffic is expected to grow at up to 10 per cent per annum over the same period.

Manish Gupta Senior Director, Crisil Ratings

buzz

Digital Air Cargo Corridors: A Vision

F

rom the past few days, the subject of digital airfreight corridors has become a topic of discussion at many air freight conferences and events. Simply amazed by the corridor’s potential for fast and more reliable and just-in-time deliveries, by connecting different airports thereby, leading to increase in quantity and quality of information exchange,

digitalising logistics services and regulatory border controls and easing the trade, MoCA is keen to develop such corridors countrywide. Vandana Aggarwal, economic advisor to India’s Ministry of Civil Aviation propounded that Indian airports need to welcome the digital relationship internationally, and get running the pending Memorandum of Understanding

(MoU) signed in the past. In ports around the world could 2018, Kale Logistics Solutions help relieve the “disconnect” signed an MoU with Cargo- between Indian and global naut to create a digital corri- supply chains that has led to dor between Mumbai Airport, Indian air cargo “punching India and Amsterdam Airport way below its weight”.

Schiphol. As the delivery on Aggarwal urged IT teams the MoU remains unconclud- to try to put it into operation ed, Vandana Aggarwal recent- this financial year, by 31 ly urged that it should be put March, so that air cargo indusinto operation by the end of try can use it as a test case and March, which calls for an end move forward. Noting the reof the financial year, so that a cent implementation of a cargo test case can be inspected and community system in Atlanta, she added, “Where there is a studied.

The knowledge on the im- deeper understanding at an portance of such a corridor is airport, a digital freight corridor becomes prol i ferat i ng “Where there is a within the in- deeper understanding easier. We are dustry as well at an airport, a digital ready to partner with all of as in the gov- freight corridor becomes easier. We ernment insti- are ready to partner you to host the tutions, which with all of you to host first digital air m a y i n s p i r e the first digital air freight corridor.” She said policies that ac- freight corridor.” commodate ro- Vandana Aggarwal, that she envisEconomic Advisor to India’s bust digital in- Ministry of Civil Aviation aged a “multif rast r uc t ure plicity of interand build resilience in face of locking air freight corridors” growing demands and cargo across many different airports congestions and delays. Air- in the coming years.

Indian airports now turn hot destinations for foreign investors

G

lobal players are beginning to recognise India as a potential aviation hub, analysts and industry executives says sources, after Groupe ADP of France announced plans to buy a 49 per cent stake in GMR Airports Ltd (GAL).

Groupe ADP became the second leading international airport operator to enter India in a span of less than three months. Zurich Airport International AG had won the bid to build an international airport at Jewar on the outskirts of Delhi.

Recently, Groupe ADP said it plans to pick up 49per cent in GAL for an equity con-

8 | CargoConnect march 2020

sideration of `10,780 crore, which currently operates the country’s busiest international airport in New Delhi, as well as the one in Hyderabad.

“Groupe ADP’s investment in GMR airports is extremely strategic because of the sheer volume of passengers at airports in Delhi and Hyderabad," said JagannarayanPadmanabhan, Practice Leader and Director, Transport and Logistic, CRISIL Ltd. “They would have otherwise taken a lot of time to build this kind of asset organically. And these assets will only grow in the

medium to long term," Padmanabhan said, adding that the deal will give more elbow room to GMR airports to develop its infrastructure.

GMR Group’s chairman G.M. Rao said the partnership will help the company emerge as a global player. Groupe ADP developed and manages several airports, including three in Paris—Charles de Gaulle, Orly and Le Bourget.

According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), India is set to become the third largest aviation market by 2025, after the US and China.

Last November, Switzerland’s Zurich Airport International AG, emerged as the highest bidder for the proposed international airport at Jewar in Uttar Pradesh. It beat off competition from a GMR Group-led consortium, comprising Delhi International Airport Ltd, besides Adani Enterprises Ltd and Anchorage Infrastructure Investments Holdings Ltd, accordi ng to a NIAL official.

hub

CSC & MIAL launch world-class

Agro and Pharma Excellence Centre

10 | CargoConnect march 2020

we will need more of this kind of facilities, and this kind of efforts.”

“At present, t he good thing about India is Ease of Doing Business facilitation; Indian customs department has shown how to take significant leap in rankings.”

“My family has been in customs brokerage business since 130 years; I have never seen the industry acknowle dge t he k i nd of s p e e d, change of mindset, and idea to expand, support and work in harmony like today,” added Jani.

Congratulating the CSCteam, Manoj Singh, Sr Vice President– Cargo, MIAL said, “CSC has done a tremendous job. This new facility will have 170 ULD positioned for agro and pharmaceutical consignment. Only a few airports across the world provide this kind of state-of-the-art infrastructure."

"Mumbai airport serves over 500 cargo destinations across 175 countries with a customer base of more than 60 a i r l i n e s . We h a v e a l s o launched an air cargo community portal- GMAX, which enables stakeholders to access mobile applications that offer real-time tracking of shipment. Today, we anticipate the massive space to be filled by cargo, and therefore freight for wa rders a nd sh ippers

industry contributed 12.5 per cent to total cargo air cargo volumes. From 1.3 billion dollars in 2018, the industry is growing at a CGAR of around 3.5 per cent; we are determined to work on the fives 'T's- Time, Technology, Transparency, Talent and Transformation, as we are roll-out digital corridors from Mumbai to Brussels and Changi Airport, to obtain real-time data which will bring trans-

Tushar Jani

It's not just a pharma centre, it's a pharma excellence centre which will allow every person handling pharmaceutical cargo to touch the lives of people.

With the expanded capacity, we will cater to almost 1.3 billion people.

Today, India is moving from 20 per cent market of generic drugs to 40 per cent; we will need more of this kind of facilities, and this kind of efforts.

Manoj Singh

I

n a bid to make Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) a gateway to the world for the transport of temperature-sensitive agro and pharma products, CSC and MIAL recent ly joi ned ha nds to launch a world-class Export Zone Facility at the Air Cargo Complex in Mumbai.

The facility was inaugurated by Chief Guest Sungita Sharma, Former Principal Chief Commissioner, Customs – Mumbai Zone III, along with Guest of Honour Bhav na Singh, Deputy Director-General, Ministry of Civil Aviation, and V Rama Mathew, Chief Commissioner, Customs & Central Excise – Mumbai Zone, in presence of Tushar Jani, Group Chairman, CSC, Manoj Singh, Sr Vice President– Cargo, MIAL, and Charudatta Deshmukh, Director– Urban Planning, MIAL. On the occassion and for the noteworthy achievement, Tushar Jani, Group Chairman, Cargo Service Centre triumphantly said, “It's not just a pharma centre, it's a pharma excellence centre which will allow every person handling pharmaceutical cargo to touch the lives of people. With the expanded capacity, we will cater to almost 1.3 billion people."

"Today, India is moving from 20 per cent market of generic drugs to 40 per cent;

This new facility will have 170 ULD positioned for agro and pharmaceutical consignment. Only a few airports across the world provide this kind of state-ofthe-art infrastructure.

should stand firmly to their promises in making MIAL a gateway to the world.”

“At pr e s e nt, CSC h a s emerged as the largest cargo service provider at the airport.

This didn't happen overnight, but is the result of redoubtable leadership and growth exhibited over the last ten years.

"During 2019-2020, India's pharma exports by air stood at 0.5 million MT. In terms of value and product-wise, the

parency and reduce time,“ added Singh.

Mumbai Airport is the first airport in the country and the third in Asia to obtain the IATA CEIV Pharma accreditation. The airport is also in full compliance with pharmaceutical manufacturers' requirements. With the expanded cold zone facility, Mumbai Airport is bound to put India in the front of global pharmaceutical transport.

trending

W

hile different experts on the subject describe the drone technology in their own ways, substantially, drones are flying robots, capable of being controlled remotely and even can fly freely through software driven flight plans followed by embedded systems. A drone works in concoction with GPS and sensors installed in the sys-

tem. The functions or the ways following which a drone works can be conceived well by understanding its technological abundance. In order to attain flight, drones consist of power source which can be battery or any other kind of adaptable fuel, propellers, rotors and most importantly the frame. It is the frame of drone that comes in different size, shape and even weight as all this three components of frame, more pre-

Drones in Logistics:

A sky-high vision While the military and consumer applications of UAVs are wellestablished, drones are now making rapid inroads in supply chain operations. Drone Delivery is indeed a big leap in the field of supply chain and logistics as more and more companies jump onto the automation bandwagon by adopting autonomous technologies to gain a competitive edge, but as excited as we forget our parcels delivered by the air drones, it still has a long way to go!

Mahmodul Hassan

12 | CargoConnect march 2020

cisely, deal with the functioning of drone and its use in various industries.

Drone’s weight is carefully maintained on the ground that it should be light in weight in order to enhance maneuverability during flight. A controller is remotely used by an operator to navigate the drone, launch and even to land it.

Drones in logistics

The logistics industry holds assenting stance towards adopting new technology to uplift the industry standard followed by productivity. The use of drones in logistics in order to transport goods by air is a favourable reason to back the aforesaid statement. The essence of drones in logistics is that it is capable of transporting goods by air, can be used for inventory management in warehouses while ensuring faster delivery of goods. However, the use of drones in logistics industry is opening a new door to productivity for the industry itself.

The Practicality T

he list of the companies who have adopted technology is increasing; many are busy developing a favorable system for operating drones for the purpose, while E-commerce giants like Amazon have already taken the flight.

It was in the year 2013, when Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos unveiled its futuristic plan of delivering goods by air; through drones. Later on, the company launched Amazon Prime Air, a drone delivery service in development by Amazon. It is expected to begin operations in selected cities soon. It can be mentioned here that Amazon triumphantly delivered a Prime Air parcel to Cambridge, England. The company built a Prime Air fulfillment center in the Cambridge area, a video record of which it posted on its social media profile was widely circulated.

Amazon’s this step is seen as setting strategy for a new age technology in logistics sector.

Last year, in October, United Parcel Service (UPS) received approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to operate a fleet of drones, giving it broad privileges to expand unmanned package delivery. The certification will allow UPS to use multiple drones to deliver health care supplies within federal regulations and to fly drones

A research report published in 2019 states that the global drone logistics and transportation market accounted to US$ 24.58 mn in 2018 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 60.6% during the forecast period 2019-2027, to account to US$ 1,626.98 mn by 2027.

Experts in the domain have already started working on the projects and opined that the adoption of this technology will have a potent impact on the industry, both in terms of quality and productivity. The benefits of adopting the drone technology are defined while considering various dimensions of the

beyond the visual line of sight, according to a statement from the FAA. In Southeast Asia, use of drones technology is becoming prevalent and companies of Chinese origin are active in the race. JD.com, China’s largest retailer announced last year about the accomplishment of Indonesia’s first government approved drone flight. It was indeed a test flight, where the drone flew from Jagabita Village, Parung Panjang to MIS Nurul Falah Leles Elementary School in order to deliver books and backpacks to students.

Logistics companies abroad have already tested drones in warehouses which are closed spaces. Geodis, the logistics arm of SNCF (the French national railway), has partnered with Delta Drone, a French drone-making company, to develop a fully-automated drive for its large warehouse. Geodis has already conducted a two-year trial with Delta Drone, which has a stake in another company that trains drone pilots. The drones – flying in large warehouses – will be be able to provide data on a real-time basis, at non-working hours. Geodis plans to use the drones globally this year to automate five warehouses.

Last year, DHL Express, a leading international courier and delivery

logistics industry. Here are the aspects that are often taken into consideration.

Drones can ensure faster delivery of goods and this is seen as an impact factor for the industry as delivering goods at the right time is often a challenge in logistics industry.

Reaching remote and difficult areas is a topic of discussion in the logistics industry. Now, companies are looking towards drones technology for transporting goods to the remote areas.

Another beneficial aspect is that drones can function around the clock, with no shift involving heavy physical works, only operators can manage it well simply by working with remotes to navigate the drones accordingly.

Starting from storing goods in warehouses to transporting the goods to the end consumer, distribution in logistics industry requires a huge investment. Use of drones in transportation can reduce distribution cost.

service, collaborated with Chinese drone manufacturer EHang. The goal was to launch a drone delivery solution that gear last-mile delivery challenges in urban parts of China.

In India, Mahindra Logistics, which has done trials using drones at one of its warehouses, is awaiting regulatory approvals before it starts using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to improve the accuracy of the inventory and lower labour cost. The move comes at a time when warehouses are getting increasingly bigger and logistics companies are trying out newer technology to offer better services to their customers.

Besides, food delivery companies Zomato, Swiggy and Dunzo, medical delivery providers Zipline and Redwing, and large enterprises like Tata Advanced Systems Limited and Honeywell had applied to conduct long-range, or beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS), drone experiments. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation is taking steps on the experiments.

Zipline, a California based logistics company is reportedly bringing its drones to India in order to fill the gap of access to medical supplies in remote parts of India. It is estimated that this can let millions people to get the drones delivery services.

Collectively, various companies all over the world are busy in making the next big step called ‘delivering goods by air’ to the end consumer successful. However, there are issues and factors that need to be dealt perfect in all the ways possible. The issues of high cost drones, lack of skilled operators, smooth air traffic, cyber security and even legal validation are standing as the major challenges. Once tackled well, the road to a new dawn in logistics industry will be more prevalent. The sky is literally the limit!

CargoConnect march 2020 | 13

 

Messages galore, but implementation won’t be so easy Emphasising connectivity with increased rail, road and air routes through budgetary allocations, opening up of 100 airports, rapid pace of highway development, and heed to the well-being of the agriculture sector to make it sustainable, sets up expectations of a Vision 2030 to bring country-wide growth through next generation physical and social infrastructure development. Though there is the promise of hope, but the delivery needs to be precise.

Upamanyu Borah

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he 2020-2021 Union Budget had all eyes trained on it; and not just for the usual reasons. This was the second budget for the current BJP-led NDA government who once again was voted to power in the general elections in 2019. The budget also held higher relevance for the logistics sector as the stage was set for implementing the National Logistics Policy in collaboration with the industry. However, the much awaited policy wasn’t released along with the budget as expected. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman promised that it will be released soon and will have clear distinction about the regulatory roles of state and the central governments.

“A National Logistics Policy will be released soon. It will clarify the roles of the Union Government, State Governments and key regulators. It will create a single-window e-logistics market and focus on the generation of employment, skills and making MSMEs competitive,” said Nirmala Sitharaman.

The e-marketplace is believed to act as a one-stop platform for exporters and importers.

The policy is being worked out by the logistics division under the Commerce Ministry.

Undoubtedly, it is an opportune time for the government to empower SMEs with the essential tools of ‘technology’ and ‘trade reforms’ to fight the economic slowdown.

The policy, which is also aimed at reducing high transaction cost of traders, may propose setting up of a central portal, which will provide end-to-end logistics solutions to companies. The announcement assumes significance as high logistics cost impact competitiveness of domestic goods in the international market.

Currently, the cost of logistics for India is about 14 per cent of its GDP and it is far higher as compared to other countries. Effective implementation of the policy would help provide an impetus to trade, enhance export competitiveness, and improve India’s ranking in the Logistics Performance Index.

CargoConnect march 2020 | 15

Sector-wise assessment

T

he Government had already announced the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) for 2019-2025 in December 2019.

Specifically for the logistics and transportation sector, in the 2020-21 budget, the Finance Minister announced certain initiatives and proposals.

The 2020-21 budget allocated `1.7 lakh crore for the transportation sector in, `19.6 lakh crore for roads, `13.69 lakh

Roadways

Highways development to be accelerated, 15,500 km projects on anvil; DelhiMumbai expressway in 3 years The Budget for 2020-21 sees enhanced allocation for Ministry of Road Transport and Highways at `91,823.22 crore as against `83,016 crore earlier.

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crore for railways, `1.43 lakh crore for airports and `1.01 lakh crore for ports, promised 100 new airports by 2024, flight and railway cold chain for farmers to transport perishables, electrification of 27,000 railway tracks, corporatisation and listing of at least one port, completion of National Waterway- 1.

The NIP had pegged the projected capital expenditure for the logistics and transportation sector covering Roads, Railways, Ports and Airports at about `35.7 lakh crore - of which about `4.9 lakh crores and `6.7 lakh crores were projected for FY20 and FY21. The allocation of `1.7 lakh crore for FY20-21 is marginally higher than the `1.6 lakh crore under the previous year’s budget.

To augment infrastructure, an accelerated highways development programme will be taken up that includes constructing 15,500 kms of highways.

“Accelerated development of highways will be undertaken which will include development of 2,500-kilometre access control highways, 9,000-km of economic corridors, 2,000-km of coastal and land port roads and 2,000-km of strategic highways,” said Sitharaman.

“Delhi-Mumbai Expressway and two other packages would be completed by 2023 and work on Chennai-Bengaluru Expressway would also be started,” added Sitharaman.

Airways

Improving connectivity through regional flights, airports Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has been allocated `3,797 crore in this year’s Budget, 2.62 per cent higher than `3,700 crore which was allocated in the 201920 fiscal year. The budget had allocated `465 crore for the government’s regional connectivity scheme Udan, a 3.1 per cent higher than what was allocated in 2019-20.

The government will add 100 new airports to aid the regional connectivity scheme by 2024. Under the RCS fund, money has been allocated for revival of 50 airports and viability gap funding for Northeast connectivity.

“Air traffic has been growing rapidly in the country as compared to global average. One hundred more airports would be developed by 2024 to support Udan scheme. It is expected that the air fleet number shall go up from the present 600 to 1200 during this time,” announced Sitharaman.

Fur t her, Sit hara ma n assured, “KrishiUdaan will be launched by MoCA on international and national routes. This will immensely help improve value realisation especially in North-East and tribal districts.”

“To build a seamless national cold supply chain for perishables, inclusive of milk, meat and fish, the Indian Railways will set up a ‘Kisan Rai’ - through PPP arrangements. There shall be refrigerated coaches in Express and Freight trains as well,” said Sitharaman.

“1,150 trains will run under the public private partnership (PPP) mode, also four stations will be redeveloped with the help of the private sector. A proposal for setting up large solar power capacity alongside rail track is under consideration,” added Sitharaman.

along river banks,” stated Sitharaman.

“The Jal Vikas Marg on National Waterway-1 will be completed. Further, the 890 Km Dhubri-Sadiya connectivity will be done by 2022,” assured Sitharaman.

Warehouses

To help in efficient storage of perishable goods

Waterways

Bullish on new avenues opening up

Railways

Developments expected to reduce freight cost `13.69 lakh crore has been allocated for railways under the budget 2020-21, with focus on electrification of 27,000 railway tracks, building cold chain on the rail, more private trains and solar power capacity to be set up alongside rail tracks. Funds of `12,000 crore have been allocated for construction of new lines, `2,250 crore for gauge conversion, `700 crore for doubling, `5,786.97 crore for rolling stock and `1,650 crore for signalling and telecom. The budget also proposed freight loading at 1,265 MT, which is 42 MT (3.4 per cent) incremental over Revised Estimates (RE) of 2019-20.

18 | CargoConnect march 2020

The ports sector has been offered `1.01 lakh crore under the budget.

Sitharaman emphasised that the country’s sea-ports need to be more efficient. “Technology has to be used to improve performance. A governance framework keeping with global benchmarks needs to be put in place.”

“The government would consider corporatising at least one major port and subsequently its listing on the stock exchanges,” said Sitharaman.

Inland Waterways has found concern in the budget. Since the last five years, the central government has been pushing for freight to move through waterways.

“Developing waterways has its impact on the eco-system on both the banks of the river. Our Prime Minister has conceptualised ‘Arth Ganga’. Plans are afoot to energise economic activity

The 2020-21 budget envisions to build warehouses at block and taluk level and improve warehousing efficiency, with fresh produce/perishables at the center of attention.

Sitharaman said, “India has an estimated capacity of 162 million MT of agri-warehousing, cold storage, reefer van facilities, etc. NABARD will undertake an exercise to map and geo-tag them. In addition, we propose creating warehousing, in line with Warehouse Development and Regulatory Authority (WDRA) norms. Our government will provide Viability Gap Funding for setting up such efficient warehouses at the block/taluk level. This can be achieved, where States can facilitate with land and are on a PPP mode. Food Corporation of India (FCI) and Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC) shall undertake such warehouse building on their land too.”

Further, Sitharaman continued, “As a backward linkage, a Village Storage scheme is proposed to be run by the SHGs. This will provide farmers a good holding capacity and reduce their logistics cost. Women, SHGs shall regain their position as ‘Dhaanya Lakshmi’.”

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pRIME MINISTER'S EVALUATION Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a video message after the budget said that modern infrastructure is crucial for modern India, and that the infrastructure sector is a large employment generator.

Modi said, “The 65 hundred projects at a cost of 100 lakh crore rupees will increase employment opportunities on a massive scale. The National Logistics Policy will also benefit the three sectors of trade, business and employment. The target of developing 100 airports in the country will give a new height to the flying experience of ordinary citizens, and a new impetus to India’s tourism sector. We will boost the youth energy through start-ups and project development in the field of infrastructure.”

“New arrangements will be made through Kisan Rail and Krishi Udaan schemes so that the farmers can easily market and transport their products. I believe that this budget will increase income, investment, demand and consumption, as well as will reinvigorate the financial system and credit flow. This budget will meet the current needs of the country as well as the future expectations in this decade,” asserted Modi.

GST- Are the benefits accruing now?

S

itharaman expressed that the historic structural reform- the Goods and Services Tax (GST) has been gradually maturing into a tax that has integrated the country economically. “It has consolidated numerous taxes and cesses to one tax and facilitated the formalisation of the

20 | CargoConnect march 2020

economy. This has resulted in efficiency gains in the logistics and transport sectors. The turnaround time for trucks has witnessed a substantial reduction to the tune of 20 per cent due to abolition of check posts in GST,” said Sitharaman.

While the implementation of GST has streamlined several processes, it has impacted the leasing of warehouses. Industry leaders expect that tax subsidies and relaxation in indirect taxes for warehouse leasing can help boost the growth of 3PL service providers and warehousing operators. The slump in sectors like automobile and real estate have impacted the revenues for warehouses as well, which seek additional support, subsidy, and tax relaxations so as to continue growing.

OPINION POLLS T A Krishnan CEO & Co-founder, Ecom Express

The government’s focus on logistics is highly appreciated. The National Logistics Policy is a constructive move and will bring a positive shift in the logistics industry’s current position. Creation of single-window clearances and rolling out more favourable policies is another step as logistics is important and will act as a catalyst in driving economic growth. These steps in Budget will foster employment generation and skill development which are vital to sustainable and long-term growth.

Ramesh Nair CEO & Country Head, JLL India

The Union Budget announcement continues to focus on affordable housing and infrastructure, more specifically, urban infrastructure and logistics. However, we do not see significant impact on the realty sector. Keeping in mind the limited fiscal room available to the Government, the focus of the budget is to increase liquidity and enhance consumer demand through extension of benefits and simplification of personal income tax.

22 | CargoConnect march 2020

Shashi Kiran Shetty Chairman, Allcargo Logistics

The National Logistics Policy will boost value chain efficiencies and generate employment across the supply chain spectrum. The Krishi Udan scheme is a key initiative by the government to help farmers boost their income by expanding markets for their products on national and international routes.

The setting up of a Kisan Rail via the PPP mode will help build a robust cold supply chain infrastructure, increase the shelf-life of perishable goods and reduce food loss in the global cold chain.

Rizwan Soomar CEO & MD, DP World, India subcontinent

The government’s efforts on encouraging more modes of transport such as rail and Inland Waterways will help bring down the cost of logistics, making Indian goods competitive globally. We welcome the FM’s decision to set up Kisan Rail for transportation of perishable goods in special reefer containers, through the PPP model.

This will further increase the share of railways in the multi-modal transport mix, which is skewed towards road, at present.

Steve Felder Managing Director, Maersk South Asia The government’s aims to complete the National Waterway-1 this year is a welcome news for domestic hinterland trade especially for refrigerated agro-commodities.

Moreover, digitising the exportimport supply-chain and providing digital refund of state and central taxes to the exporters will help the country boost its global ‘Ease of Doing Business’ ranking. While there have been several investments announced on improving infrastructure, we are yet to see any concrete measures to reduce the cost of logistics arising from high rail and port costs.

Vartul Jain SVP and Chief Financial Officer, GreyOrange

Focus on entrepreneurship, skill development as well as thrust on technology is important for the growth of the Government’s Digital India and Make in India programs. We laud the Government’s focus on improving the supply chain economy. Measures such as geo-tag warehouses and establishment of efficient facilities at the block level will be key for ensuring zero wastage and optimising resource allocation.

coverstory

Perishables drive softer air cargo growth in 2020

T

he continuing USC h i n a t rade wa r which drastically affected the air cargo operations globally in 2019 indicating huge decli ne i n worldwide revenue by 11.7 per cent, measured in USD, compared with the top year 2018, it couldn’t disrupt the trade of perishable cargo such as agro-based products, flowers, vegetables, fruits, meats and wines.

According to a report presented by the MarketWatch, global Perishable Goods Transportation market was valued at 13,200 million in 2018 and is expected to reach 19,500 million by the end of 2024, growing at a CAGR of 6.7 per cent between 2019 and 2024. According to another report by the WorldACD, January 2019 was relatively a good month for certain specific cargo categories.

Apart from general cargo, valuables and dangerous goods, all categories improved Year-on-Year (YoY). The big categories of perishables and high tech grew by six per cent and four per cent respectively, pharmaceuticals by five per cent and the much smaller group of live animals by nine per cent.

In spite of an overall growth of two per cent between the two years (20182019), the WorldACD report suggests, most airline groups hardly grew. Airlines from Asia Pacific reported 0.7 per cent growth, whilst those from Africa, MESA a nd C&S (US) la ng uished 24 | CargoConnect march 2020

around the no-growth point. Only the airlines from North America (+6.3 per cent) and Europe (+3.8 per cent) beat the worldwide average growth. Remarkably, the Europeans improved their share everywhere, but, except in Europe itself.

From Chilean blue berries or best of wines to high value perishables such as pharmaceuticals, to more traditional temperaturesensitive items such as frozen meat and fish, these products definitely have one characteristic in common – they require adequate infrastructure and innovative technological solutions to ensure efficient handling.

Well, ‘Perishables’ is the only commodity that hasn’t seen a downfall in years, despite the ongoing trembly global air cargo business operations.

Ritika Arora Bhola

Perishable Logistics: Growth If we talk about perishable logistics growth, the world’s top-20 forwarders went from a 43.2 per cent to a 43 per cent market share. But within this elite group, differences were noticeable, says WorldACD report. The 13 forwarders with a European origin grew by 0.5 per cent only, whilst the 4 MESA and North American forwarders did just a bit better (+1.5 per cent). The real winners in 2018 were the Japanese forwarders, growing their business by 7.2 per cent, mainly driven by growth in Asia Pacific and North America. Leading forwarders in perishables, such as Kuehne + Nagel, Panalpina, DB Schenker and Newport, recorded double digit growth (between 13 per cent and 16 per cent) in this category. Apart from forwarders, GSA’s grew their business by 5.2 per cent.

Elliott Paige, Director- Air Service Development at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) informs that Atlanta International Airport too witnessed a slowdown of overall air cargo of about 7 per cent in 2019 because of trade war between the US

and China, unrest in Hong Kong, and general uncertainty on global trade which depends on full ratification of USMCA– the trade pact between USA, Mexico and Canada.

However, Paige confirms, perishables growth has not seen any downfall.

“Major US cities such as Atlanta, will continue to need air freight to move food for restaurants, grocery stores, our favorite shoppers’ markets, medical supplies and pharmaceutical medication, especially in an era when people are becoming more health conscious and want to consume fresh wholesome organic fruits and vegetables. Fresh seafood and meats are still required for thriving business of any metropolis.”

Paige continues, “In the US, perishables make up 21 per cent of our imports, and has the highest growth rate.

According to an internal airport study– some 4.2 per cent growth over a five-year period. US imports perishables mainly from South America, around 80 per cent, with the reminder from Europe, Asia, Central America and the Caribbean and Africa. We continue to work to increase our lift with countries like India, for both food perishables and generic drugs.

We hope to see more trade diversion to India given the decline of trade with China based on policy as well as the recent outbreak of Coronavirus.”

Dallas Fort Worth International

(DFW) Airport in the US is also remarkably increasing its cargo footprint with more cargo tonnage coming through DFW than ever before. Mostly driven by domestic cargo growth, DFW Airport continues to see annual increases in total cargo volumes.

John Ackerman, Executive Vice President for Global Strategy and Development at DFW Airport says, “We’ve seen strong growth in cargo tonnage at DFW Airport and are anticipating further growth in air cargo traffic in 2020.

Our team recognises the importance of investing in world-class facilities and systems that enable improved efficiencies across the cargo ecosystem and support our strong growth.”

Ackerman states, “We have seen increased interest in trade lanes that link Asia and Latin America, as compa-

In 2019, Hactl handled 67,700 PER shipments, totaling 81,600 tonnes.

Around 5% of Hactl's total. 97% of all PER shipments, and 99% of all tonnage, were imports. nies in both regions seek markets that have less exposure to the US-China trade dispute. We believe our geographic location, facilities, and freighter network positions DFW Airport well for these potential market shifts. The CargoConnect march 2020 | 25

In the US, perishables make up 21 per cent of our imports, and has the highest growth rate according to an internal airport study– some 4.2 per cent over a five-year period. US imports perishables mainly from South America, around 80 per cent, with the reminder from Europe, Asia, Central America and the Caribbean and Africa. We continue to work to increase our lift with countries like India, for both food perishables and generic drugs.

Elliott Paige

Turkish Cargo carried special cargo of over 240,000 tonnes in 2019, increasing the percentage of special cargo transportation operations by 20% compared to 2018.

Director - Air Service Development, HartsfieldJackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL)

DFW Airport recently welcomed South America freighter service from Avianca Cargo and Qatar Airways Cargo, which are already carrying significant amounts of perishables. Many of the perishables transit DFW en route to fast-growing Asian markets, supporting DFW Airport’s goal to be the ideal gateway connecting Asia and Latin America. The new services have significantly reduced transit times and total landed costs between these two regions.

John Ackerman

Executive Vice President for Global Strategy and Development, DFW Airport

Airport recently welcomed South America freighter service from Avianca Cargo and Qatar Airways Cargo, which are already carrying significant amounts of perishables. Many of the perishables transit DFW en route to fast-growing Asian markets, supporting DFW Airport’s goal to be the ideal gateway connecting Asia and Latin America. The new services have significantly reduced transit times and total landed costs between these two regions, resulting in fresher products for the consumer with longer shelf life and higher profit margins for the consignee.”

Talking about perishables growth, Nathan De Valck, Head of Cargo- Product and Network Development at Brussels Airport Company says that in 2019, inbound perishables flow remained at a fairly stable volume at Brussels Airport,

26 | CargoConnect march 2020

whereas the overall European air cargo market was in decline, confirming that perishable cargo is a commodity that does not follow the cyclical ups and downs of the economic cycle.

Although, perishables (PER) traffic does not make up a large proportion of Hactl’s total air cargo traffic, Paul Cheng, General Manager– Service Delivery, Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals Ltd (HACTL) stresses, “it still represents significant business.”

Cheng highlights, “In 2019, Hactl handled 67,700 PER shipments, totaling 81,600 tonnes (around 5 per cent of Hactl’s total). 97 per cent of all PER shipments, and 99 per cent of all tonnage, were imports. The main categories were fish (32 per cent of tonnage), fruit and vegeta-

bles (30 per cent), seafood (15 per cent), meat and poultry (5 per cent) and flowers (1.3 per cent). The top three origin regions were Europe (42 per cent), Japan and Korea (17 per cent) and North America (16 per cent).

Cheng adds, “The year 2017 saw nine per cent PER growth, 2018 saw 10 per cent growth, but 2019 witnessed a decline of seven per cent, in line with global air cargo performance. Once current trade disputes are resolved, there is every reason to expect that PER traffic will resume its previous strong showing.”

Alexi Lachambre, Vice PresidentDevelopment and Investments, Aeroterm (that works for Miami International Airport) avows, “When it specifically comes to perishables cargo, our attention shifts on the Miami International Airport (MIA) who by leaps and bounds leads all the US airports in perishables cargo.”

Of Germa ny’s 30 largest food groups, six have their headquarters in Hamburg, and six others, production

facilities in the Hamburg Metropolitan Region. These include such household names as Unilever, Kellogg’s, Mars and Nestlé. Edeka Group, Germany’s largest retailer, is also based in Hamburg.

Stefan Worm, Managing Director of Edeka Fruchtkontor Nord in Hamburg at Port of Hamburg shares, “Today, Port of Hamburg is the world’s largest hub of perishables. There’s barely a single type of food or agricultural product that is not shipped via the Port of Hamburg. The port fulfils a major role, not just as a food handling centre, but also as a production base. More than 100 hectares of land of the total of 4,300 in the port are used for the production of edible oils and fats and other food products. The Port of Hamburg is now Northern Europe’s leading food hub and a vital centre of expertise for the food industry. The port makes a crucial contribution towards provisioning the Metropolitan Region’s 5.3 million consumers as well as those in its European hinterland, extending from Scandinavia via Eastern Europe as far as the Alps. Not only transshipment, but also production; around 185,000 tonnes of grain are milled every year in the Aurora mill in the Port of Hambu rg a nd pro cessed to highquality flour for consumers as well as the bread and food industry.”

From an airline perspective, Wally Devereaux, Managing Director, Cargo and Charters, Southwest Airlines tells, “Southwest Airlines Cargo handles a variety of perishable commodities across its network and offers a specialised service called Fresh Fast to its cus-

tomers. It provides a time definite guarantee, shorter tender, recovery, connection time requirements, and access to coolers in many of its locations. It also offer access to its Next Flight Guaranteed service offering, which is a highpriority service.

Southwest Airlines Cargo has been working with the perishable commodity shipping community for several decades and has developed an excellent reputation.”

Meanwhile, a spokesperson from Turkish Cargo says Turkish Cargo carried special cargo of more than 240 thousand tonnes in 2019, increasing the percentage of special cargo transportation operations by 20 per cent compared to 2018. He mentions, “Some of Turkish Cargo’s high frequency special cargo destinations are Maastricht, Amsterdam, London, Dubai, Istanbul, Delhi, Seoul, Male, Muscat, Chicago, Tel Aviv

and Madrid. Special cargo requiring protection consist of flowers, vegetables/fruits, meat/fish and sea food, medical supplies and medications, hightech products, automobiles, dangerous goods, valuable items and live animals are carried from/to 126 countries around the world.”

Perishable Handling Perishables, no doubt, forms the biggest vertical or the biggest business segment for the air freight industry. Sixteen per cent of the overall freight that is carried by all the airlines is attributed to perishables. Consumers want access to virtually all types of food year-round, including products from different countries. But, time and temperature-sensitive perishable products require adequate handling, storage and transportation which is a challenging task for

CargoConnect march 2020 | 27

Brussels Airport has worked closely together with all the operators and the regulators involved in the process so that both the handling and the control process run smoothly. A new Perishable Management Application has been developed in the BRUcloud, the data sharing platform of the Brussels Airport cargo community to streamline the check process and increase the transparency. This has resulted in an improved and more pro-active communication between the operators and the regulator.

Nathan De Valck

Head of Cargo- Product and Network Development, Business Development, Brussels Airport Company

In 2019, Hactl handled 67,700 PER shipments, totaling 81,600 tonnes (around 5 per cent of Hactl’s total). 97 per cent of all PER shipments, and 99 per cent of all tonnage, were imports. The main categories were fish (32 per cent of tonnage), fruit and vegetables (30 per cent), seafood (15 per cent), meat and poultry (5 per cent) and flowers (1.3 per cent). The top three origin regions were Europe (42 per cent), Japan and Korea (17 per cent) and North America (16 per cent).

Paul Cheng

General Manager– Service Delivery, Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals Ltd (HACTL)

freight forwarders/airport operators/ ground handling companies requiring them to move, store, process and deliver the perishables as efficiently as possible, with zero wastage while ensuring excellent quality. Today, LSPs worldwide use the best of cold chain facilities/ technological solutions available to store and move perishables amply. Air cargo is an excellent mode of transport to move these items around quickly and sustainably. That said, there is a very important emphasis on the correct handling to ensure food safety and ultimately consumer health.

This has prompted air cargo industry experts – airports and airlines and even freight forwarders to up the ante and improve their performance if they actually want to take advantage of the growing perishables market in the coming years.

28 | CargoConnect march 2020

Perceiving the same, Sanjay Khanna, CEO, Ras Al Khaimah International Airport says, “Our airport has a dedicated cargo facility for handling perishable cargo which includes vegetables, fruits, chilled meat, frozen lobsters and fish. About 80 per cent of the import shipments arriving at our facility are perishable cargo arriving from the Indian subcontinent and Africa.

The perishable cargo require protection from ambient conditions such as temperature and humidity. Different types of perishables have to be maintained at different temperatures. For instance, the chilled meat needs a temperature range of 4-6 degree Celsius and frozen lobsters need a temperature range of 01 degree Celsius. Fruits and vegetables storage are done in separate cool rooms with optimal temperature of 15 degree Celsius. We use separate containers for

transport of chilled meat/vegetables and frozen foods from aircraft to the facility at the cargo terminal. Our cargo warehouse is situated 20 meters away from the parking bays which reduces the risk of exposure to heat.”

Khanna asserts, “We are in the process of acquiring more envirotainers and chiller reefers for ensuring effective cold chain maintenance. There is a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) set out for operations team and this varies depending on the type of product being shipped. Air freight is the best means for transporting these goods as they reduce many geographical challenges, decreases shipment times and reduce the amount of time that the goods will stay exposed to the external conditions.”

Ras Al Khaimah International airport receives wide body aircrafts with frozen lobsters, fish and vegetables which are offloaded within two hours and loaded to the refrigerated trucks which carry the perishables to the major markets.

Khanna says, “Another highly perishable product handled by us are live honeybees from Egypt which are airlifted in A330 aircrafts and the entire shipment of 40 tons is off loaded and transferred to beekeepers within a span of 40 minutes. As honeybees emits heat on its own, time taken for offloading from aircraft and loading to bee importers is of prime importance and we are meeting the timeframes set to make sure that no mortality of live bees happens.”

On similar lines, Joke Aerts, Head of Marketing, Nallian Data Sharing for Business Collaboration, Belgium asserts, “The perishable management process requires a smooth collaboration between the different actors involved, such as freight forwarders and authori-

ties such as the federal agency for the safety of the food chain. In reality it’s more often than not a fragmented process that heavily relies on back and forth emails and phone calls, highly manual and paper-based operations and a lack of transparency. The absence of an integrated, uniform process makes it hard to plan inspection of documents and perishable goods efficiently– and misses the agility required to efficiently deal with shifting arrival or departure times. As a result, goods are blocked longer than needed, shipments may be released partly, and a lot of time is spent in manual, often duplicate data-input.”

Infrastructure & Technology

Recently, The International Air Transport Association (IATA) devised the Center for Excellence for Perishable Logistics (CEIV Fresh), to improve the handling and transportation of perishables by air. While IATA’s CEIV pharma certification binds airlines to set standards for the transportation and storage of medicines, CEIV Fresh certification lays out a series of requirements for time and temperature-sensitive transport of food items, fresh flowers and wines.

Even, Air France-KLM Cargo (AFKLM), successfully launched FlowerWatch certification which helps store flowers at exact temperatures required for particular hours. The airline also transports fruits and vegetables.

Various airlines and airports worldwide have taken innovative initiatives to improve their infrastructure and services to cater to the ever-growing perishables business.

Interestingly, Atlanta Airport was the first airport in the US to introduce a Cargo Community System, in partnership with Mumbai-based Kale Logistics Solutions to be in the race of

Atlanta Airport was the first airport in the US to introduce a Cargo Community System, in partnership with Mumbai-based Kale Logistics Solutions to be in the race of digital cargo. digital cargo. “We look forward to more and more airports being connected via the Cargo Community System, because that ultimately means more efficiency and speed, a super valuable asset for perishable cargo,” says Paige.

In Atlanta Airport, all airlines on South Cargo Complex have refrigerated facilities to handle perishables. “We have a new building of 100,000 square feet that will have refrigerated facilities to be able to handle several temperature requirements similar to what our major carrier, Delta Air Lines, has for their facilities,” briefs Paige.

At Brussels Airport, Valck informs, “For the flower shipments out of Africa or South America the service providers at the airport focus on a quick transit of the shipments from the aircraft through the first line facilities into the trucks for

onward transportation to the auction or final destination. This requires focus and effective operational processes to avoid bottlenecks at any point in the physical handling process. For the lower volume shipments with specific temperature conditions specialised infrastructure, such as cool rooms are required. Brussels Airport has been working with a couple of specialised service providers, the local perishables heroes based at BRUcargo, that have the required expertise to offer the right type of handling and storage for each type of perishable shipment. Dedicated cool rooms are available both in first and second line facilities to guarantee the quality of the product during the transit at the airport.”

Valck also clarifies that Brussels Airport has worked closely together with all the operators and the regulators involved in the process so that both the handling and the control process run smoothly. A new Perishable Management Application has been developed in the BRUcloud, the data sharing platform of the Brussels Airport cargo community to streamline the check

CargoConnect march 2020 | 29

Global Perishable Goods Transportation Market 2018-2022

Miami International Airport boasts of numerous cold-storage buildings at the airport that are currently 100 per cent leased. We have recently broken ground on a new 150,000 SF cold storage building at the airport, which reflects the strength and growth of the perishables market. Another key strength to the MIA airport is the significant amount of off-airport cold storage buildings north-west of the airport – a crucial element for sorting, storing and distributing the perishables cargo arriving by aircraft.

Alexi Lachambre

Vice President- Development and Investments, Aeroterm

Por t of Hamburg The por t makes a crucial contribution towards provisioning the Metropolitan Region’s 5.3 million consumers as well as those in its European hinterland, extending from Scandinavia via Eastern Europe as far as the Alps. Not only transshipment, but also production; around 185,000 tonnes of grain are milled every year in the Aurora mill in the Port of Hamburg and processed to highquality flour for consumers as well as the bread and food industry.

Stefan Worm

Managing Director, Edeka Fruchtkontor Nord, Port of Hamburg

process and increase the transparency.

“This has resulted in an improved and more pro-active communication between the operators and the regulator,” shares Valck.

While, Miami International Airport boasts of numerous cold-storage buildings at the airport that are currently 100 per cent leased,” says Lachambre and adds, “We have recently broken ground on a new 150,000 SF cold storage building at the airport, which reflects the 30 | CargoConnect march 2020

strength and growth of the perishables market. Another key strength to the MIA airport is the significant amount of off-airport cold storage buildings northwest of the airport – a crucial element for sorting, storing and distributing the perishables cargo arriving by aircraft.”

Turkish Cargo provides services in 43 special cargo storages available at its existing cargo terminal (ISL). “Perishable cargo with sensitivity to temperature is stored in special storage rooms

with four different temperature ranges at the cargo terminal equipped with high standards. All products are monitored with hygienic and standard maintenance processes. Temperature values of special cargo rooms are monitored via the telemetry automatic system, and there is a system in place which is capable of sending an automatic message in case of any alarm caused by any difference in the temperature range,” says the official from Turkish Cargo.

The official continues, “Thermal covers and thermal dolly services are provided upon customers’ request for protection against external environment conditions for perishable cargo with sensitivity to temperature. Perishable cargo are monitored under an agreement with the Active Cold Chain brand ‘Envirotainer’ which provides customers with active temperaturecontrolled containers and QEP (Qualified Envirotainer Provider), referring to the accreditation proving that an airline company is capable of performing the Envirotainer transportation operations successfully at stations. Turkish Cargo, have been entitled to get the QEP accreditation at 40 stations across the world and all processes are handled out with the expertise of Turkish Cargo’s professional staff.”

On the other hand, Hactl uses IATA’s accreditation under IATA CEIV Fresh. Cheng says, “It enables us to anticipate and deal with potential threats to the condition of perishables.

The over-riding aim of HACCP is to minimise the amount of perishables cargo which might become unfit for consumption during transit. Measures

Southwest Airlines Cargo has been working with the perishable commodity shipping communit y for sever al decades and has developed an excellent reputation.

We handle a variety of perishable commodities across our network and offer a specialised service called Fresh Fast to our customers. We provide a time definite guarantee, shorter tender, recovery, and connection time requirements, and access to coolers in many of our locations. We also offer access to our Next Flight Guaranteed service offering, which is a high priority service.

Wally Devereaux

Managing Director, Cargo and Charters, Southwest Airlines

We are in the process of acquiring more envirotainers and chiller reefers for ensuring effective cold chain maintenance. There is a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) set out for operations team and this varies depending on the type of product being shipped. Air freight is the best means for transporting these goods as they reduce many geographical challenges, decreases shipment times and reduce the amount of time that the goods will stay exposed to the external conditions.

Sanjay Khanna

CEO, Ras Al Khaimah International Airport

we have introduced include the use of thermal dollies to maintain optimum temperatures during transit from aircraft to terminal, the segregation of different perishable commodities through 22 dedicated truck docks, and the mapping and visual marking of optimum storage positions in our cool rooms (the so-called ‘Blue Belt’). Dedicated ULD charging areas have also been installed, already stringent hygiene and pest-control practices have been tightened further, and suppliers have been instructed on what they must do to comply with the new standards.”

However, Cheng stresses that IATA should also consider standardising weight limits for ULDs, and introducing guidelines on packing materials and strength for agents and shippers, to deal with the current problems of deformed packaging in stacked shipments arriving at Hactl.

“The enhanced screening requirements imposed by ICAO 2021, and the corresponding measures introduced by HKCAD, focus on outgoing cargo from Hong Kong. Given that the majority of perishables handled by Hactl are imported goods, the impact on PER traffic 32 | CargoConnect march 2020

will be insignificant,” Cheng adds.

“With DFW Airport’s new airside cool chain facility, the airport has the resources and capabilities to compete in the fast growing, higher value, time and temperature-sensitive vertical markets,” says Ackerman. “Given Latin America’s strength and growth in perishable exports, the development of a cold chain facility, which features dedicated pharma chambers, was critical in

IATA should consider standardising weight limits for ULDs, and introducing guidelines on packing materials and strength for agents and shippers, to deal with the current problems of deformed packaging in stacked shipments. supporting DFW’s Asia– Latin America strategy. To further capitalise on the favourable geographic location and distribution advantages, DFW airport has also made the investment and commitment to become an IATA CEIV Pharma Community. DFW Airport plans to work with other CEIV Airports to develop strategic pharma lanes, position DFW as an ideal port of entry for pharma imports, and establish a pharma cluster in the North Texas region,” adds Ackerman.

DFW Airport recently announced a $3 billion, 10-year plan to upgrade the airport’s physical and digital infrastructure. Many of the projects included in the plan will improve the efficiency of its cargo operations. According to Ackerman, “DFW Airport has more than 3,000 acres of land available for development of private facilities, including hundreds of acres of land adjacent to runways that are ideal for cargo and logistics uses. DFW Airport is also focused on digital infrastructure and plans to deploy a cloud-based, open architecture data-sharing

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The perishable management process requires a smooth collaboration between the different actors involved.

The absence of an integrated, uniform process makes it hard to plan inspection of documents and perishable goods efficiently– and misses the agility required to efficiently deal with shifting arrival or departure times. As a result, goods are blocked longer than needed, shipments may be released partly, and a lot of time is spent in manual, often duplicate data-input.

Joke Aerts

Head of Marketing, Nallian Data Sharing for Business Collaboration, Belgium

The Perishable Center Frankfurt offers 20 monitored areas on more than 9,000 square meters of storage space.

Here, temperatures can be customised individually between 24 °C and +24 °C with fast cooling and vacuum cooling systems available. Plant protection, the German Federal Office for Agriculture and Food and a veterinary office are directly on site and allow immediate checks at a temperature-sensitive environment.

Andreas Pauker

Spokesman and Head of Communications at Lufthansa Cargo, Frankfurt Airport

platform for the Airport’s cargo and logistics community.”

Elaborating on how Lufthansa Cargo is emerging as the fastest service

34 | CargoConnect march 2020

provider for perishable goods Andreas Pauker, Spokesman and Head of Communications at Lufthansa Cargo, Frankfurt Airport says, “A tempera-

ture-controlled environment during transport as well as during storage, aircraft parking positions directly at the Perishable Center Frankfurt and specially trained staff ensure that perishables arrive freshly. With its own competence team at the highly modern and certified Perishable Center Frankfurt, the largest center for sensitive cargo in Europe, Lufthansa Cargo provides a fast loading process and the best product quality. The Perishable Center Frankfurt offers 20 monitored areas on more than 9,000 square meters of storage space. Here, temperatures can be customised individually between 24 °C and +24 °C with fast cooling and vacuum cooling systems available. Plant protection, the German Federal Office for Agriculture and Food and a veterinary office are directly on site and allow immediate checks at a temperature-sensitive environment.”

In 2019, Lufthansa Cargo was able to increase the amount of perishable transportation. Especially, transports to and from destinations in Africa were growing due to new capacities of Brussels Airlines. In addition, the demand for door-to-door service for perishables had increased in 2019. Lufthansa Cargo’s standardised solution for direct delivery enables optimal planning and direct transfer to the recipient with a temperature-controlled transport. Since January 2020, this service has been extended among further destinations.

Pramod Menon, Vice President at Atlas Aviation, India considers India as an important market for perishables.

“Atlas Aviation represents Ethiopian Airlines Cargo and Logistics as their CSA in Mumbai and TACA Airlines- Avianca Group as their GSA in India. Both the carriers- Ethiopian Airlines and Avianca group has an excellent setup in their hubs for handling perishables and temperature-controlled shipments with advanced technologies. Infact, Ethiopian Airlines has a separate cargo ter mi nal to handle perishables. This

In 2019, Lufthansa Cargo was able to increase the amount of perishable transportation.

Especially, transports to and from destinations in Africa were growing due to new capacities of Brussels Airlines. In addition, the demand for door-to-door service for perishables had increased in 2019. shows the importance provided for sensitive and other perishable shipments,” points Menon.

“India is one of the largest exporters of fruits and vegetables to England and Middle-East, and cut Amsterdam,” informs Menon.

While outlining the issues related to capacity handling in India, Menon observes that though exports are huge, infrastructure to handle perishables and pharma is not up to the mark and there is a lot of difference on supply and demand in terms of the same.

“Too much of outsourcing at various international airports in India has increased the costs which add to the problem. Europe, Dubai and many countries have understood the importance and potential of perishable handling and huge investments are being made by those countries by embracing new emerg i ng tec h nolog ies l i ke Drones. Emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) are still at an adoption stage in India. With global demand for perishables and Pharma increase day by day, India being one of the largest exporters has to ensure that the infrastructure is in place for perishable handling and even the govt should join hands with private operators and provide feasible infrastructure facilities to cater to the ever increasing demand,” comments Menon.

Brendan Sullivan, Head of E-commerce and Cargo Operations, APCSCARGO-Operations at IATA links the viability between infrastructure and technology adopted by the airports and 36 | CargoConnect march 2020

Though the expor ts from India are huge, infrastructure to handle perishables and pharma is not up to the mark and there is a lot of difference on supply and demand in terms of infrastructure. With global demand for perishables and Pharma increasing day by day, India being one of the largest exporters has to ensure that the infrastructure is in place for perishable handling and even the govt should join hands with private operators and provide feasible infrastructure facilities to cater to the ever increasing demand.

Pramod Menon

Vice President, Atlas Aviation, India

Airports investing in and fostering growth in cargo is not just about the immediate impact on an airport, which can be substantial. In addition, acting as a gateway can have many other benefits to the local population such as additional logistics, distribution and other businesses emerging. It then becomes extremely important to invest properly in the infrastructure and how it connects that location to the world and its local catchment areas.

Brendan Sullivan

Head of E-commerce and Cargo Operations, APCS-CARGO-Operations, IATA

airlines across the world for competent perishables transportation. Sullivan says, “The infrastructure and technology to implement depends largely on the commodities one expects to move.

In a general sense, something to cool has to witness acceptable temperature ranges at the airport as well as throughout the journey. Temperature-controlled containers, for example, have been used for pharmaceutical products for some time, but we now see it being increased used in the perishable sector as well.

Tracking technology which integrates into warehouse and airline systems to provide visibility and also increase response times ultimately prevents issues that would otherwise arise.”

“Track and trace devices are not new, but they are becoming increasing prevalent and there are many more types being used in the market by everyone in the supply chain which leads to inefficiencies and lack of data sharing. Integrating and sharing this data into the various systems is critical not only for providing the traceability required for food items, but also to improve operational efficiency. Airports

investing in and fostering growth in cargo is not just about the immediate impact on an airport, which can be substantial. In addition, acting as a gateway can have many other benefits to the local population such as additional logistics, distribution and other businesses emerging. It then becomes extremely important to invest properly in the infrastructure and how it connects that location to the world and its local catchment areas,” adds Sullivan.

Road Ahead Perishable cargo transportation mainly via air is said to be moving in the right direction as experts believe the growth is definite. With world-class infrastructure being developed at the airport terminals along with innovative and impressive technological solutions being adopted for efficient perishable handling ensuring zero wastage of time-sensitive perishable shipments, all the stakeholders– freight forwarders, airlines and cold chain industry are ready to embrace the rapid increase in demand and supply of perishables worldwide.

 special feature

Putting Pharma back in the air There are no substantive arguments contradicting the fact that air cargo has all the attributes it takes to become the most reliable means of transport for pharmaceuticals, yet the industry is in no great shakes while comparing it to the cargo carrying capacity of sea freight. However, with the innovation in technology and reduction in tariffs, the global air carriers are set to pack a wallop in pharmaceutical logistics.

Saurabh Sharma

38 | CargoConnect march 2020

T

he transportation of pharmaceutical is considerably a profitable business stipulating the complexities within the network m a n a g e d w it h s t a n dardised service by air cargo industry.

The compelling advantage of air cargo over seaborne freight vis-à-vis an industry that has distinct competitive and logistical challenges in getting its product to market is the speed. With a limited window of time and profitability before the introduction of generic competitors, the first manufacturer needs to get its product to market swiftly, making airfreight the most logical transportation choice.

The air freight segment is estimated to register a considerable CAGR over the forecast period owing to increasing use of the air freight logistics for long distance and intercontinental distribution of valuable vaccines and medicines. The International Air Transport Association

special feature (IATA) formed the Center of Excellence for independent validators in pharmaceutical logistics (CEIV), which supports the organisation and air cargo supply chain to achieve excellence in the process of handling pharmaceuticals. The procedures segment is further segregated into picking, storage, retrieval systems, and handling systems.

IATA plays a prominent role in drafting aviation standards; it is beset by the financial challenges of the airline industry. The air cargo industry should be looking to help them out by leveraging our member skill sets through organisations including The International Air Cargo Association (TIACA) and the Airforwarders Association (AfA), using the recently formed Global Air Cargo Advisory Group.

The demand for pharma products has doubled in the last decade and global sales in the sector are expected to reach $1.3 trillion in a few years. This, is turn, has accelerated the growth of the pharma logistics sector.

Market Predictions India’s pharmaceutical exports stood at US$ 17.27 billion in 2017-18 and are expected to reach US$ 20 billion by 2020.

In 2018-19 these exports are expected to cross US$ 19 billion. Indian healthcare sector, one of the fastest growing sectors, is expected to cross US$ 372 billion by 2022. The demand for pharma products has doubled in the last decade and global sales in the sector are expected to reach $1.3 trillion in a few years.

This, is turn, has accelerated the growth of the pharma logistics sector.

According to business intelligence firm Future Market Insights (FMI), the $3.6-billion market for temperature-controlled packaging within the pharmaceutical industry is expected to enjoy a compound annual growth rate of 8 per cent between 2018 and 2028.

The USA currently tops the list as the top exporter by air, with around 133,000 metric tons per year, followed by India with 86,100 tonnes and Germany with 51,400 tonnes.

CargoConnect march 2020 | 39

special feature

Why air?

Choosing the right mode of transport for any particular pharma assignment depends upon so many factors like the product value, the shelf life of the shipment and the stock levels of the product at the destination. High-value products that have a short shelf life and those that need to be urgently restocked at a destination will travel by air.

Discussing the preferential shift of pharmaceutical companies towards air cargo especially when it comes to temperature-sensitive cargo, Keki Patel, former Cargo Manager, India & Nepal at Emirates SkyCargo

explains, “We have launched the pharma corridors initiative where we work with ground handlers at our main pharma stations across our global network to ensure that we provide enhanced protection for temperature sensitive pharmaceutical cargo from origin to destination.”

“The most significant development in the transport of pharmaceuticals by air has been the emergence of specialised handling solutions offered by air cargo carriers. In order to support the product we also invested heavily in our infrastructure opening a dedicated facility at Dubai International Airport (DXB) for handling pharma cargo. We then streamlined our processes and obtained Good Distribution Practices (GDP) certification for all

From our side, our Emirates Pharma product has three levels of innovative transport solutions based on a requirement mix which includes the temperature sensitivity of the product, the packing solution used by the pharmaceutical manufacturer and the origin/destination of the shipment.

Keki Patel

FORMER Cargo Manager- India & Nepal, Emirates SkyCargo

40 | CargoConnect March 2020

High-value products that have a short shelf life and those that need to be urgently restocked at a destination will travel by air.

special feature Most of the pharmaceutical products which are shipped by air cargo are packed with thermal blankets, and for cases of highly sensitive cargo, it would be in 2-8®C active containers. The dead weight of the active containers itself is so high that it makes the over shipment logistics cost quite expensive.

Ravi Kumar Tummalapalli

Head- Logistics – APAC, Japan, China, Teva Pharmaceuticals

our handling operations for pharma in Dubai,” adds Patel.

The hope of hundreds of thousands of patients is stored at the pharmaceutical service providers’ on shelves that have been cooled down to a temperature of around 4˚C. The pallets and cartons there contain syringes and vials with active substances for the treatment of cancer, multiple sclerosis or anemia. Temperature-sensitive consignments demand to be handled with alacrity to avoid the degradation of the valuable medicine and other perishable cargo.

Acknowledging the high cost incurred in pharmaceutical air cargo movement

Ravi Kumar Tummalapalli, Head- Logistics – APAC, Japan, China at Teva Pharmaceuticals says, “Air cargo would be for sure an expensive service for cargo movement.

For ph a r m a , it b e c o m e s muc h mor e expensive when we consider the cargo being secured in passive and active packaging. Most of the pharmaceutical products which are shipped by air cargo are packed with thermal blankets, and for cases of highly sensitive cargo, it would be in 2-8˚C active containers. The dead weight of the active containers itself is so high that it makes the over shipment logistics cost quite expensive.”

Temperature-sensitive consignments demand to be handled with alacrity to avoid the degradation of the valuable medicine and other perishable cargo.

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special feature With the CSafe RAP we have further widened our portfolio. With CSafe’s proprietary insulation together with an innovative cooling and heating system, the CSafe RAP precisely maintains a defined payload temperature set-point throughout product transport, even in the most extreme ambient conditions (-30°C to +54°C).

J Florian Pfaff

Vice President- Asia Pacific, Lufthansa Cargo

“But this is a boon for the pharma industry that there are new technologies of active containers which give same amount of efficiency and also reduces the dead weight of the equipment which is proving to be beneficial to the industry,” adds Tummalapalli.

Spreading best practices Transporting healthcare products by air demands a rigorous logistical approach. If mishandled, the intactness of these products can be compromised by temperature changes during transportation.

42 | CargoConnect March 2020

Recognising the need for a concentrated effort to improve the level of competency as well as operational and technical preparedness in air transport of pharma shipments, the industry has taken some steps to enhance compliance, standardisation, accountability and transparency across the air transport supply chain.

For instance, the CEIV which after being awarded with the CEIV seal by IATA, as part of a complex procedure, independent specialists review an airline’s processes when transporting pharmaceuticals using the Cool/td Active and Cool/td Passive products.

As such, Lufthansa Cargo was assessed as

exhibiting superior reliability and expertise.

Lufthansa Cargo is now one of only six airlines worldwide to have received this certification for processes throughout the global route network.

J Florian Pfaff, Vice President Asia Pacific at Lufthansa Cargo elucidates about the recent innovations and practices that help make air cargo industry favorable for pharmaceutical industry.

“Lufthansa Cargo offers a wide range of ac t ive a nd passive cool solut ion s for transport on its extensive network. With the CSafe RAP we have further widened our p o r t f ol io. Wit h C S a f e ’s p r o p r i e t a r y insulation together with an innovative cooling and heating system, the CSafe RAP precisely maintains a defined payload temperature set-point throughout product transport, even in the most extreme ambient conditions (-30°C to +54°C),” says Pfaff.

Transporting healthcare products by air demands a rigorous logistical approach. If mishandled, the intactness of these products

special feature Healthcare and pharmaceuticals are highly sensitive products and we want to ensure our customers’ peace of mind during the transportation process.

This certification represents a seal of approval from the industry which we intend to uphold in line with our commitment to service excellence.

Franco Nanna

Director- Global Logistics Services, Cargolux Airlines

can be compromised by temperature changes during transportation.

“With the pharmaceutical industry moving over one trillion dollars worth of cargo every year, upholding a shipment’s quality requires specific equipment, storage facilities, harmonised handling procedures and, above all, strong cooperation among the cold chain partners. Training in Temperature Control Regulations (TCR) will address temperature management issues identified by the industry. This training provides the requirements and standards for the transportation and handling of pharmaceutical products, includ-

ing the compulsory use of the IATA Time a nd Temperat ure Sensit ive Label,” points Bharat Thakkar, Joint Managing Director, Zeus Air Services.

Many airlines are determined to make their pharma transport capabilities seamless and obtaining the certification for best practices. Recently, Cargolux Airlines has successfully passed its GDP renewal audit covering its pharma handling processes.

“We are proud of this achievement and the commitment our teams continuously demonstrate to the requirements of

Recognising the need for a concentrated effort to improve the level of competency as well as operational and technical preparedness, the industry has taken some steps to enhance compliance, standardisation, accountability and transparency across the air transport supply chain.

CargoConnect march 2020 | 43

special feature We have to ensure, that the syringe caps don’t slip because of pressure conditions during air transportation, which would cause contamination.

So we test this intensively ourselves, beforehand.

At the end of the testing process, we send out a test shipment. But that’s just an extra precautionary step, which goes without saying, is extensively documented.

Michael Schmitz

Vice President Planning and Logistics, Vetter Pharmaceuticals

the EU Directive,” comments Franco Nanna, Director- Global Logistics Services at Cargolux Airlines.

“Healthcare and pharmaceuticals are highly sensitive products and we want to ensure our customers’ peace of mind during the transportation process. This certification represents a seal of approval from the industry which we intend to uphold in line with our commitment to service excellence,” says Nana.

Air cargo industry is at the nexus of supply and demand. Combined with its role in the services industry, the air cargo industry is heavily influenced by the latest technologies and market forces. As a result, making business plans one month, let alone one year, in advance is a tall order.

Cool, Smart and Fast Apart from IoT and Blockchain, when using ‘Cool’, shipments are passively or actively cooled during flights. Several container types are available to ensure goods are actively cooled, including Unicooler and Opticooler, which both record numerous data throughout the transportation process. Airlines such as Lufthansa Cargo offer customers from the pharmaceutical and medical technology industry the appropriate solutions to serve their needs.

In order to guarantee product safety, Vetter’s airfreight transports are simulated beforehand, as Michael Schmitz, Vice President Planning and Logistics, at Vetter International explains, “For instance, we have to ensure, that the syringe caps don’t slip because of pressure conditions during air transportation, which would cause contamination. So we test this intensively ourselves, beforehand. At the end of the testing process, we send out a test shipment. But that’s just an extra precautionary step, which goes without saying, is extensively docu44 | CargoConnect march 2020

Challenges in temperaturecontrolled air freight Air freight is the most popular form of temperature controlled transport, as this method can help alleviate time considerations, geographical obstacles and lack of infrastructure (roads, railways, ports, etc.). Air transportation is even the most popular mode of transport for in-country logistics.

 Capacity oversupply Overcapacity has created a more competitive service for manufacturers and as a result, services have become more temperature-controlled pharmaceutical focussed, which is positive for the quality of the products.

 Weak points It is widely acknowledged that the weakest points in the air freight supply chain are the transfer points between the different players. Staff training, increased planning for the aircraft type and increased due diligence are areas that require more attention.

 Cost efficiency A key element of cost-saving and ef-

ficiency in the air freight industry is modernisation and the use of technology for process improvement and optimisation. Like other industries, pharma logistics companies face the challenge of incorporating digitisation, despite the cargo industry not being technology driven.

 The future of air freight With the demise of huge blockbuster drugs hitting the market every couple of years, the generics industry now covers a large proportion of the generic medicines that are being delivered to patients. Transportation methods will be approached in a far more cost-conscious manner in the years to come.

Outlining the most critical yet existing challenge in air freight management of pharma shipments, Thakkar elaborates, “The mismatch between the expectations and requirements of pharma shippers and the actual quality of the received cargo from the logistics service providers’ end, creates a high-risk situation and is the cause due to a number of temperature excursions.”

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special feature Training in Temperature Control Regulations (TCR) will address temperature management issues identified by the industry. This training provides the requirements and standards for the transportation and handling of pharmaceutical products, including the compulsory use of the IATA Time and Temperature Sensitive Label.

Bharat Thakkar

Joint Managing Director, Zeus Air Services

As the complexity and sophistication of the pharmaceutical cargo being transported increases, air cargo carriers will also have to up their capabilities and invest in ‘fit for purpose’ infrastructure to meet customer requirements.

mented. At that stage we are virtually certain anyway that the product or the packaging has been put together in such a way that nothing can go wrong.”

For Vetter, the only practicable solution to the problem was Lufthansa Cargo’s 'Emergency.Solutions.' Once, when a batch for the production of urgently needed material could not be released for manufacturing because of minimal quality defects, there was a risk of failure to meet a deadline for the aseptic filling of a new active substance at the branch facility in Chicago – “with substantial losses in the six-digit range,” remarks an official at Vetter Pharma.

Patel informs, “The packaging chosen by the manufacturer will depend on the nature of the pharma cargo being transported. From our side, our Emirates Pharma product has three levels of innovative

of temperature sensitive cargo, Patel further reveals the equipage used by them. “We also protect our cargo with other innovative technology- we have a range of specially designed thermal covers that we’ve collaborated with DuPont. They’re called White Covers and you have three different types – White Cover, White Cover Active and White Cover Xtreme. These offer differing levels of protection for pharma cargo from heat, cold, dust and humidity.”

We also have an extensive fleet of close to 50 Cool Dollies in Dubai dedicated for the transport of pharma. Our main deck and lower deck Emirates Pharma Cool Dollies work in a way that minimise thermal excursions on the ramp when temperature sensitive cargo is being moved from the cargo terminal to the aircraft or the other way around. Our Cool Dollies are capable of maintaining temperatures as low as -20˚C. Finally, we also offer customers a variety of containers from third party providers. We work with all the market leaders for specialised temperature controlled containers including Envirotainer, va-Q-tec and SkyCell.

Customers can choose the solution that works best for their requirements.

Fate of air pharma logistics

transport solutions based on a requirement mix which includes the temperature sensitivity of the product, the packing solution used by the pharmaceutical manufacturer and the origin/destination of the shipment.”

Informing the technology devised by Emirates SkyCargo to avert any degradation 46 | CargoConnect March 2020

Pharmaceutical transportation through air cargo will gradually keep increasing due to the fact that most of the companies are reducing inventories across the board to be more productive. Also, another fact is that the pharmaceutical companies are getting into Biopharma and Bio-tech where in the medicines are very high value and sensitive to temperature variations. This needs a highly-coordinated and qualified network to get the products from point A to B in a time-efficient manner.

However, as the complexity and sophistication of the pharmaceutical cargo being transported increases, air cargo carriers will also have to up their capabilities and invest in ‘fit for purpose’ infrastructure to meet customer requirements.

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 special feature

Examining the viability of proposed

India-Central Asia

air corridor

48 | CargoConnect march 2020

T

Sporadic connectivity of India with land locked Central Asia has long been an impediment in cementing the robust trade links between India and Central Asian countries, given the scarce overland route and ever developing Chabahar Port, it is an opportune time for both the countries to take into account the prospect of establishing more air corridors between them in order to reinforce the trade and economic engagement.

Saurabh Sharma

Subrahmanyam Jaishankar Minister of External Affairs of India

ransforming air corridors into economic corridors demands an enabling policy framework that eases doing business and non-tariff measures to facilitate trade. As economic corridors on one hand promote growth by removing infrastructure bottlenecks, improving access to mark e t s, s t i mu l at i n g trade and investment and boosting productivity and efficiency through associated network externalities and agglomeration effects, they also attract private investments in productive assets, which generate employment on the other hand. Economic corridors promote inclusive growth by expanding economic opportunities in backward regions and linking cities and towns with urban centers and industrial clusters.

India and central Asian countries should look at the viability of establishing air corridors besides Iran’s Chabahar route to boost trade, given the lack of an overland route connecting the two sides.

Kabul-Amritsar air cargo commenced from August 2018 with the claim that Afghanistan would be freighting goods if it was more than 35 tonnes.

Afghanistan’s air corridor programme induced lot of hope to increase trade between the regional countries especially connecting with Central Asia, South Asia and beyond.

The bilateral trade between India and Afghanistan is expected to more than double to reach US$ 2 billion by 2020 with the opening of air cargo route between the two countries.

Existing operational air freight corridors

The first air freight initiative between Afghanistan and India in 2017 has given major impetus to increase its footprint to other countries namely; Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Kazakhstan and Dubai.

The flight carried 60 tonnes of cargo (mainly ‘hing’) from Afghanistan, was flagged off in Kabul by President of Afghanistan Ashraf Ghani in presence of other dignitaries. A similar cargo flight from Delhi to Kabul had earlier carried 100 tonnes of cargo (mainly pharmaceuticals, water purifiers, medical equipments) from Delhi to Kabul.

Kabul-Amritsar air cargo commenced from August 2018 with the claim that Afghanistan would be freighting goods if it was more than 35 tonnes. Afghanistan’s air corridor programme has induced lot of hope to increase trade between the regional countries especially connecting with Central Asia, South Asia and beyond.

Apart from this one more corridor was inaugurated last year between New Delhi to Herat to promote bilateral CargoConnect march 2020 | 49

special feature

Ken de Witt Hamer Director, World ACD Market Data

There is enormous opportunity for airlines in the region, while imports and exports to central Asia are a big opportunity, carriers are also well positioned to capitalise on the trade between central Asia and Europe. trade, bypassing their common adversary Pakistan. In the first flight, 200 kg of saffron and 1600 kg of Pistachio was dispatched to New Delhi from Herat.

Focussing in on the economic improvement of Afghanistan, the air corridor programme has set progressive benchmark in a span of one year but still there is an abject need of more such air corridors to boost the trade further.

The idea of air corridor programme was conceived in order to attain intended results of reaching global market despite Afghanistan’s challenge being landlocked. Prolonged instability has affected on the fundamental conditions of Afghanistan and against this backdrop it is difficult for the country to work on development. Nevertheless, Afghanistan is seeking progressive initiatives to attribute for growth. Air corridor programme is one of the alternative ways for Afghanistan to access global market.

Challenges in air trade between India-Central Asia

India has been closely working with Afghanistan to create alternate and reliable access routes for the country. In this context, India is also cooperating with Afghanistan and Iran for development of the Chabahar Port. A trilateral transport and transit agreement based on sea access through Chabahar was signed in the presence of the leaders of the three countries in Tehran in May 2016.

Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Minister of External Affairs of India recently said, India and central Asian countries should look at the viability of estab50 | CargoConnect march 2020

One more corridor was inaugurated last year between New Delhi to Herat to promote bilateral trade, bypassing their common adversary Pakistan. In the first flight, 200 kg of saffron and 1600 kg of Pistachio was dispatched to New Delhi from Herat.

India and Afghanistan currently operate flights that ferry perishables like fruits, besides dry fruits, from major Afghan cities.

The air corridor programme has certainly produced positive development results which have broadened its horizon to Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Kazakhstan and Dubai air freight will start next month.

lishing air corridors besides Iran’s Chabahar route to boost trade, given the lack of an overland route connecting the two sides.

India’s efforts to reach out to resource rich central Asia has been hampered by the lack of a direct overland route for trade. This is mainly due to India’s tense ties with Pakistan. Pakistan has denied India permission to send goods via road to Afghanistan and beyond. To overcome this, India and Afghanistan currently operate flights that ferry perishables like fruits, besides dry fruits, from major Afghan cities.

Despite the historical links with the central Asian states and India moving quickly to establish diplomatic ties with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan after their emergence as independent countries almost three decades ago, trade had not grown beyond $2 billion, added Jaishankar, at an event organised by the Federation of Indian Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in New Delhi.

Trade benefits of multiple air corridors

The connectivity established through the Air Freight Corridor will provide Afghanistan greater access to markets in India, and will allow Afghan businessmen to leverage India’s economic growth and trade networks for its benefit. It would enable Afghan farmers quick and direct access to the Indian markets for their perishable produce.

The bilateral trade between India and Afghanistan is expected to more than double to reach US$ 2 billion by 2020 with the opening of air cargo route

India’s Trade with Central Asian Countries in 2017-2018 (Values in US $ Millions) Country

Exports

Imports

Total

Kazakhstan

125.37

907.43

1032.81

Kyrgyzstan

28.59

30.94

59.53

Tajikistan

23.94

50.29

74.24

Turkmenistan 54.31

26.15

80.46

Uzbekistan

132.72

101.67

234.39

Total

364.93

1,116.49

1,481.21

Source: Department of Commerce: Export Import Data Bank

between the two countries. Currently, major exports from India to Afghanistan are man-made filaments, articles of apparels and clothing accessories, pharmaceutical products, cereals, manmade staple fibres, tobacco products, dairy and poultry products, coffee/tea/ meat and spices.

The Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Industries (ACCI) recently said that Afghanistan’s economic dependency on Pakistan has gone down following the establishment of new alternative trade and transit routes with a number of countries including an air corridor with India.

“O u r con nec t iv it y i n it iat ives through the International North South Transport Corridor and the Ashgabat Agreement will also continue,” Jaishankar said, referring to a 7,200-km-long multi-mode network of ship, rail, and road route for moving freight between India, Iran, Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Russia, Central Asia and Europe as well as an international multi-modal transport and transit cor-

ridor between Central Asia and the Persian Gulf.  Air corridors will boost trade in perishable goods and farm products  Bringing investment and stakeholders  Dependency on Pak will be gone.

The air corridor programme has certainly produced positive development results which have broadened its horizon to Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Kazakhstan and Dubai air freight will start next month. It is also important to understand Afghanistan’s initiative to attain peace and stability but it is essential to know the positive outcome that has been achieved through economic development initiatives like the air freight programme which is an indispensable and pertinent factor for the country’s growth.

Opportunities lurk in the air

Cargo demand to and from central Asia is growing at a faster pace than the overall market, while the region’s air-

lines could also benefit from their position between Asia and Europe.

Ken de Witt Hamer, Director, World ACD Market Data elaborates, “Growth in cargo volumes to the region is expected to continue as the GDP is expected to return from a decline of 3.7 per cent in 2016 to an increase of 3 per year in 2019-2022. Also, the top 20 forwarders have less of a market share in the region (33 per cent inbound and 14 per cent outbound) than they do overall, where they have a 43 per cent share.”

“There is enormous opportunity for airlines in the region. While imports and exports to central Asia are a big opportunity, carriers are also well positioned to capitalise on the trade between central Asia and Europe,” highlights Hamer.

As such, to leverage these advantages, SF Express has launched an allnew direct air freight route to the capital city of one of Asia’s largest economy to fully penetrate the Indian market and provide comprehensive cross-border logistics coverage.

LAST

POINT

DELIV

ERY

CargoConnect march 2020 | 51

special feature

Tahir Qadir Afghanistan Envoy

We have got many trade relationships with India. The biggest one I can name is the free air corridor. We export fresh food, saffron, carpets and many other things to India. Chabahar is another milestone for connecting Afghanistan to India.

The airline launched SF Express India in May 2019 to cater for the market. The company primarily provides Economy Express (Inter nat ional) and Cargo Freight services between India and China.

The latest Shenzhen–New Delhi direct route is a crucial milestone as SF Express continues to enhance its South Asian air freight network,” the company said. In 2019, SF Express added eight international routes, all operated by SF Airlines’ all-cargo aircraft.

As such, its global coverage has ex-

panded from Southeast Asia to Central Asia and Europe, forming its global cargo aviation network.

It is actually the result of the successful air corridor program inaugurated three years back that Afghanistan and India have built a strong foundation for multifaceted strategic partnership. The deepening relation of the two nations for economic development, capacity building programmes, investments, and joint effort has enhanced the shared goals of both the countries and contributed in supporting Afghanistan to emerge as a prosp e r o u s c o u nt r y.

Through this exhiForm – IV bition more than 70 Statement about ownership and other particulars about newspaper million US$ trade CargoConnect to be published in the first issue every year after the agreements were last day of February. signed between Af1. Place of publication: 6/31-B, Jangpura-B, New Delhi-110014 gha n a nd India n 2. Periodicity of its publication: Monthly traders.

3. Printer’s Name: Smiti Suri Besides, the In Nationality: Indian Address: 6/31-B, Jangpura-B, New Delhi-110014 dia-Afghanistan in4. Publisher’s Name: Smiti Suri ter nat ional trade Nationality: Indian a nd i nvest ment Address: 6/31-B, Jangpura-B, New Delhi-110014 show is testament to 5. Editor’s Name: Smiti Suri Nationality: Indian the enormous busi Address: 6/31-B, Jangpura-B, New Delhi-110014 ness opportunities 6. Name and the address of Individuals who own the newspaper for air freighters. and partners or shareholders holding more than one percent of ‘Passage to prosperthe total capital: Smiti Suri

Address: 6/31-B, Jangpura-B, New Delhi-110014 ity’ exhibition held I, Smiti Suri, hereby declare that the particulars given above are true in year 2018 was a to the best of my knowledge and belief. huge success with 250 m i l l ion USD Sd/trade exchanged beDate: 01/03/2020 Smiti Suri tween Afghanistan

Signature of the Publisher and India. Also, last

52 | CargoConnect march 2020

year, in September ‘Passage to Exhibiton’ convened in Mumbai showcased business and investment opportunities in Afghanistan. Afghan businesses representing the gemstone, jewelry, agriculture, home decor, fashion accessories, marble, mining, energy, and business services industries will be on hand to engage with their Indian counterparts – introducing them to Afghan products and services available for export to the Indian market. In addition, a number of Indian buyers and Afghan vendors signed nearly $292 million in pre-contract agreements.

Lauding the ties between the two countries, Tahir Qadir, Afghanistan Envoy asserted that imagining India and Afghanistan without each other is impossible. The relationship has always been cherished and it goes deep, from cultural relationship to trade relationship and from people to people connect.

“We have got many trade relationships with India. The biggest one I can name is the free air corridor. We export fresh food, saffron, carpets and many other things to India. Chabahar is another milestone for connecting Afghanistan to India,” adds Qadir.

Epilogue

India remains committed to establish strong trade links and has explored all the possible opportunities to engage the Central Asian region as a whole either by bilateral ties or as a mechanism that includes other external powers.

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 special feature

Unleashing the

power of data in air cargo processes

54 | CargoConnect march 2020

Using the best and most suitable technology will ensure the entire air cargo supply chain is connected, and thus adaptable and flexible. Besides, thanks to modern technology, data can be synchronised and air cargo analytics can be evaluated to find problems and take action.

However, to truly optimise the entire process, both quality analytics and great decision-making is required. Hence, those that can dig through all the data provided, and create actionable plans, are going to win out in the long run.

Upamanyu Borah

F

edEx, the world’s largest cargo airline, shipped almost 18 billion freight tonne kilometers (FTK) in 2018. Now that’s a lot of weight.

Simply put, air cargo is one of the quickest and most used ways of transporting goods from one part of the world to another, or in general, warehouse to customer, and its efficiency is crucial to the success of the global economy. Now this can be happen only when there is adequate transparency and coordination between stakeholders, enabling seamless cargo movement in the supply chain.

But it is unclear whether the industry is ready to embrace technology and take the necessary steps to eradicate the problem.

Addressing traditional logistics issues

Big data and digitisation are two of the big topics that the air cargo industry is currently grappling with. The air cargo industry has been moving increasingly into the digital realm over the past recent years, yet it is often accused of being too slow in adopting new technologies that can automate the exchange of information between the various players in the supply chain, which in turn creates efficiencies and speeds up the handling of cargo.

When asked, Narayanankutty Karayangal, Senior Director– Airfreight, DHL Global Forwarding India says, “The strength of the industry itself is a barrier,” adding that airfreight connects

trade across almost all the stations in all the countries across all the continents and, to achieve this, the industry depends upon several stakeholders, from the trucking industry, airports, customs, freight forwarders to buyers and sellers to other regulatory bodies.

“Getting a common platform or understanding across all these industries and regulatory bodies spread across the world is a huge challenge. That said, all stakeholders have a common vision to bridge their individual information to the other on the pre and post-carriage activities. This vision from Cargo iQ IATA, etc., puts us on the path of removing the barriers,” continues Karayangal.

Echoing a similar sentiment, S Senthilnathan, Group CEO and MD at EFL (Expo Freight) India says, “Orchestrating the many elements (truckers, ground handlers, airlines, forwarders and shippers) has been a constant challenge, the workflow that governs these interactions between multiple parties is still largely manual and characterised by excessive documentation.”

“The ability to synergise and standardise these workflows while creating a steady and reliable flow of goods and data has been the largest barrier to digital adoption in the air cargo industry,” maintains Senthilnathan.

Like a lot of other industries, air freight forwarding is starting to reduce the use of paper and printed materials.

The arrival of apps and software for freight forwarders, that allows everything from invoicing to freight tracking CargoConnect march 2020 | 55

special feature

Airfreight connects trade across almost all the stations in all the countries across all the continents. To achieve this, the industry depends upon several stakeholders, from trucking industry, airports, customs, freight forwarders, buyers and sellers to other regulatory bodies. This strength of the industry itself can be a barrier.

Narayanankutty Karayangal Senior Director – Airfreight, DHL Global Forwarding India

to be done digitally, means that a paperless future is a possibility. Huned Gandhi, Managing Director, Air & Sea Logistics- Indian Subcontinent at Dachser also strongly agrees to it. “Air freight cargo has evolved a lot since the paper intensive days. The industry has made rapid progress in the last few years. eAir Waybill (e-AWB), Forwarder’s Waybill/FIATA Waybill/Non-Negotiable FIATA Multimodal Transport Waybill (FWB), House Air Waybill (HAWB), Automated Manifest System (AMS), Entry summary Declaration (ENS) are all steps taken in the right direction to automate the exchange of information.”

Most common barriers as any industry, Gandhi says, are general reluctance for change, intensive investments and training costs but the industry is well past this stage and is adopting new technologies rapidly.

While many freight forwarders have been using digital methods like e-AWB for years, online registration is currently only offered by around 60 per cent of the forwarders, online quotes are rarely given, and the ability to manage shipments online is also still in need of development for a lot of forwarders.

Today, in India, there are as many as 10,000 forwarders operating in the

country, and the vast majority use little more than spreadsheets and email, if that. That lack of reliance on modern logistics systems is due to a number of factors- small margins, a reluctance to spend on non-core overhead, and a feeling that tech might get in the way of their relationship-focussed businesses.

On the other end of that fragmentation are shippers in India, who suffer from a lack of reliable data to make informed decisions on procurement and in-transit cargo movements. Because those service providers are not basing their operations on systems, shippers are often at the mercy of obsolete pricing and inaccurate cargo status. Well, that’s a critical issue.

Sam Katgara, Partner, Jeena & Company says that between the many big and small-sized players, the smaller ones are not fully computerised.

“They buy software to address minimum requirements such as creating e-AWB, printing e-AWB, CSR, etc.

Most of the other things are updated manually. For the benefit, or on behalf of these small-sized players, even the stakeholders are not willing to provide or suggest steps at the higher level or to the decision makers.”

According to a survey conducted by logisTIcs, a global logistics research and consulting partner, while 68% of respondents believe that traditional freight forwarders remain relevant in today’s environment, a massive 92% of respondents indicate that digitisation will add value for freight forwarders.

56 | CargoConnect march 2020

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special feature Digital beyond paper

Visibility offers a degree of agility previously unknown.

It has given rise to agile new business models such as ‘trend based demand planning’ and ‘demand based inventory management’. Demand planners can now plan product lines based on current and projected market demand while committing to supply chain costs such as raw material and freight based on market movement.

S Senthilnathan Group CEO and MD, EFL (Expo Freight) India

58 | CargoConnect march 2020

Businesses operating within the air cargo world need to collaborate so that data can be easily shared and common problems such as a delayed delivery can be easily and promptly handled.

This will guarantee seamless supply chain function, from initial warehousing to last-mile delivery.

As such, one area of improvement is the level of visibility of shipments that the air cargo industry should provide to customers. This can only happen by bringing in all data from each step of the shipping process into one single platform.

As Katgara rightly says, “The industry should force all players to come into a common platform so as to connect to all stakeholders for exchanging data. This will give a complete working visibility and help in data exchange.”

Not to question, freight forwarders today are working together to continuously improve the value of airfreight for customers and expanding their solutions portfolio. The international provider of air, sea and road freight services- DHL Global Forwarding’s vision statement of providing excellence in the digital world itself speaks of the direction the company is taking. The new digital tools introduced by the company are already showing some great results with near real-time visibility to its customers who are active on the DHL Interactive portal.

Besides, for temperature-controlled cargo, customers can gain visibility of up to 45 timestamps during the shipment’s journey. This also enables DHL Global Forwarding’s customers to get a visibility of the ambient temperature in which the freight is transiting, which is very useful to them if data loggers malfunction, at times.

Similarly, leading supply chain management company EFL has invested in its own operating system and has standardised its workflows to ensure a single standard of service globally. The company has also invested in considerable middle wear applications that ensure seamless integration via Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and Application Program Interface (API) to help generate, share and own information close to real-time as possible. This allows them to offer a level of visibility required to keep up with the pace of

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special feature

Raw data needs to translate into information in order to make inferences and enable actions, while well-informed decisions and timely steering them is greatly facilitated by the right tools. Dachser’s in-house systems have inbuilt quality dashboards and Management Information Systems (MIS) tools which help the relevant staff to get real time information in properly crafted format.

Huned Gandhi

Managing Director, Air & Sea Logistics- Indian Subcontinent, Dachser

global trade. The EFL tech team is also at hand to build custom integration and tracking solutions, if the need arise.

More than 700 people working for IT system worldwide gives Dachser a cutting edge to provide the most secure and reliable logistic solutions to its customers.

Over the past decades, Dachser who is actve in 44 countries has invested in technologies like (EDI) and barcoding which are today established standards in the company’s core business. At the same time, the company’s robust IT environment is a solid base for maintaining data security for its customers.

According to Gandhi, “When it comes to services, we are constantly extending air freight connections between key economic areas of the world which is important in today’s volatile times. The introduction of our worldwide transport management system ‘Othello’ sets new

Businesses operating within the air cargo world need to collaborate so that data can be easily shared and common problems such as a delayed delivery can be easily and promptly handled.

standards in terms of offering integration and visibility.”

So far, Dachser India has rolled out Othello, the company’s transport management system, throughout its fifteen branch offices in India, as of December 2019.

For Jeena And Company, the largest Indian freight forwarder in the global market, running a complete end-to-end system which enable real-time back-end operations, operations planning and reporting capabilities has helped meet the standards of service delivery in a digitally influenced forwarding market.

Bringing in all the data

Increased transparency is important to shippers as it enables them to improve planning. It also allows companies to reduce the need for buffer stock, which in turn reduces the cost of the supply chain.

Increased transparency, gives reliability and predictability to organisations, affirms Karayangal. “The cascading effect of this is that businesses are able to manage their inventory by bringing in goods only when they are needed to increase efficiency and at the same time reduce inventory investment, space, and wastage.”

Traditional air-freight forwarders face increased pressure from three directions digitise.

Digital forwarding specialists offering solutions for 1 or 2 elements of value chain  Information/booking platforms provide price and market transparency.  Data-based services (eg. track and trace) provide transparency throughtout the value chain.

Digitisation of traditional forwarders Digitisation of all frontand back-end valuechain processes (core business and value-added services)

Digital forwarders providing relatively wide range of services  Automated processes cut intermediary costs.  Increased market transparency for customers cuts prices once breakpoint volumes has been reached.

60 | CargoConnect march 2020

Carriers using digital technologies to win some smaller customers from forwarders  Digitisation cuts cost to serve.  Automated processes enable proactive, individualised customer service.

McKinsey&Company

special feature

Karayangal believes information is only valuable when it is used productively. “For example, we have customers in the life sciences and healthcare sector who rely on accurate timestamps for updates to medical practitioners who are waiting for time-critical shipments.

Others use our customised visibility tools to give internal forecasts to their commercial organisations.”

Senthilnathan couldn’t agree more.

“Visibility offers a degree of agility previously unknown. It has given rise to agile new business models such as ‘trend based demand planning’ and ‘demand based inventory management’.

Demand planners can now plan product lines based on current and projected market demand while committing to supply chain costs such as raw material and freight based on market movement. This not only leads to a reduction in working capital cost but also optimising revenue based on speed to market.”

Although transparency is important, sometimes companies can demand too much information for the sake of it.

“This is absolutely true, and we don’t consider such requests from our customers as demanding,” remarks Gandhi. Dachser works closely with its

customers to design the best solutions for improving the transit times thereby helping them achieve lower inventory costs. “Our air consolidation products to/from major global markets give them a higher reliability factor in terms of transit time,” says Gandhi.

Handling agents sign SLAs with airlines to ensure goods are ready for carriage four hours after the aircraft has touched down, but then the pallets sit in a warehouse for two days as they are not yet needed. Therefore, cargo handlers need to agree on basic key performance indicators, which are measurable in real-time and where the customer can see online how we have been performing. Data can help air cargo companies reduce their own costs by taking waste out of their own processes.

first step, commitment needs to be displayed by the stake holders by providing adequate infrastructure, labour, material equipment and documented processes for their functioning to be seamless. “The performance needs to be analysed periodically and improvement or sustainable actions must be taken.”

Accessing all the data

Another common hassle is data disconnect across various steps in air freight shipments. Data is housed in different formats and structures, which limits access for all involved parties. This can make it difficult to get the full picture of what’s going on, and thus make it nearly impossible to utilise analytics to its utmost potential.

Cloud-based systems could be used to reduce data input resource, because this will bridge application silos and make it easier to provide stakeholders with information in real-time. For companies, one of the challenges faced when creating cloudbased systems was the concern that they could be giving away valuable information. But there’s much more to gain on the airline side or with the partners by removing paper work and for this, smart

Data can help air cargo companies reduce their own costs by taking waste out of their own processes.

Karayangal says that although contracts and SLAs are commitments to implement and execute the understandings in its true spirit and that this is the

How a blockchain works?

4

1

A wants to send money to B

2

The transaction is represented online as a 'block'

3

The block is broadcast to every party in the network

Those in the network approve the transaction is valid

5

The block then can be added to the chain, which provides an indelible and transparent record of transactions

6

The money moves from A to B

CargoConnect march 2020 | 61

special feature

We work on cloud-based systems. We have open API standards interfaced with various partners across the globe. Our digital solutions working involve mobility, data analytics, portal technologies, AI and Blockchain. We also have tools like Business Object and Tableau which helps in producing various types of analytical reports.

Sam Katgara

Partner, Jeena & Company

data sharing is extremely important.

“An integrated system improves accuracy,” says Gandhi, adding that they can transfer information between programs or systems thereby removing the need of multiple entries of the same data, which in turn reduces duplication, saves time and aids to achieving efficiency and quality.

Dachser’s fully integrated IT systems are one such example; throughout the entire transportation process, shipments can be tracked in real time that allows all players and most importantly, the customers, to better plan these shipments and to map the physical movement of goods in a digitally driven world.

Karayangal feels the same. “The information residing on a shipper’s invoice and packing list is the one that gets reproduced on to several documents like shipping bill, a letter of credit, and trans-

portation documents such as bill of entry, E-Waybill, certificate of origin, etc.

Electronic data interchange (EDI), Application programming interfaces (APIs), Robotic process automation (RPA), shared platforms, etc. are some of the tools that may be considered to lessen the

Cloud-based systems could be used to reduce data input resource. this will bridge application silos and provide stakeholders with information in real-time. burden of manual reproduction of this information at different stages. This also ensures that updates are made available to all stakeholders at the same time,” explains Karayangal.

Everybody needs to own their own data, but they also need to share the data when it’s necessary through a defined route.

“This is one area where smart contracts based on a distributed ledger can add significant value. Information once entered can be tokenised and then made available over a secure network to participants in the network as and when needed,” observes Senthilnathan.

“Companies can also participate in an industry specific data exchange and share data and integrations based on rules that govern common transactions and activities,” suggests Senthilnathan.

However, Senthilnathan believes that getting to this step will not be easy, as it will require all actors in the air cargo ecosystem to first adopt a robust data discipline to first structure the capture, store and share the information.

EFL has invested in its own data lake and is integrating with external sources of data to maintain a holistic and data driven view of the world around us.

Katgara says, “If systems talk to each other without manual intervention, it will be easier to access information, as well as facilitating realtime data sharing with each stakeholder. With it suggested, real-time data sharing through Blockchain technology in a fully-secured environment will bring a new dimension in eWorking.”

Jeena works on cloud-based systems.

The company has open API standards interfaced with various partners across the globe. Jeena’s digital solutions working involve mobility, data analytics, portal technologies, AI and Blockchain.

Respond quickly using analytics

If a company encounters challenges in the supply chain, having real-time and unified data will be useful. That’s because they’ll have the technology and big data management capabilities to address that tough question and provide a quick solution. But just having the tools and the information is not enough, one needs to have a quality analytics strategy that is able to accurately describe, predict, and prescript.

“Raw data needs to translate into 62 | CargoConnect march 2020

information in order to make inferences and enable actions, while well-informed decisions and timely steering them is greatly facilitated by the right tools,” says Gandhi. Dachser’s in-house systems have inbuilt quality dashboards and Management Information Systems (MIS) tools which help the relevant staff to get real time information in properly crafted format.

Recog n isi ng t he c ha l lenge of achieving better visibility of supply chain risks, DHL’s innovative product ‘Resilience360’ uses business intelligence and predictive, prescriptive analytics to provide customers with risk intelligence and 24/7 updates, thus keeping them informed and ready to take action to lessen negative impacts from disruptions.

Similarly, the EFL analytics team employs a hybrid approach of using time-tested data science techniques coupled with the tacit knowledge of its people who benefit from over 35 years of explicit knowledge in freight and logistics operations. Sent-

hilnatha asserts, “Our approach is to blend seasoned operational analyst with data science so that we are better able to connect the dots across the prescriptive and predictive analytics we employ. We analyse all aspects of our business, from operations, procurement to our impact on the environment and aim to ensure every decision taken is data-driven but connected to the right context.”

For Jeena, like the rest, data analytics combined with data science is the strategy. The company has tools like

Forwarders need to have a quality analytics strategy that is able to accurately describe, predict, and prescript.

Business Object and Tableau which helps in producing various types of analytical reports. “With an internal data analytics team aligned to our working, we are able to feed in the right

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Going forward, Katgara says, realtime data analysis and predictive planning is the way.

Never be settled

Harnessing the power of air cargo analytics to master the supply chain is not a set-in-stone process. It requires staying up-to-date in terms of technology and data, using analytics effectively to connect the pieces and facilitate decisions, and always being prepared to respond and adapt.

More than ever, now is the time air cargo supply chains need to be nimble, as competition is fierce. To do so, cargo carriers need to make use of the technology that has arrived with Industry 4.0. From Drones and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to the Internet of Things (IoT), disruptive technology is arriving everywhere in the logistics world, and those that don’t use it will be left in the dust.

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CargoConnect march 2020 | 63

infrastructure

A hope of revival in the broader economy

L

ate in January, the government released the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP), a detailed sector-by-sector study and compilation of infrastructure projects up to FY25.

The release of the report and the headline number of investments of `102 lakh crore generated a lot of excitement. An erroneous impression was created in some quarters that these are all new investments and that more than `100 lakh crore was going to be spent on new projects in the next five years. That’s clearly not the case at all as a detailed study of the government press release makes clear.

About 42 per cent of the projects in the NIP are under implementation, which means construction work is already going on. Another 19 per cent is under a development stage, while a big 31 per cent is still in the conceptual stage. Some projects may not see the light of day, or may be junked, or postponed to beyond 2025.

No, the big news in infrastructure is not the NIP, which is a good, comprehensive and transparent document of intent and progress. The big news has been in the making for the last 18 months or so, both in terms of policies and implementation.

Take a look:

1) Privatisation of airports is gathering pace. Six airports have

already been privatised and civil aviation minister Hardeep Puri is on record saying that privatisation of six more will be done soon. The Zurich International Airport has just won the bid to build a brand new airport for Delhi, while working on a spanking new airport for Mumbai is going on.

2) Big changes in city gas distribution. Indian Oil Corporation, Ada-

ni Gas, HPCL have won bids to distribute compressed natural gas to automobile owners and piped gas to households in a majority of cities. The 10th round of city gas distribution bids will cover 55-60 per cent of Indian cities. “It appears that economist analysts are missing the retail gas revolution set to

66 | CargoConnect march 2020

sweep the country,” infra expert Vinayak Chatterjee of Feedback Infra said in a Twitter post on December 20. He estimates an investment of `4 lakh crore in pipelines and support infrastructure.

3) The Mumbai-Nagpur super expressway received full funding from

banks of `28,000 crore and work is going on. Much of the infrastructure for Mumbai, estimated to top `1 lakh crore, is also going on despite change in the government. Some projects should also get completed by the end of this year.

4) Indian Railways’ plan to allow private train operators on nearly 150 routes and the freeing up of coal mining completely for the private sector is another bold move that could galvanise private investment in these areas.

Of course, a lot depends on terms and conditions set by the government, especially in private train operations, and easy funding options for debtweary private sector companies would be crucial. But no one can deny that these are important reforms.

Banks have been shying away from infra funding and it is very difficult to blame them given all that’s happened in the past few years. But a new set of investors and financiers have appeared on the horizon in the form of JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency), Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, our very own National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) can help bridge the shortfall created by banks’ reluctance and the absence of a vibrant bond market.

Problems remain and challenges abound. Especially in a country where much of decision-making on these issues is mired in petty politics and depressing red-tapism. An infra boom is not guaranteed and nor is it going to be easy. But the building blocks are being put in place and the country should see much better infrastructure creation in the next 5-10 years than in the past decade.

technology

ways cloud technology Is changing the game for Supply Chain Management

68 | CargoConnect march 2020

1

Advancement in Analytics Capabilities

Previously, analysis of data gathering required both a data entry clerk and a person to conduct data analysis. The cloud, in conjunction with the Internet of Things, has enabled rapid collection of data from various resources and analysis of this data. As a result, businesses can eradicate these former “human” positions in favor a service that performs the same results one an exponentially faster scale. Ultimately, this allows the business to make better decisions for how daily activities behave.

2

Integration of Multiple Platforms

As more businesses have accessed supply chain management providers, a great deal of platforms have been created to facilitate this change. Unfortunately, many of these platforms do not coexist well with one another. The use of cloud technology enables multiple platforms to work with one another through a series of standardised protocols. Therefore, the previously existing digital boundaries between rapid communication and order fulfilment become nonexistent. An example of such binding technology is FlashTrac, Flash Global’s proprietary supply chain management integration system.

3

Removal of Geographic and Political Boundaries

In close relation to integration of systems, cloud technologies remove physical and political boundaries from the supply chain management perspective. Since many cloud hosts rely on common practices for accessing, storage, and retrieval of cloud data, the same information may be altered from any place on the globe. Furthermore, cloud technology allows for the dissolution of political debates between business practices; although, the rules of governing entities may have the capacity to limit Internet access, such as was seen in Egypt in past years.

4

Enhanced Security Measures

5

Increased IT Capabilities

Since cloud hosts have to abide by strict government and public perception standards for maintaining privacy, such as medical and financial data, cloud technology brings state-of-the-art security measures and practices to the forefront of supply chain management. Interconnectedness allows for massive security monitoring and implementation across all cloud-based digital planes while still maintaining communication and enhancing the flow of business practices.

Agreements with cloud providers allow supply chain management providers to eradicate the need for extensive inhouse IT departments; although, some minimal in-house IT departments are usually retained for in-house physical IT needs. When in the business of using digital resources, such as those used for e-commerce, a business needs to ensure customers can resolve problems with their system at virtually any time.

Therefore, most cloud hosts offer 24/7 support for those using their services, which can be rerouted to correcting issues with your customers without your input if you prefer.

6

Adjusting to Market Volatility

US manufacturing is no stranger to the damaging effects of market volatility. Less than a decade ago, the US saw the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression, and supply chain management providers must always be wary of how resources will be used in the event of a collapse. The use of cloud technology provides a buffer against market volatility. Essentially, partnerships between a supply chain management provider and a cloud host are subject to renegotiation, or even cancelation, if the market suddenly declines. As a result, the supply chain entity is able to minimise associated costs with the collapse and maintain service at competitive rates.

7

Increased Scalability Abilities

Since cloud technology in-

sulates supply chain management providers from market volatility, it can also be used to achieve rapid scalability. As a budding business begins to experience higher demand for product, the respective supply chain management provider may need to increase production by factors of five, 10, or more. With each additional order comes the strain of extra bandwidth and processing capability, which cloud technology provides. Within minutes, a supply chain management provider can extend the terms, or services, with the respective cloud host to account for the instant growth in capability. Furthermore, the use of cloudbased analytics allows businesses to isolate key inefficiencies within the order fulfillment process, which will further grow the respective business.

8

Cost Reduction

T he g reatest benef it of cloud technology on supply chain management providers is reduced operational costs. Throughout the supply chain, cloud tech nolog y can reduce t he amount of workers needed to perform specific tasks. For example, the cloud could be used to automatically generate a report of needed product at a specific warehouse, trigger the respective shipment, and account for the product when received at the destination. As a result of minimising human-input within the order processing, those employees may be then reassigned to other physical aspects of the supply chain. Additionally, supply chain management providers reap the benefits of lower security, IT, data analysis, and more.

Conclusion

The role of the cloud in today’s supply chain is becoming more and more important as companies recognise its efficiency. With the development of the cloud, companies now have quicker and more efficient data access to their supply chains. Businesses of all sizes can benefit immediately by upgrading from a localised supply chain management service model to the cloud which makes them free of repetitive, mindnumbing tasks. Employees are finally able to really focus on increasing company profits and enjoy peace of mind about the operation of their supply chains.

CargoConnect march 2020 | 69

i n terv i e w

International Maritime Organisation (IMO) is an avant grade forum of United Nations which has been in the vanguard of setting global standards for the safety, security and environmental performance of international shipping for more than seventy years. Kitack Lim, Secretary General, IMO articulates in an exclusive interview with Saurabh Sharma about their security policies, sulphur fuel mandate, India’s accession to the ship recycling treaty and organisation’s efforts towards UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

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rief us about the structure of International Maritime Organisation (IMO) along with its role and responsibilities to regulate global shipping operations.

Since its inception more than 70 years ago, IMO member states have adopted over 50 international instruments covering all aspects of international shipping– including ship design, construction, equipment, crewing, navigation, operation and disposal. IMO has adopted a suite of environmental regulations to prevent pollution from ships, as well as technical cooperation programme other regulations which address maritime security and work for more efficiency in shipping.

Adopted in 1965, IMO’s Convention on Facilitation of International Maritime Traffic (FAL Convention) is a key treaty which helps to make cross-border trade simpler and the logistics chain more efficient, by standardising and simplifying formalities, documentary requirements and procedures on ships’ arrival, stay and departure. In April 2019, an important new requirement entered into force under the Facilitations Convention, making it mandatory for national governments to in70 | CargoConnect march 2020

Determined to make shipping more integrated and efficient part of global supply chain troduce electronic information exchange between ships and ports. The Facilitation Convention encourages use of a ‘single window’ for data, to enable all the information required by public authorities in connection with the arrival, stay and departure of ships, persons and cargo to be submitted via a single portal, without duplication.

I am keen to strengthen our work to make shipping a more integrated and more efficient part of the global supply chain.

In what manner IMO is working towards 2030 agenda for sustainable development in association with UN’s SDGs? IMO is working towards UN’s 2030 agenda and its 17 sustainable development goals through continuing its longstanding work in developing regulation for safe, secure and sustainable shipping – and through technical cooperation and capacity building programmes to ensure all member states have the ability to implement those regulations effective-

ly. IMO is executing a number of global programmes which will support capacity building in the states to combat climate change, prevent invasive aquatic species and address marine plastic litter.

The adoption of the Polar Code is yet another move in IMO’s involvement with the Global Partnership on Marine Litter (GPML) and the development of IMO’s own action plan on marine plastic litter. Special protection is given to particularly sensitive sea areas and the financial compensation regimes established for pollution victims.

Recently, India acceded to the ship recycling treaty, bringing the IMO Hong Kong Convention a step closer to enter into force.

Kindly elaborate us on the terms of the treaty.

I am very pleased that India has acceded to the IMO ship recycling treaty, and I would like to express my thanks to the Indian government. This is a major step in the process to ensure the entering into force of the Hong Kong Convention. I am sure this will inspire other countries becoming party in the near future.

Under the Hong Kong Convention, ships sent for recycling are required to carry an inventory of all hazardous materials on board. Ship recycling facilities are required to provide a ‘Ship Recycling Plan’, specifying how each ship will be recycled, based on its particular characteristics and its inventory of hazardous materials.

Currently, 15 parties are agreeing to the treaty namely Belgium, Congo, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Ghana, India, Japan, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Panama, Serbia and Turkey.

The top five ship recycling countries in the world are Bangladesh, China, India, Pakistan and Turkey, and they account for more than 98 per cent of all ship recycling by gross tonnage3.

What are the speculations regarding the use of low sulphur fuel mandate promulgated by IMO 2020? Are they justified at any degree in terms of unavailability of fuel?

Since January 1, 2020, the global limit on the sulphur content of ships’ fuel oil has been reduced to 0.5 per cent from 3.5 per cent (under t he so-called ‘IMO 2020’ regulation). This is significantly reducing the amount of sulphur

oxide emanating from ships and will have major health and environmental benefits, particularly for people living close to ports and coasts.

Information from various sources has indicated a relatively smooth transition to the 0.50 per cent sulphur limit.

Prices for compliant fuels– Very-Low Sulphur Fuel Oil (VLSFO) and Marine Gas Oil (MGO) rose quickly initially but now appear to be stabilising. The next important target is fast approaching, when carrying non-compliant fuel oil on board ships becomes prohibited on March 1, 2020. I urge all shipowners, operators and masters to comply with the carriage ban, where applicable, when it comes into effect. IMO will remain vigilant and ready to respond and provide any support.

IMO is working towards UN’s 2030 agenda and its 17 sustainable development goals through continuing its long-standing work in developing regulation for safe, secure and sustainable shipping.

How do you leverage technology in order to digitise the information exchange, tracking and navigation among the ships?

Fully autonomous ports and semi-autonomous ships are already close to becoming a reality in some countries. As such, IMO is currently working on a comprehensive scoping exercise into Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS), looking into how safe, secure and environmentally sound their operations may be covered in IMO instruments.

As mentioned earlier, in April 2019, an important new requirement entered into force under the Facilitation Convention, making it mandatory for national governments to introduce electronic information exchange between ships and ports, preferably using a single window.

Enlighten us about the recent policies implemented for the security of cargo ships.

International Ship and Port Facility

Security Code (ISPS) has been instrumental in addressing vulnerabilities in the global maritime industry, helping to secure ships on international voyages, and the port facilities which serve them, from acts of terrorism. The ISPS Code also helps to mitigate maritime crime and piracy. The code is based on proven principles of risk management and its measures can be adapted to counter new and emerging threats such as cyber risks.

One of these programmes is our internationally recognised programme of maritime security training. This includes both practical and ‘desktop’ training to enhance countries’ capacity to implement maritime security provisions.

The focus is on preventative security measures, which can detect vulnerabilities and deter incidents from happening.

We target training at both the national government and port facility levels.

We also assist countries in developing national maritime security legislation and policies to raise the importance of maritime security in the national context, and to ensure clarity of roles and responsibilities among agencies and the best use of a country’s enforcement resources. Besides, IMO also works with member states to develop their capacity to prevent and counter threats to port and maritime security through improved implementation of the international maritime security instruments and guidance.

Although we can never lessen our vigilance, and as hostile threats develop, we will also continue to develop our security programmes to meet the evolving threats. When it comes to piracy and armed robbery against ships, the overall number of incidents of piracy and armed robbery worldwide reported to IMO continues to decrease, with only 189 incidents reported in 2019.

At the same time, while piracy and armed robbery off the coast of East Africa has reduced substantially, primarily due to the presence of naval forces in the region, armed security personnel where appropriate, co-operation by Djibouti Code of Conduct States and best management practice by the shipping industry, it has been repressed rather than eliminated. Piracy also remains a problem in the South China Sea, Straits of Malacca and the Sulu and Celebes Sea areas.

CargoConnect march 2020 | 71

Govt should develop rail connectivity at West and East Konkan region

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hat were the major developments at Angré Port in the last two years?

Our state-of-the-art port has been designed with facilities to provide efficient material handling, storage and dispatch. We have continued to invest in our infrastructure, across warehouses for enhanced and more economical storage capacity, storage yards, roads, weighbridges, cargo handling equipment, and our own fleet of trucks for reliable movement of cargo, both within the port as well as servicing the last mile delivery to our clients. We are the only private all-weather port in Maharashtra.

Our strategic location distinguishes us as one of the few true all-weather ports

Commencing operations in 2019, Angré Port (Ratnagiri) efficiently handles approximately 500,000 tonnes of cargo annually. The variety of cargo ranges from bulk, breakbulk, liquid, and project cargo. Capt Sandeep Gupta, Head of Port Operations at Angré Port in an extensive interview with Ritika Arora Bhola informs on the major developments at the port in the last two years, key priorities and goals, upcoming projects, technological innovations, and expectations from the government. Excerpts: on the West Coast. Our unique location offers natural break waters in the form of hills on three sides enabling tranquil waters even during the peak of the south west monsoon season.

Our USP at Angré Port is that we offer integrated logistics services to our clients; acting as a single point of contact for their end-to-end logistics needs. In addition to the regular port services at Angré, this includes managing transportation, storage and cargo operations at third party ports, chartering of vessels for coastal cargo movement, and finally ensuring delivery or pickup within a guaranteed lead time of the required quantity to an operational client location, thereby eliminating client storage needs.

72 | CargoConnect march 2020

What are the key upcoming projects at Angré Port? What will be the likely capacity addition and investment?

From being fully dependent on the power grid as of today, we are aiming to meet more than 90 per cent of our energy requirements through solar power by the end of the year, thereby becoming a green port. We are partner-

ing with world class solar power developers to ensure the project is carried out in a safe, sustainable way to ensure that the benefits continue for the following two decades.

We have recently constructed a storage terminal for liquid cargo. This project was commissioned in record time.

From signing of the agreement with the terminal developer to the completion of

the construction and getting the first vessel,all the above activities were initiated within nine months. Angré Port is now fully equipped to import and export all kinds of non-hazardous liquids.

In addition, we are in advanced discussions with a number of potential investors to set up port-based industries in the 300 acres of backup land attached to Angré Port. This industrial, privately owned land parcel enables us to offer long leases on favourable terms, along with dedicated water and power supply, thereby bringing down production, procurement and distribution costs significantly. We are likely to have more than `60 crore of external investment in the port before the end of 2020.

What are the major issues and challenges being faced by Angré Port?

Rail transport is crucial for any port to grow the cargo mix, especially in cargoes like fertilisers that have subsidised rail freight. One of the main challenges faced by Angré Port is that the railway connectivity in the Konkan region is currently restricted to only north and south. Therefore, the connectivity for west and east of the region needs to be developed. In addition, we require a rail head closer to the Port, as the current one is 50 km away at Ratnagiri.

Our USP at Angré Port is that we offer integrated logistics services to our clients; acting as a single point of contact for their end-to-end logistics needs.

Given the challenging terrain, any endeavour to build such infrastructure will only be successful with government participation.

Solving both these issues will allow the manufacturing sectors in West and East Konkan regions to have direct access to the port for all their raw material and finished product transportation needs, which would currently be

travelling via another, more expensive route to their factories. Thereby, their costs will come down significantly and this would also aid in the holistic development of the region.

What are Angré Port’s key priorities and goals for the next two to three years?

We are keen to enhance throughput at the port in line with the capacity created.

This will be achieved via two strategies: Firstly, we will continue to create innovative logistics solutions for our clients, offering not only best in class port services, but also hassle-free end-to-end logistics services under a single roof.

Secondly, we will utilise our backup land parcels for industries willing to set up port base that have a requirement for cargo movement either for their raw materials or their finished products. In the upcoming financial year, we are targeting to double our annual cargo handled to 1 million tonnes, from the half a million we are handling currently, simply by leveraging these strategies.

Technology is said to be the game changer in the ports sector. As such, what are latest technological innovations at Angré port?

Technology is changing the traditional way of operations in most industries, not just ports. At Angré Port we have digitised the end-to-end workflow of cargo movement into and out of the port, thereby eliminating all internal paperwork associated with this process. We have accomplished this by developing a cloud-based app, customised to our requirements.

We have already commenced Phase II of this digitisation process, which involves synchronising the system with our weighbridges, boom barriers, etc. to eliminate any manual entries in the system to the extent possible, thereby, improving user experience and data accuracy.

Please elaborate on the multimodal connectivity at the port.

What are the steps taken to ensure efficient cargo transportation, loading and unloading at the port?

In order to enhance the outflow of cargo, we have setup an in-house truck fleet that enables evacuating cargo from the jetty as well as from the port to the

different destinations. Moreover, our ground logistics team works every day with our clients to offer them assistance with outside transport services. All of this has ensured that clients have a hassle-free cargo handling experience at Angré Port.

For the sea-based evacuation route, we have entered into a long-term agreement with a few key barge owners on the west coast. This enables cargo to be loaded on vessels at short notice and transported anywhere in the west coast for rates that are often lower than the market.

Kindly elaborate on the infrastructure to handle bulk, breakbulk, liquid and containerised cargo.

Our state-of-the-art infrastructure includes:  Waterfront of 1600m  Berthing length of 700m  Dedicated liquid cargo berth  10.5m draft along channel and 12m draft in turning circle and berth  Specialised storage for containers, dry bulk and liquid bulk  Material handling equipment for all types of cargo  Large back up area under possession.

What are yur expectations from the government for development at ports?

The Government has shown real intent towards bringing down overall logistics costs by enhancing the use of the country’s waterways. However, while coastal movement takes care of the longdistance port to port movement in the supply chain, robust first and last mile systems are required in the form of Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFCs). In the Konkan region, for example, DFCs that connect west to east are the need of the hour.

Additionally, having wide and smooth roads, especially in the mountainous sections that are common in our area would reduce logistics costs for all players in the region.

Lastly, creating a port led industrial zone which has concessional water supply, power supply, as well as land availability and perhaps even low interest rate funding for capex would really accelerate development in the Konkan region.

CargoConnect march 2020 | 73

When digital meets physical, it creates value Best Practices

Best Practices in the supply chain leads to growth and prosperity.

However, often the result of all this myopic thinking is that these firms trap themselves into being defined as a commodity product provider where price is the key differentiator with competition. Emerging trends have been noticed in the:  Direct-to-market (D2M) channel, and  E-commerce sector While best practices lead to:  Increased inventory velocity.  Implementation of lean logistics/ supply chain management  Improved supplier performance.  Compressed cycle times  Maximised inventory yield  Utilised meaningful metrics

Cera Sanitaryware is engaged in the business of manufacturing, selling Warehousing strategies and trading of building As lots of tactics and strategies are available in the present scenario. products, and also offers The few that we have adopted are non-conventional wind and solar power for captive use in the State of Gujarat. The company's main product lines are Sanitaryware Faucetsware and Bathware. Gaurav Pratap Singh, Head of Logistics at CERA Sanitaryware elaborates how digital supply chains have the capability for extensive information availability and superior collaboration that result in improved reliability, agility and effectiveness.

74 | CargoConnect march 2020

in implementation phase. Those we have already implemented include automation of vehicles in and out systems to calculate the turnaround time (TAT) according to bays, barcoding, WMS and other technology integration in day-to-day operations.

Challenges with tech adoption

Adoption of technology is in itself is a challenge. It leads to changes in the work environment, modification or alteration of skills, etc.

Cost is also an important challenge. associated with technology adoption.

Companies require Return on Investment (ROI) for smooth technology adoption. If the adoption is not feasible according to the estimated cost then its implementation suffers. initiatives to configure their supply chains to meet competitive objectives.

In the world of Information and analytics, a key differentiator would be the use of smart sensors. The accelerated exchange of physical turned

Disruption within the supply chain is driving better integration across platforms, transforming industries and changing customer expectations.

digital information can exponentially increased the range of opportunities for increased performance.

Tech-enabled procurement

Automation plays a critical role in making businesses more efficient by enabling them to save time and money.

In procurement, automation helps reduce repetitive operational processes and amplifies the strategic role.

The accelerated exchange of physical turned digital information can exponentially increase the range of opportunities for increased performance.

Challenges in tech-enabled procurement in India

Whether raw material suppliers or FG suppliers, every industry has suppliers, and to maintain all the parameters of the suppliers in a traditional approach, it’s really challenging, because of the following factors:  During procurement operations, we always have to calculate 'Inventory Turnover Ratio' as it is an important factor for tech-enabled growth of procurement.  When companies find a supplier for supply of materials and resources, supplier stability emerges as a major constraint. The procurement team then has to check on the supplier's stability keeping in mind a number of parameters.  As number of procurement-related operations in the industry increase, evaluating purchases turns crucial.

 When a number of suppliers are available for any organisation, and also the quantum of number of contracts grow, technology need to be adopted for managing those contracts.

Ensuring smooth coordination

An integrated supply chain model always helps to maintain smooth coordination between all the suppliers, transporters and other departments. It also depends on how the process is transparent with integration of technology.

Scope for LSPs

With E-commerce adding to enhanced contribution to the warehousing industry in terms of goods storage and management, the role of logistics service providers are growing evermore critical. Today, the expectations of customers are too high, they want delivery of products as soon as possible. And, in India, with the customer base increasing day by day, the future of logistics service providers is getting too bright, however they have to tackle some constraints which prevail in the market.

One of the important expectations from LSPs is 'service' which if they fail to provide, the companies will lose the market share. Servicing of the products to customers will then turn out to be really challenging. Besides, LSPs have to look into festive seasons and ensure retail customers are not to be affected due to increased demand of deliveries.

Further, as servicing within the appropriate cost is really a big challenge for the industry, one key expectation from the LSP is if they can control the cost within service level excellence.

Managing back-end supply

Supply chain is a blend of logistics,

warehousing, packaging and effective communication. However, to understand the complex network of supply chain, I use my experience and what CERA Sanitaryware as an organisation strives to do is offering seamless and hassle free operations. I feel, there’s an urgent need to discuss challenges faced by the labourers in the logistics industry as they play a key role in the successful practicing of supply chain management. Therefore, it is important that there is a balance between appreciation and criticism for maintaining strong and sustainable back-end supply chain.

Next-gen supply chain

Disruption within the supply chain is driving better integration across platforms, transforming industries, and changing customer expectations.

Integrated supply chain model always helps in smooth coordination between all the suppliers, transporters and other departments. It also depends on how the process is transparent with technology integration.

As traditional, linear supply chain nodes are collapsing into a set of dynamic networks, allowing dramatically increased differentiation, companies must choose according to priority, and also constantly be thinking of new, better ways to contain costs and produce results despite challenging circumstances.

CargoConnect march 2020 | 75

guestcolumn Dr Seema Narera

General Manger, Supply Chain, TATA Starbucks

Revenue-based assessment throwing abundant opportunities FMCG supply chain scenario

The FMCG supply chain market is very intricate in India, considering that consumers are more price-sensitive and sometimes frugal. However, people also love to eat and there is palate versatility among people from various states. Therefore it’s more about getting used to customers' taste; striking a right bala nce not just i n terms of regions of origin but also health and convenience needs and When it comes to starting a quality of products is discourse on supply chain indispensable. strategies, the assertions Pr i ma r i ly, i n t he of Dr Seema Narera are FMCG sector, cost of second to none than any top end-product increases expert on logistics. Having owing to the rise of inmore than twelve years put cost when the raw of industry experience in material has to be imfortune 100 companies, to ported and global stanbeing an ardent seeker of dards are to be maineastern philosophies, she tained. Secondly, there wears many hats to claim are stakeholders that are her worth as a true leader. very niche and as such Currently, Narera holds the the cost of entry and position of General Mangerconsumer preferences Supply Chain at TATA has shifted in their faStarbucks. Here are some vour. edited excerpts from the Besides, as FMCG knowledge she imparted has been a capac it y on the FMCG supply chain dominated industry, trends in India. warehousing operations has a vital role to play.

Today, companies are keen on leveraging technology and automation which can certainly smoothen the process of tracking of products from stores to consumers, but when compared to west, who are well-adapted with automatisation and AI, we still a have long a way to go to catch up with the standards.

76 | CargoConnect march 2020

Need adequate infrastructure

In India, there are certain provisions like the adequate supply of reliable, organised cold storage, however transportation infrastructure is very much wanted. Handling and storage need different set of processes and control mechanisms due to the high sensitivity of the product. With regard to that, Indian cold chain industry has quite some distance to travel. Although, for reliability on time to connect, GPS tracking and geo-tagging are used, the food supply chain needs to be intact on time, temperature and food safety.

Collaboration: order of the time

Besides technology implementation, collaboration between the stakeholders is utmost important in order to bring down the inventory cost because keeping the many inventories for a product range will ultimately add up to the cost.

Engaging more and more 4PL players is another key trend to catch hold of as companies are moving to 4PL & 5PL service formats where the logistics provider act as an extended logistics arm of the customer and single point of contact. Today, companies involve logistics players at strategy formulation stage as well.

In such cases, the role of logistics provider is not just limited to execution but they are also largely involved in planning.

The alliance with leading food-tech delivery firms like Swiggy is ensuring that product is delivered on time without compromising on the quality of deliverables. It also helps product enter into the day-to-day lives of the customers.

So far, the logistics industry has always been measured on cost, but now as the scenario is changing, there is a shift from costbased assessment to revenue-basis which is throwing abundant opportunities before the companies to make the best out of this.

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n ews

Freight route between India and Russia via Iran to be bolstered

Budget 2020: Logistics policy will smoothen supply of Indian exports says FIEO Chairman

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harad Kumar Saraf, President, Federation of Indian Exporters Organisations, while commenting on the Union Budget 2020-21, said that initiatives to improve infrastructure and the proposed announcement of the new logistics policy will make the logistics efficient and help Indian exporters as infrastructure bottlenecks affect their supply chain.

He applauded the 16 action points by which, he believes, the Union budget has made an effort to structurally change agriculture, horticulture and pisciculture, and make India a major player in agro exports in the medium and long term basis besides simulta-

neously doubling the farmer’s income.

Saraf hopes that the Finance Minister will consider the challenging times being faced by exporters as can be seen from the lack of growth in exports in spite of various opportunities thrown up due to US-China trade war and other geopolitical issues. Prime Minister has rightly acknowledged exports as an important component of economic growth. Saraf expects some relief to exporters in the supplementary budgetary provisions that may come up during the debate on the budget including legacy dispute scheme for customs duty on the lines of direct tax disputes.

If coronavirus persists, Indian auto industry's supply chain to be negatively impacted: ICRA

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here is a possibility of supply chain disruption and negative impact on India’s automobile industry if the coronavirus outbreak in China and South-East Asia persists, says ratings agency ICRA. These countries play a critical role in automotive supply chain and domestic OEMs source critical components and sub-components including fuel injection pumps, EGR modules, electronic components, turbo chargers from

these markets which in turn directly or indirectly depend on China.

China accounts for 27 per cent of India’s auto component imports that are worth $4.8 billion and the impact is

predicted to be higher for high value-add and custom ised component s, while commoditised products could pass on to alternat ive suppliers, ICRA said in a statement.

ICRA’s Vice-President – Corporate Sector Ratings Shamsher Dewan said in a statement that there might be disruptions in India’s automotive supply chain, if the coronavirus outbreak continues to hamper manufacturing activities in China.

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new route for goods transportation between India and Russia to become a reality soon with the MoU signed between CONCOR and Joint Stock Company, Russian Railways Logistics for cooperation and collaboration in promoting intermodal transportation of cargo over the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC).

The MoU signed between the two bodies will pave a new route for the transportation of goods between the two countries via Iran. It is important to note that the new route will cut transportation time on the fact that it will avoid the route through Suez Canal, the route which is currently in order.

Non-major ports grew 4.8% during April-December'19

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argo traffic at India’s non-major ports jumped 4.8% in April-December period of the current fiscal to 447.21 million tonnes (MT), a Shipping Ministry report has said. These non-major ports had recorded cargo traffic of 426.53 MT in the April-December period of 2018-19.

During the April-December 2019-20, Directorate of Ports at Odisha recorded highest growth in traffic at 64.2% followed by Ports of Tamil Nadu Maritime Board (34.1%), Directorate of Ports, Puducherry, 27.7%) and Ports Management Board, Andaman & Nicobar Islands (25.4%).

Directorate of Ports, Karnataka, recorded a growth of 25% while Gujarat Maritime Board recorded a growth of 4.1%.

SERVICES

A World One Team 78 | CargoConnect march 2020

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n ews Cochin Shipyard launches vessels for1000 tn cargo capacity

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ochin Shipyard (CSL) launched the first of the two vessels built for the Andaman & Nicobar administration with 1000 tonne cargo and 1200 passenger capacity.

“The vessel is designed as

a modern high-quality passenger vessel with electric propulsion suitable for carrying 1200 passengers and 1000 tonnes cargo for ‘all-weather’ operation on the mainland to A&N route. The ship is built

to the highest standards of the Indian Register of Shipping and Lloyds Register of Shipping overseen by the DG Shipping of India and meets the requirements of ‘Class III Special Trade Passenger Ship’ as per Indian Merchant Shipping rules. The vessel is built in steel as a modern, safe and seaworthy vessel with aesthetic lines and pleasant profile. The speciality of this vessel is that comes with ‘Safe Return to Port’ (SRtP) compliance which is envisaged to be a ‘first ’ in Asia. The ship would not only enable safe & comfortable passenger movement but will also be a boost to the tourism sector,” says the release.

Retail opportunities at transport hubs may grow to $21.6 billion by 2030

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etail opportunities at transport hubs like airports, railways, metro, highways are expected to grow to $21.6 billion by 2030, according to a survey by property consultant Knight Frank.

According to the survey, this growth is attributable to a healthy growth in passenger traffic as well as transport infrastructure in the country.

It noted that the total retail opportunity across various transport hubs in India, such as airports, highways and bus stations, metro and railways, will grow manifold in the new decade.

Government goes after 'intermediaries' to cut logistics costs for EXIM trade

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ntermediaries in the supply chain are staring at a bleak future with the government drafting new rules seeking to regulate their pricing in a bid to cut logistics costs for exporters and importers.

A Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) targeting the non-vessel owning common car-

“India is going t h roug h a n i n f rastructure revolution.

The government’s focus on developing and modernising the transport modes including airports, railway stations, metro and highways is opening up unprecedented opportunities for the organised retail segment in the country,” Shishir Baijal, Chairman and MD, Knight Frank India said in a statement.

The survey said the current size of transit retail in India is estimated at $2.2 billion, and is expected to grow to $21.6 billion by 2030. riers (NVOCCs), freight forwarders and consolidators is being finalised.

The SOP seeks to standardise the plethora of local charges levied by these intermediaries into 10-12 heads and to levy these charges as per cost without adding any margins/profits. The intermediaries will be allowed to earn profit only on the freight head. There is also a thinking to check intermediaries from earning margins/ money even on the freight component, a government official briefed on the plan said.

Budget 2020: Stocks of logistics companies rose up to 3.97% after `1.7 lakh crore allocation

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tocks of seven important transport companies rose on February 1 after Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget 2020-21 by allocating `1.7 lakh crore for building

transport infrastructure.

“IRCTC (up 3.97%), Rites (up 3.35%), Interglobe Aviation (up 2.84%), NELCO (up 2.97%), Siemens (up 1.58%), Container Corporation of India (up 1.47%), Larsen & Toubro (up 0.34%) and BEML (up 0.34%) edged higher,” says a report.

The budget has also allocated `19.6 lakh crore for roads, `13.69 lakh crore for railways, `1.43 lakh crore for airports and `1.01 lakh crore for ports, promised 100 new airports by 2024, flight & railway cold chain for farmers to transport perishables, electrification of 27,000 railway tracks, more private trains to tourist destinations, corporatisation and listing of at least one port, completion of National Waterway-1 and announced the launch of e-logistics market.

India & Portugal sign agreement on maritime transport, ports

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he Ministry of Shipping stated in a statement that entering into the agreement with the Republic of Portugal will open avenues for cooperation to promote Maritime Transport between the two countries for better operation of their merchant fleets, cooperation to harmonise, and unify their position with international organisations, forums, and conferences related to maritime and port activities.

CargoConnect march 2020 | 79

n ews Indian warehousing registers 30% growth in 2019: CBRE

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eal estate consulting firm, CBRE South Asia has recently released its India warehousing market re-

port which mentions a leasing activity of 33 million square feet, an annual increase of more than 30 per cent in 2019.

“The logistics sector in India is experiencing unprecedented structural shifts in the form of automation, leading to the blurring of lines with the retail sector, transformation of supply chains and growing investment. The growth recorded in H2 2019 was historic, with leasing activity registering 18 million square feet of space take-up,” says Jasmine Singh, Nation Head – Industrial & Logistics Services & Senior Executive Director-Advisory & Transactions Services, CBRE South Asia.

Virgin Atlantic Cargo targets a bigger share of the £20 billion UK-India trade market

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usinesses moving £20 billion of trade between the UK and India each year will enjoy a direct link to and from the North of England from October 2020 when Virgin Atlantic Cargo launches new ManchesterDelhi services.

The route will see Virgin Atlantic fly to Delhi from Manchester for the first time. Starting on October 26, the airline will operate three A330-200 flights every Monday, Thursday and Saturday as part of its growing commitment to the Indian market.

Virgin Atlantic is excited to be able to offer their customers more choice than ever before.

World’s second biggest control centre for goods train all set for operations at Prayagraj

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he world’s second biggest operation control centre for goods train, built in India by the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited(DFCCIL) is all set to

80 | CargoConnect march 2020

start operations and is most likely to be inaugurated by PM Narendra Modi at the end of this month, as per reports by a senior company official.

Anurag Sachan, Managing Director, DFFCIL was quoted saying that the control cent re, deemed to be t he 'nerve-centre' of the 1800 kmlong Easter n Dedicated Freight Corridor is based at Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh.

The control centre comprises of a theatre which measures

1560 sq metre with a video wall that goes beyond 90 mt and will be utilised as a onestop shop for controlling and monitoring rail systems including train operations and the power supply system.

Once functional, the control centre will oversee operations of all goods trains on the busy Eastern Corridor route.

He also mentioned that the Western corridor will have a similar operation control system at Ahmedabad.

CONCOR to begin international operations by the end of February 2020

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he Container Corporation of India (CONCOR) is all set to start its international operations by transporting goods in the 1400 kilometers from Vishakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh to Chittagong in Bangladesh by the last week of February 2020.

“The corporation with 28 port container terminals was confined to domestic service, but for the first time obtained all clearances from the government of Bangladesh to expand its operations to that country,” says sources.

For the same reason, Concor will be initiating the Exim terminal operations at its container depot at Guntur from February with 50,000 tonnes handling capacity.

Connectivity from Indore is significant: JNPT Chairman Sethi, Chairman, JNPT Smarketanjay noted the importance of Indore for the port at Navi Mumbai

and exalted the connectivity between the two places in a knowledge session organised in the city today along with Antwerp Port Authority in association with Associated Global Logistics.

Sethi said, "At JNPT, we benchmark our services against the best ports in the world and are constantly evolving to meet the demands of the global market. Indore is a significant market for us, therefore connectivity from here is extremely significant for and it will further increase the market economy of Indore and Madhya Pradesh. The EXIM community in Indore can now take advantage of JNPT’s facilities to trade across the world. This will definitely open up an opportunity for enhancing cargo generation between Indore and JNPort."

Kochi airport to expand cargo handling facility

R All 12 state-owned major seaports to become autonomous under new port bill

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ansukh Mandaviya, Minister for Shipping, recently informed that the cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the new ‘Major Port Authority Bill 2020’ that will give independent decision making power to all 12 major ports in the country.

The port will have a corporate style management structure and will be free to fix port charges.

The bill that is all set to be introduced in the current session of parliament will replace the 'Major Port Trusts Act, 1963'. The new law aims to ease settlement of disputes among port users, speed up decision making in land acqui-

sitions and tariff changes, minimise operation and maintenance (O&M) cost, increase exports from the country and make Indian ports competitive in international markets with new technologies.

“Under the 60 years old existing act, all major ports has to approach the government and related regulatory authorities to take even the smallest decision which tampers the operations and existence of state owned ports, particularly when they want to compete with private ports,” said Mandaviya.

The complex was expected to be completed within the next eighteen months, sources added.

apidly growing cargo volume has prompted Cochin International Airport authorities to go in for a fresh cargo complex that will be fully dedicated to imports while the existing cargo complex will be fully

utilised for exports. The new facility was being built considering the projected growth of the cargo business over the next twenty years, CIAL sources said in a statement.

The new facility will be spread over 1.53 lakh square feet area and will be located slightly to the west of the present cargo complex. Works have begun on the new cargo facility that is being built in three storeys.

April 16-17, 2020 | Hall 1, Bombay Exhibition Centre, Mumbai • ChemLogistics India 2020 – International Exhibition on Chemical Warehousing, Transport & Logistics.

• Attended by over 10,000 key executives from the chemical and allied industries in 2019.

• Covering a wide spectrum of participants from Agrochemicals, Fertilizers, Chemicals and Petrochemicals.

• Free to attend on-site conference on Chemical Logistics & Regulations Highlights of the Chemical Logistics Industry • India is emerging as one of the most important global locations for the chemical industry, with continuous growth in the demand of chemicals.

• The Indian chemical market is one of the fastest growing in the world, with an annual growth rate of approximately 12%.

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CargoConnect march 2020 | 81

n ews India to move 100 mn tons of cargo on coastal shipping route over next 5 years

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ACHAA becomes ACBA; new committee takes over

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h me dabad Cu stom House Agents’ Association (ACHAA) will now be known as Ahmedabad Custom Brokers Association’ (ACBA) as per the nomenclature changed in Customs Brokers Licensing Regulations – 2013. New name and registration has been granted under the Societies Registration Act,

1660 and under the Bombay Public Trust Act, 1950.

The announcement of new n a me h a s b e e n made by Devang Joshi – the then President ACHAA. Parag Baraiya, the then Hon Secretary ACHAA, announced the first new managing committee formed under ACBA as: Samir Shah, Chair-

man, Kartik Pancholi, President, Devendra Thakker, Vice President, Darshan Mashroo, Hon Secretary, Chinmay Kothari, Hon Joint Secretary, Viral Zaveri, Treasurer, Rakesh Oza, Managing Committee Member.

The new managing committee has taken the charge of association immediately after the AGM and the first meeting of ACBA conducted under t he c h a i r ma n sh ip of Samir J Shah.

CBIC launches machine-based clearance of imported goods

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he Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has introduced machine-based automated clearance of imported goods, as per a report in Hindu Businessline. The new ini-

82 | CargoConnect march 2020

tiative is being planned piloted at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) and Chennai Port Trust from 6 February 2020 whereby the Customs officer will be able to do all compliance verification such as

examination of goods even before duties are paid.

Once the importer pays the duty, the Customs system would automatically provide t he c lea ra nc e or ‘O ut of C ha rge’ to t he i mpor ted goods. The initiative will fasten the Customs processes and would provide additional time to the importer who will be able to pay t he dut ies even while the goods are being verified by the Customs officer. The initiative will soon be rolled out at all ports across India including the Inland Container Depots and airports.

ndia will move 100 million tons of coastal cargo in the next five years through the coastal shipping route from the present 2 million tons, an official from the country’s shipping ministry said recently.

“The linkage of inland waterways to coastal waterways is essential by embarking on shifting major project cargo from rail and road to inland waterways,” Director General of Shipping Amitabh Kumar said in a statement.

Flagging out the issue facing the coastal shipping industry, Kumar said that even if the cargos are available, the routes are not financially viable. “There is enough produce available in the hinterland to fill thousands and thousands of ships. What we lack in India is a good agglomeration service for small producers,” he said.

SpiceJet cargo flight from Visakhapatnam to three Indian cities

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piceJet will operate a dedicated cargo flight from Visakhapatnam to Surat, Kolkata and Chennai from February 25, General Manager, Omkar Singh said in a statement. He said that Boeing 737 flight will be operated from Vizag on six days of the week, except Sunday. The service is expected to give a big boost to marine and pharmaceutical exports from the city. Currently, a lot of cargo is going by road to Chennai and Hyderabad airports for onward export due to lack of cargo flights from Visakhapatnam.

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Emirates SkyCargo reports 'good demand' on China freighter flights

Swissport becomes first global air cargo handler in Africa to be IATA CEIVcertified

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espite the extended shutdown of factories owing to the novel coronavirus outbreak, Emirates SkyCargo has reported 'good demand' for the import and export of cargo into the Chinese market.The Air cargo carrier runs freighter services to Guangzhou and Shanghai. They resumed their services after stalling them for a stipulated period of time over the Lunar New Year holidays in China.Many factories are now resuming operations while there has been reduction in belly cargo capacity owing to the cancellation of a host of

passenger services. This will most likely contribute to increased demand for those airlines able to offer freighter capacity.

“We are a market-oriented carrier and are ready to fulfill the growing needs of our customers. We will constantly review our operations to ensure that we are able to support the Chinese market by deploying adequate capacity through our freighters, and also continue to carry bellyhold cargo on our double daily flights between Beijing and Dubai,” he added. The flights

to China run on Emirates’ Boeing 777 freighter aircraft w it h a ca rgo capac it y of around 100 tonnes for exports and imports on each flight.

Emirates SkyCargo has been reg ularly operat i ng freighter services to Hong Kong. Recently, they piloted a charter flight to carry relief materials apart from their scheduled services.

Commodities being currently transported on the freighter flights include perishable food items, pharma, medical supplies and other general cargo.

76 countries agree to digitalise cross border customs under United Nations TIR Convention

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nder the global customs transit system, TIR Convention of the United Nations, the 76 country signatories unanimously agreed to digitalise its operations (eTIR) on February 5, 2020, to facilitate trade and the seamless movement of goods across borders.

T he TIR Convent ion clai ms t hat it prov ides a framework for 1 to 3.5 million truck trips every year to cross 84 | CargoConnect march 2020

borders as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Olga Algayerova, Executive Secretary, United Nations Economic Commission for Eu-

rope (UNECE) said “The adoption of eTIR, which is the result of over 20 years of negotiations, marks a new chapter in the TIR Convention’s 70-year evolution. With more and more countries joining the convention in recent years, including major economies like China, India and several countries in the Middle East, this important step will help to harness trade and connectivity as drivers of sustainable development.”

ATA’s Center of Excellence for Independent Validators in Pharmaceutical Logistics (CEIV Pharma) has certified Swissport’s upgraded cargo warehouse at Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (NBO). Swissport is the first globally active air cargo handler to receive the certification for a facility in Africa. CEIV Pharma protects the integrity of pharmaceutical products by ensuring that all facilities, equipment, operations and personnel comply with all applicable standards and regulations expected by pharmaceutical manufacturers.

“We are very pleased to officially open our latest CEIV certified facility for our customers. The certification by IATA reflects our strategic commitment to superior air cargo handling”, says Jeroen de Clercq, Vice President Sub Sahara Africa and Israel and Chief Executive Officer of Swissport Kenya Limited in a statement.

Bolloré Logistics handles 102 TEUs from Djibouti to Ethiopia through rail he first unimodal train loaded TStation with 102 TEUs bound for Indode in Ethiopia from Djibouti was facilitated by Bolloré Logistics. The cargo, belonging to one of the clients of Bolloré Logistics, is the first containerized consignment to be transported exclusively on rail from Djibouti to Ethiopia.

Through an agreement with Ethio-Djibouti Railways (EDR) Bolloré Logistics will provide its customers with a faster and more efficient transport solution solutions with a weekly service from Djibouti to Indode.

The Ethio-Djibouti Rail is an electronically powered standard gauge rail which cuts transit time between the two countries to 15 hours compared to road transport which can take around three days.

Business coming back in China, says Delta Air Lines' cargo unit

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Ethiopian freighter flights help China fight the coronavirus

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thiopian Cargo has transported around 1,000 tonnes of medical kits to China to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 (coronavirus).

The African carrier operated 10 chartered flights from a number of cities around the world, including Liege, SĂŁo Paulo, Durban,

Accra, Diass, Khartoum and Dar es Salaam, to three Chinese cities: Guangzhou, Shanghai and Chongqing.

The medical kits include face masks, nose masks and protection suits. Ethiopian plans to transport additional medical kits to China deploying five more chartered flights.

Qatar Cargo freighters lend hand in coronavirus relief assistance

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n a bid to partake in the coronavirus relief assistance, five of Qatar Airways Cargo’s Boeing freighters left for China today with approximately 300 tonnes of medical supplies donated by the airline.

T he f ive f l ig ht s wer e bound for Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou as part of Qatar Airways’ voluntary offer of free air cargo transportation for medical relief aid organised by Chinese Embassies and Consulates worldwide to tackle the coronavirus emergency.

The relief convoy follows a previous batch of critical medical relief aid transported

by Qatar Airways Cargo to Shanghai on February 2.

The shipment bound for China contained 100,000 med-

n what could be some good news for the global aviation sector, the cargo vertical of Delta Air Lines, the American airline which claims to be the most profitable in the world, is beginning to see some of its business coming back in the corona virus-hit China.

Over the last two weeks, the airline has seen its cargo business get back as much as 10 percent of its 'normal' volumes.

"We are beginning to see some movement happening. Roughly 80 percent of the capacity in Shanghai and many of the northern cities is back on line. So is 60 percent of the manufacturing capacity in the south. This is for across sectors," Eric J Wilson, Managing Director of Delta's Global Cargo Sales, told in a statement.

DHL Express named Top Employer in Asia Pacific HL Express, the world's leading Dprovider, international express service has been named 2020 Top

ical-grade N95 respiratory masks and 2,700 medicalgrade disposable latex gloves, assuring essential protection to healthcare professionals working around the clock at hospitals in Hubei Province.

The airline is planning to ferry additional donations in the coming weeks.

Qatar Airways is the first among international airlines to come forward for emergency relief flight delivery.It is has associated itself with the World Health Organization and local authorities worldwide and is working to protect the health and safety of its employees and passengers.

Employer for Asia Pacific as well as nine countries and territories in the region: Australia, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. In addition, DHL Express has been recognised as a leading global Top Employer 2020, certified in all regions and leading the list with the most country awards amongst all other Top Employers.

The award was conferred by Top Employers Institute, a global organization recognizing excellence in employee conditions, making this the sixth consecutive year that DHL Express has received the global and Asia Pacific award. This further establishes the company as a global leader in employment practices and talent development, with a workplace culture built on respect, recognition and equal opportunities.

CargoConnect march 2020 | 85

Skyways Group launches technology driven express solution- sKart Global Express

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eeping in mind the constant need for improving efficiency in the air cargo operations Skyways Group launched an express and e-commerce subsidiary – ‘sKart Global Express.’ The formal launch was done by the Group Chairman S L Sharma on February 19, 2020 at Mother Hub in ACLC 2, IGI Airport New Delhi. Yashpal Sharma, Managing Director, Skyways Air Services dwelled on the concept idea

and the painstaking journey of close to 10 years during which many business models were tested hands-on. He was glad that the core team put their best ideas to take the dream forward. 'skart is 100 per cent cloud based logistics industry software which will enable every small, SME and even big ticket company to procure best in industry services for courier and express shipments to further their businesses at a place of their convenience.

ACFI organises 'Air Cargo – Digitisation to Digitalisation’ summit in the Capital

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ir Cargo Forum India (ACFI) organised a full day conference on the theme ‘Air Cargo – Digitisation to Digitalisation’ on February 5, 2020 at Hyatt Regency, New Delhi.

The conference brought together prominent players from the air cargo fraternity, including government, other regulatory officials, major exporters, importers and pro-

86 | CargoConnect march 2020

found industry specialists from the air cargo logistics trade and industry. The program began with lightening of the lamp followed by video on digitalisation of air cargo industry. Yashpal Sharma, Secretary, ACFI and MD Skyways Air Services set the tone of the conference. He highlighted the key objectivities, activities, achievements of ACFI, saying that Policy and Advocacy,

knowledge & research, process simplification, skill development and Event Management are the pillars of ACFI. ACFI also signed MoU with KPMG and AASSC to promote skills development in air cargo sector. Various government officials like Dr John Joseph, Member (Tax Policy) CBIC, Vandana Aggarwal, Economic Advisor, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Keshav

Chandra, Joint Secretary, (Logistics), Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Amber Dubey, Joint Secretary (AD), Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tahseen Ahmad Khan, Vice Chair, United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/ CEFACT) along with various stakeholders participated enthusiastically in the conference.

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il helmshaven Freight Village Container Terminal– t he only deep water container terminal in Germany, jointly owned and operated by Eurogate and APMT, and Adani Ports & SEZ Ltd– India’s largest private port developer and op-

Wilhelmshaven and APSEZ organises roadshow in Mumbai erator, organised a customer reception as part of a joint roadshow on February 26, 2020 at ITC Maratha, Mumbai.

The event which saw more than 60 senior stakeholders from India’s shipping industry, formally kicked-off with the Director of Sales at Wilhelmshaven Freight Village Container Terminal, Ingo Meidinger’s address wherein he talked about Wilhelmshaven as a future-ready port capable of handling some of the

largest container vessels in the world, bolstered by some huge hectares of industrial land by the port for facilitating other logistics-related business and operations.

On behalf of Adani Ports and SEZ, Shahzad Athar, Associate VP, Pranat Narain, AGM- Business Development a nd Nid h i n R aj, Dep ut y Manager, through a series of exclusive presentations took the opport unit y to give a g l i mp s e o n t h e s e r v ic e s

available at industrial zones of Adani ports, and how holistically they lead the mar-

ket with state-of-the-art infrastructure, capabilities and performance.

Shell introduces advanced fleet management solutions in India

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o address the fleet management challenges faced by businesses a nd f le e t op e rat or s, S h e l l launched their Fleet Solutions portfolio in India on February 25, 2020 at an event in JW Mariott Hotel Bengaluru.

Aiming to reduce the total cost of ownership for fleet owners, Shell’s portfolio of products and services, comprising of highquality differentiated Shell Fuels, Shell Fleet Prepaid program and Shell Telematics provide better control over operations and increased protection against fraud.

Based on insights from over 60 years of global fleet management business and more than six million fleet cards, the range of solutions introduced in India bring together Shell’s global experience and expertise, cutting-edge technology and world-

class innovation to offer a distinctive ‘Shell advantage’ to Indian fleet owners.

Speaking on the occasion, Parminder Kohli, GM Business Development, Marketing and Operations for Fleet Solutions, said, “A convergence of new technologies, services and greater connectivity is reshaping the fleet sector, demanding new skills and creating new players and business models. However, fleet owners and managers are struggling to adapt to this transition and face a myriad of challenges. Our mission is to be our customers’ first choice for sustainable mobility solutions.”

Zain Hak, General Manager for Fleet Solutions, Asia said, “With our extensive fleet management experience spanning 30 countries, we have an in depth under-

From (L to R): Zain Hak, Deepti Behl, Sanjay Varkey and Parminder Kohli at the launch.

standing of the needs of fleet owners.

Our promise to our customers in India is to bring our most relevant mobility solutions from across the globe and offer them the right tools enabling transparent operations.”

CargoConnect march 2020 | 87

PHD Chamber organises first-ever Retail Supply Chain Summit

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o bring focus on digitalisation in retail supply chain in India, PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry organised a full-day summit, ‘Retail Supply Chain Summit 2020’ on February 20, 2020.

The inaugural ceremony was

PROFILE

graced by the Chief Guest, N Sivasailam, Special Secretary (Logistics), Ministry of Commerce; Govt. of India. In his welcome address, Sivasailam, stated that it was time that our country resorted the joy of shopping in its people with efficient mechanisms of city

logistics coupled with the benefits of digitisation in the Indian supply chain logistics sector. D K Aggarwal, President, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, in his welcome remarks highlighted the vital role played by Digital technology and Artificial In-

telligence (AI) in living up to the global competition in the supply chain logistics market.

Sanjay Aggarwal, Senior Vice President, PHD Chamber of Com merce a nd I ndust r y, while addressing the august gathering in his special address said that the supply chain in India stands ready for a revolution, and investment in India’s supply chain infrastructure is gaining momentum. Digital transformation has the power to push India’s supply chain to the next level. A who’s who from the logistics industry graced the event with their presence.

The event ended with a formal vote of thanks by Yogesh Shrivastav, Principal Director, PHDCCI followed by extensive networking session and lunch.

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88 | CargoConnect march 2020

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appointments

Raj Subramaniam joins FedEx Corporation Board of Directors

FedEx Corp has announced that Raj Subramaniam, the company’s President and Chief Operating Officer, has been elected to the Board of Directors. With his election, the Board now has 13 members, including 11 independent Directors.

Subramaniam joined FedEx in 1991. During his tenure at FedEx, he served in Hong Kong. In 2003, he was promoted to President of FedEx Express in Canada before moving back to the US as Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communications for FedEx Services in 2006. Subramaniam also served as Executive VP and Chief Marketing and Communications Officer for FedEx Corp.

Emirates SkyCargo appoints Abdulla Alkhallafi as Cargo Manager

Emirates SkyCargo has appointed Abdulla Alkhallafi as the Cargo Manager for India. Alkhallafi will be based out of Delhi and will be overseeing all commercial and operational aspects of Emirates SkyCargo.

Alkhallafi joined Emirates in 2014 as part of Emirates SkyCargo’s Commercial Management Programme. Following his initial training at Dubai, Alkhallafi was posted to Singapore where he had the opportunity to gain first-hand experience of Emirates’ operations in an overseas market. He previously held the position of Cargo Manager- North India for Emirates since June 2017.

Turkish Cargo appoints Dr Cor P de Man as Sr VP of sales Turkish Cargo has appointed Dr Cor P de Man as Senior Vice President of cargo sales. He lives in the Netherlands and will hold offices in Istanbul and Amsterdam.

With over 30 years of professional experience, Dr de Man has spearheaded Logistics and Supply Chain Management, Strategic Marketing and Sales. Dr De Man started his career at the Royal Nedlloyd Group in 1986 and went on to hold senior positions at KPMG, UTI Worldwide, DSV and Broekman Logistics.

90 | CargoConnect march 2020

TCS veteran Ravi Viswanathan joins TVS SCS as new joint MD TVS Supply Chain Solutions has appointed Ravi Viswanathan as the new Joint Managing Director, from February 14, 2020, and also as the Chief Executive Officer of the TVS Group from April 1, 2020.

Viswanathan is a distinguished alumnus of National Institute of Technology-Trichy, also the alma mater of Tata Sons Chief N Chandrasekaran.

Viswanathan has led multiple business units at TCS and has contributed to strengthening the brand of TCS amongst global clients. Until recently, Viswanathan was Global Chief Marketing Officer at TCS.

DP World appoints Vineet Kanaujia as CMO for India subcontinent

UAE-based logistics company DP World has appointed Vineet Kanaujia as the Chief Marketing Officer for its India subcontinent region.

Kanaujia was the Chief Marketing Officer at Safexpress since 2017. He designed an Integrated Marketing Communications strategy for Safexpress, which helped the company to create market leadership. In 2003, he joined Korean conglomerate Samsung as Head – Marketing. Kanaujia also worked with technology leader HCL, followed by American multinational, ConAgra Foods.

SpiceJet appoints Shilpa Bhatia as Chief Commercial Officer Low-cost carrier Spicejet has elevated Shilpa Bhatia as its new Chief Commercial Officer. She will report to Ajay Singh, Chairman and Managing Director and will look after revenue management, sales and network planning.

This is Bhatia’s third stint with Spicejet having had served as the Chief Sales and Revenue Officer in her last stint. Shilpa has worked with IndiGo, Sahara Airlines, Amadeus and GMG Airlines in leading roles in the past.

Bimal Kumar Jha new Deputy Chairman for VOC Port Trust Bimal Kumar Jha has assumed charge as Deputy Chairman of the VO Chidambaranar Port Trust, Tuticorin (formerly Tuticorin Port Trust). He succeeds N Vaiyapuri, who retired on December 31.

Prior to the new assignment, Jha had served as the Secretary of the Paradip Port Trust and the Deendayal Port Trust (formerly Kandla Port Trust) between 2012 and 2019. He had also held additional charge as Deputy Chairman of the Deendayal Port Trust from July 24, 2018 to April 16, 2019.

Suneel Dutt takes charge as Director of Chennai Airport Suneel Dutt has taken over as Director of Chennai Airport on January 31. He succeeds S Sreekumar, who assumed charge as Executive Director– Engineering (ER) at Airports Authority of India in New Delhi.

Dutt was earlier the CEO of Chandigarh International Airport Ltd. He started his career with the AAI in 1992 as Manager-CNS (Communications, Navigation & Surveillance) at Ahmedabad airport and worked in various capacities in Indore, Bhopal and Srinagar airports.

Logistics and Supply Chain

Road Transport EVENT: IRU World Congress ORGANISED BY: International Road

Transport Union

DATE: October 19–21, 2020 WHERE: Berlin, Germany

EVENT: Breakbulk Asia ORGANISED BY: Hyve Group PLC DATE: March 18 - 19, 2020 WHERE: Shanghai World Expo Exhibition

& Convention Center, Shanghai, China Leading conference and exhibition for project cargo and breakbulk professionals offering an unparalleled opportunity to connect with the industrial project supply chain – shippers and service providers, local and international – who are involved in today’s megaprojects that revolve around China's One Belt, One Road program.

To know more visit www.asia.breakbulk.com

EVENT: 8th Global Logistics Show ORGANISED BY: Infinity Expo DATE: April 7 – 9, 2020 WHERE: Somaiya International

Convention Centre, Bombay GLS is the premier meeting place for the India's Logistics and Supply Chain Sector. In its 4th edition, it brings together 5000 professionals involved in the handling, moving and transportation of goods throughout the supply chain, with proving as an ideal place to meet new contacts and win new business.

To know more visit www.globallogisticsshow.com

The global event bringing all road transport stakeholders together to tackle the challenges and trends linked to innovation and the future of transport, mobility, trade and logistics. The 2020 Congress will focus on intelligence on the move, highlighting the latest technology developments in Artificial Intelligence and their burgeoning role in the new global technology shifts driving innovation in road transport.

Air Cargo

EVENT: IATA World Cargo Symposium 2020 ORGANISED BY: International Air Transport

Association (IATA)

DATE: March 10 - 12, 2020 WHERE: Hilton Istanbul Bomonti Hotel &

EVENT: 10th India Warehousing

Show

ORGANISED BY: Reed Manch

Exhibitions DATE: June 18 – 20, 2020 WHERE: Pragati Maidan, New Delhi Bringing the future at your doorsteps, the India Warehousing Show brings the industry in its full dimension, gathering all facets of logistics, warehouse infrastructure, material handling, storage, automation and supply chain. The show acts as marketplace and driver of innovation and success, creating an ideal platform, positioning your company to the forefront of success.

To know more visit www.indiawarehousingshow.com 92 | CargoConnect march 2020

Event: All India Cold Chain Show Organised by: Federation of Cold

Storage Associations of India (FCAOI)

Date: July 2 - 4, 2020 where: India Expo Mart Limited,

Greater Noida, Delhi The Federation of Cold Storage Associations of India (FCAOI) is organising an annual national seminar on cold chain and storage industry.

The show offers ample of business and networking opportunities to industry leaders from across the world.

Alongside the seminar, a dedicated exhibition will take place which will showcase leading companies offering cold chain technologies and the best of products and services.

To know more visit www.aiccs.in

Conference Center, Istanbul, Turkey IATA’s 14th World Cargo Symposium will continue to move the industry from talk to action with this edition. WCS 2020 will feature plenary sessions, specialized tracks, workshops and executive summits, tackling aspects related to Technology & Innovation, Security & Customs, Cargo Operations and Sustainability.

To know more visit www.iata.org

EVENT: Air Cargo Forum 2020 ORGANISED BY: The International Air Cargo

Association (TIACA) and Messe München DATE: November 10 - 12, 2020 WHERE: Miami Beach Convention Center, Miami, Florida, USA The International Air Cargo Association (TIACA) is the only organisation representing all segments of the air freight supply chain. TIACA’s Air Cargo Forum (ACF) is a biennial event bringing together thousands of airfreight decision makers and supply chain operators from across the globe.

To know more visit www.tiaca.org

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Technology: The Right Ingredient For Air Cargo

ACAAI CONVENTION ISSUE 2016

A new dawn in airport infrastructure

AIR FREIGHT FEELS THE NEW BUZZ Indian Air Cargo: The Anticipated Colour

Period

Rate (INR)

Total (within India INR)

1 Year

`240/-

2 Year 3 Year

Priority Cargo: Right Here, Right Now

Period Rate (US$)

Total (outside India)

240+600+42 =`882/-*

1 Year

$120

120+220+17 =$357*

`480/-

480+1200+84 =`1764/-*

2 Year

$240

240+440+34 =$714*

`720/-

720+1800+126 =`2646/-*

3 Year

$360

360+660+51 =$1071*

*Inclusive of courier charges and 5% GST.

Company Name GST No.

Country

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People connect

Halit Tuncer, Cargo Director- South Asia, Turkish Cargo

Keep learning and stay humble Air Cargo industry was growing rapidly, and it was also the focal point of Turkish Airlines when I joined Turkish Cargo team in 2013. New warehouses were being built, new I-Cargo software was being introduced, newly graduated young minds were being hired to take our product to the next level. It has been an amazing journey so far, we climbed up from the fifteenth position to secure seventh position in the world in terms of air cargo volumes. We are now building our brand new facility in new Istanbul airport and aiming for the fifth position by 2023.

Major Transformations

Special cargo, especially temperature-controlled and perishable cargo has become more and more important every day. IATA introduced CEIV certification for pharma products which we immediately adapted to our processes.We are experiencing the digitalisation age of air cargo, processes that minimise human mistake are being implemented for better service and efficiency, bulky and fragile piles of paper are being replaced; authorities are keeping up with the trends to attract more business to their countries/ airports.

94 | CargoConnect march 2020

Biggest Challenge

By far, the biggest challenge has been to keep steady growth in a declining market in 2019. It was a very tough decision to start operating to two new destinations (BLR and AMD) in India, while all indicators were suggesting otherwise. It took a lot of effort but we were able to grow by 40 per cent last year.

Hobbies & Interests

I am really into technology, while keeping a close eye on the trends, I am trying to find ways to adapt them to our industry. Even though carrying a drone around can still be a problem since it is still not properly regulated, I love flying my drone.

Mantra for Success

Success is a journey not a destination, so I say yes to new adventures every day. `Keep learning and stay humble` is my mantra for success.

Message for Readers

After a difficult year, we jumped into an even more difficult one.

I would like to remind that every situation and every person around us is there to teach us something, just be patient and embrace.

Weekend Special

I like to spend the weekend with my family. I know it sounds boring but we really like to be around home during weekends. I have a five year old son; we like to cook, play, read, watch and enjoy every moment together.

Interviewed by Ritika Arora Bhola

J

ourney so far

18-19 March 2020 Shanghai World Expo Exhibition & Convention Center (SWEECC) Shanghai, China

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