QATAR AIRWAYS CARGO KEEN TO MAKE DELHI INTERNATIONAL G ATEWAY Volume III n No 6
AUGUST 2014 I `60
C A R G O
L O G I S T I C S
LAST MILE WOES How India Post conquers the logistical nightmare at IT Capital Bengaluru and back of beyond Guwahati
HI-TECH SMARTKARGO FLIES HIGH
INITIATIVE ADDING TO THE SUEZ CANAL
RNI No. DELENG/2011/387546
S
GROUP
Committed to Deliver
SA Consultants & Forwarders Pvt. Ltd. SA Cargo Services Pvt. Ltd. SA Aviation Pvt. Ltd. SA Travcare Pvt. Ltd.
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L2, Kanchanjunga Building, 18, Barakhamba Road, New Delhi - 110001
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MANAGING EDITOR’s NOTE
Keeping the wheels moving…
E
ven as we send this issue of C&L to print and to your hands, we are happy to have brought into the limelight the logistics network of India Post. Humongous in its spread, India Post, despite the fact that we have so little to do with it these days when everyone – well, almost everyone – is ‘connected’. Even so, India Post does its utmost, like its sister organization, BSNL (Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited) in “connecting India”. This, despite the problems it faces. Let us then take a look at what logistics, this very important cog in the wheel that keeps India moving, is. Wikepedia informs us that “Logistics is the management of the flow of goods between the point of origin and the point of consumption in order to meet some requirements, of customers or corporations”. It goes on to point out that the “minimization of the use of resources is a common motivation in logistics for import and export”. Resources that have to be managed in logistics include a wide gamut of items spanning across physical items like foodgrain, livestock, equipment, chemicals and explosives as well as the intangible like time and information. Complex as it seems, Indian ingenuity has refused to be cowed down by obstacles that slow down or stop movement. This issue has a number of such stories. But what is important to note is that the new government has realized the need – or rather the urgency – of better infrastructure. It will be one of the key features to put the country on the 8 per cent growth track again. Nitin Gadkari, Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Minister is never at a loss to point out to naysayers that “American roads are not good because America is rich. America is rich because American roads are good”. The move is on then to recalibrate from the three km of road construction a day to 30 km a day by 2016. Along with the roads and highways, ports too have been singled out for development. Along with the 13 major ports along the 7516.6 km coastline, 16 more will be coming up. To push the initiative forward, the govern-
ment has allowed Foreign Direct Investment of up to 100 per cent under the automatic route for projects related to the construction and maintenance of ports and harbours. The icing on the cake is the 10-year tax holiday that has been given to those developing, maintaining and operating ports, inland waterways and inland ports. The Civil Aviation Ministry has also got into the act with the development of a number of airports in Tier II and Tier III cities. These plans have raised expectations from India Inc. with many like G V Sanjay Reddy, Vice-Chairman, GVK Power and Infrastructure Ltd, saying that the “government has laid special focus on the development of critical infrastructure that is needed to spur economic growth…We look forward to these announcements being translated into tangible steps for the economy to truly benefit from them”. All these moves will be good only if we see some real action on Ground Zero. It has been quite a while – more than two years, in fact – since the Working Group Report on Air Cargo Logistics in India was released by the Ministry of Civil Aviation. The report contained a number of recommendations – some that could be implemented immediately and others that would take time – but other than a few that can be counted on the fingertips nothing much has happened. Why is it that there is no sign of Indian ingenuity in government circles? On the other hand, it is surprising to see that the engineers and labourers who construct delightfully smooth expressways suddenly find themselves at a loss when it comes to our city roads that often remind us of the moon and its craters. If we have to compete with nations across the globe, it is time we changed to make India shine. Do keep in touch to let us know what you like – or dislike – about C&L. Happy reading!
tghosh@newsline.in
Cargo & Logistics I August 2014
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contents ARTICLES NEWS VIEWS EDITS INTERVIEWS CLIPPINGS PROFILES NEWS DIGEST STATISTICS COLUMNS
CONTENTS
C&L
VOLUME III n NO 6
Editor-in-Chief
K SRINIVASAN Managing Editor TIRTHANKAR GHOSH Consulting Editor RAMESH KUMAR Senior Sub-Editor-cum-Reporter PUNIT MISHRA
COVER STORY
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India Post’s recent initiatives, which include slotting itself in cyberspace through the ePost Office, are pointers to the manner in which the world’s largest postal network can be better leveraged to strengthen the financial and communication infrastructure. On the ground, however, India Post is facing challenges especially in logistics which holds the key to keep the huge network up and running and well-oiled.
SPOTLIGHT
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Ulrich Ogiermann, Chief Officer Cargo, Qatar Airways, speaks about the carrier’s vision of making Delhi an international gateway and future plans.
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COLUMN
Sr. Proof Reader RAJESH VAID Correspondents ANJANA TANWAR, NAVEED ANJUM, CHARCHIT SINGH Designers NAGENDER DUBEY, MOHIT KANSAL Picture Editor PRADEEP CHANDRA Photo Editor HC TIWARI Staff Photographer HEMANT RAWAT Director (Admin & Corporate Affairs) RAJIV SINGH Vice President (Business Development) VINOD KAUL
Creating a supply chain may sound easy, but it requires more than ‘out of the box’ thinking to develop the perfect solution
FOCUS
p20
The Suez Canal has made it easier for ships to travel between Europe and Asia without going around the southern tip of Africa. An extra shipping lane, announced by Egypt’s President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi on August 5, will make the journey faster.
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Subscription GEETA JENA, JUHI ROHILLA Distribution PANKAJ KUMAR, BHUSAN KUMAR Executive Director RENU MITTAL For advertising and sales enquiries, please contact:
NEWS IN BRIEF
Etihad spent €560m to acquire its 49 per cent equity stake in Alitalia. In the land section, DHL Global Forwarding has enhanced its cold chain logistics offerings through the transport of shipments at frozen or cryogenic temperatures.
+91-9810030533, 9810159332 Editorial & Marketing office: News Kingdom Media Pvt. Ltd., 20, Nizamuddin West Market, Nizamuddin West, New Delhi –110 013, Tel: +91-11-41033381-82 All information in C&L is derived from sources we consider reliable. It is passed on to our readers without any responsibility on our part. Opinions/views expressed by third parties in abstract or in interviews are not necessarily shared by us. Material appearing in the magazine cannot be reproduced in whole or in part(s) without prior permission. The publisher assumes no responsibility for material lost or damaged in transit. The publisher reserves the right to refuse, withdraw or otherwise deal with all advertisements without explanation. All advertisements must comply with the Indian Advertisements Code. The publisher will not be liable for any loss caused by any delay in publication, error or failure of advertisement to appear. Owned and published by K Srinivasan 4C Pocket- IV, Mayur Vihar Phase–I, Delhi–91 and printed by him at Nutech Photolithographers, B–240, Okhla Industrial Area, Phase–I, New Delhi–110020.
Cover Photos: Monalisa Borkakoty, Sarada V Narasimhan Cover Design: Nagender Dubey
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Stop press
LEG UP FOR CARGO FACILITIES At Mumbai, a new Export Unitization Zone is opened to provide a one-stop solution to airline customers for activities post-cargo screening, Bengaluru gets a exclusive Pharma Zone to handle pharma products
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o facilitate airlines and expedite export cargo processing post screening, the Mumbai International Airport Private Limited (MIAL) officially launched its new Export Unitization Zone at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport on August 19, 2014. The Commissioner of Customs, Roopam Kapoor inaugurated the facility. The inaugural event saw a large gathering including officials from Customs, Airlines, ACAAI, BCHAA, various stakeholders from air cargo industry and members from media. Welcoming guests, Manoj Singh, Vice President - Cargo, MIAL, said the commissioning of the Export Unitization Zone was part of the ongoing infrastructure development and would enhance the throughput capacity of export handling. He further added that the facility would offer a one-stop solution to the airline customers for activities post-cargo screening. Unveiling the key features of the facility, Manoj Singh said that the 6000 sq mt Export Unitization Zone offered facilities like ten work stations for Cargo Unitization, ULD Storage Positions, 30-Ton Capacity ULD Weighbridge, dedicated material handling equipment including battery operated forklifts, plug points for active refrigerated containers, exclusive storage for vulnerable cargo and 24x7 security monitoring. Speaking on the occasion, Commissioner of Customs Roopam Kapoor appreciated the initiatives taken by MIAL towards cargo infrastructure development at CSIA. The facility offers services like unitization, ULD weighment, generation of IATA standard airline ULD tags and comprehensive documentation. The facility be-
OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY: (Top) Dignitaries at the inauguration of the Export Unitization Zone at
Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport; and at Bengaluru (above, from left to right) Menzies Aviation CEO Venkata Reddy; Sandeep Prakash, Commissioner of Customs – Bengaluru and V S Bobba, Managing Director of Menzies Aviation and other dignitaries at the inauguration of the Pharma Zone
ing closer to the freighter bays cater faster connection of ULDs to cargo aircraft and charter operations. Meanwhile, in Bengaluru, Menzies Aviation Bobba, operating a cargo terminal at Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru, has opened an exclusive Pharma Cold Zone on August 20 for the handling of pharma products. Bengaluru is emerging as an important pharmaceutical hub in south India. To support the demands of the growing local industry, which now has a strong global presence, the Pharma Cold Zone will offer accurate and temperature controlled care while handling pharmaceutical products. This temperature controlled cargo handling facility will greatly assist the south Indian pharma industry in enhancing their business and meeting the stringent requirements of global regulatory authorities. The state-of-the-art facility provides dedicated truck docks for acceptance, floor-level weighment at acceptance, customs clearance, screening and security
clearances, cargo build-up and storage, all under controlled temperature. It is also equipped with data loggers, alarm systems (hooters and SMS) and 24/7 CCTV coverage supported with HD cameras. V S Bobba, Managing Director of Menzies Aviation Bobba, said that with the new and “exclusive Pharma Cold Zone facility at our cargo terminal, with temperature controlled and state-of-the-art technology, the company would strengthen its leadership and capability in handling and transportation of pharma cargo between Bengaluru and rest of the world." G V Sanjay Reddy, Managing Director, BIAL said that the opening of the new Pharma Cold Zone “is well timed and in line with the city's emerging status as the pharmaceutical hub of South India. This airport aims to be the engine of economic growth for the region by connecting Bengaluru to the world and positioning itself as the gateway to south India, not only for passenger traffic but also for cargo.”
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just in time
Global air freight grows slowly and steadily
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lobal air freight continued on its growth path with a rate till midyear at 3.7 per cent year-overyear, a clear improvement over mid-year 2013, when air freight tonnage had shrunk 0.3 per cent cumulatively. Global air passenger traffic, however, has grown 4.8 per cent year-over-year, besting 2013’s midyear passenger growth rate of 3.2 per cent, according to Airports Council International (ACI). Air freight markets achieved moderate growth of 2.2 per cent for the month of June 2014. The recovery in world trade coupled with an improvement in domestic demand in advanced economies has helped bolster air freight markets over the last three quarters. Asia-Pacific experienced the strongest gains as compared to the previous year with a rise of 4.5 per cent (up 4.9 per cent for international freight; up 3.3 per cent for domestic freight). The Asian hubs of Hong Kong (HKG) and Shanghai (PVG) also experienced buoyant recoveries as compared to the previous year with growth of 7.3 per cent and 6.5 per cent, respectively. Modest year-over-year air freight tonnage growth for June was reported at North American airports (up 1.9 per cent), European airports (up 1.6 per cent) and Af-
QUOTE/UNQUOTE
rican airports (up 0.2 per cent). Air freight business fell in the Middle East (down 3.9 per cent) and at Latin America-Caribbean airports (down 2.2 per cent). Memphis (MEM), United States’ largest freight hub and home to Fed Ex, decreased slightly by 1.2 per cent, ACI said. “From a long-run historical perspective, the air freight industry remains relatively sluggish since it has barely surpassed the volumes that existed in the pre-Great Recession era,” said ACI World’s Economics Director Rafael Echevarne.
FIATA and essDOCS opens digital casket
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“Cargo is an important part of the mix. We will put cargo through Malpensa. There are key destinations around the world we can serve.” JAMES HOGAN CEO of Etihad, on the rejuvenation of Alitalia Cargo — Etihad has planned to invest €560m in Alitalia — with additional investment put into cargo facilities at Milan Malpensa.
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“The weakness in the air freight market over the last decade is largely attributed to a loss in market share to other competing modes of freight shipment such as ocean freight. While the air freight market appears to have stabilised over the last quarter of 2013 and into 2014 in conjunction with the ongoing recovery in the global economy, the new paradigm shifts toward cheaper modes of delivery means that suppliers of air freight capacity need to rethink their business model in order to remain competitive,” Echevarne added.
he anticipated and eagerly awaited digital FIATA documents are now a reality. The digitalisation platform, powered by CargoDocs, has now been launched in the FIATA constituency. After testing the product through FIATA’s Association Membership, FIATA and essDOCS have agreed that the product was ready to be opened up to interested parties wanting to implement the system in their day-to-day business. “This is as close as you can get to plugand-play in dealing with transport documents,” said Marco Sorgetti, DG of FIATA. When FIATA and essDOCS first came together to provide CargoDocs,
both were aware of the issues that could occur from stepping into “logistics cyberspace” as Sorgetti called it at that point in time. Therefore, they utilised the initial period as a testing phase to gather feedback from parties willing to test the CargoDocs software on the FIATA Multimodal Bill of Lading. The software is an entirely webbased system ready to power FIATA’s highly demanded Bill of Lading (FBL) through electronic distribution. It is easily accessible requiring users to simply register as users, and then access the services through a bank-grade security token.
just in time
TIACA’s ready with third FACE Summit in Seoul T he International Air Cargo Association (TIACA) will hold its third Future Air Cargo Executive Summit (FACES) early October in Seoul, Korea. The theme of the summit will be: “Winning the Race to the Future by Developing Tomorrow’s Leaders TODAY!” This is a follow-up of the TIACA training programme for air freight managers that C&L reported in the July 2014 issue. The aim of the FACES project, as mentioned in the TIACA programme, is to push the subject further to get more support from the aviation industry in order to provide aspiring air cargo leaders with an opportunity to grow professionally as well as provide industry leaders the chance to foster the leadership needed to succeed in the 21st century and beyond. The Third Future Air Cargo Executive (FACE) programme is an integral part of the industry’s investment in the future.
The interactive format is designed to encourage future leaders to think outside the box, recognize the contribution they have to make and provide a venue for them to shine. The FACES participants will pick up where the Second FACE summit left off. This year’s workshop will focus on turning the ideas generated in March 2014 on the “innovation imperative for a sustainable air cargo industry” into an action plan and presenting it to industry leaders. Attended by over 3000 industry professional, The Air Cargo Forum will present a great opportunity for FACES participants to connect with current leaders from around the globe, meet other future
e-AWB penetration doubled in 12 months T he electronic Air Waybill (e-AWB) penetration jumped in June to 16.2 per cent, an 8.3 per cent increase over the same period last year, according to IATA. The implementation of new technologies and the Customs acceptance of e-AWB are key elements to achieve a fully paperless supply chain. The total e-AWB grew by more than 50,000 during the last 12 months, with an average growth of one per cent each month since the beginning of the year. SIA Cargo (SQ) took third place on the leaderboard as a result of rolling out e-AWB to India and parts of Europe. Cathay Pacific (CX) and Emirates (EK) took first and second place in June. China Airlines (CI) continues their steady growth up the leaderboard. They took over ninth place from Lufthansa Cargo. e-AWB is gaining momentum in India also. All airports in India (including Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru) are now open for e-AWB. Indian Customs do not
require paper copy of air waybill on export or import. On export, Customs require a copy of Packing List, sight original invoice even though details are included in Shipping Bill. While in import, Customs only require HAWB for Customs clearance. Self-Certified copies of the MAWB/HAWB are accepted. TOP e-AWB PERFORMERS RANKING BY PERCENTAGE COUNTRY: PENETRATION Hong Kong (SAR) 49.4% United Arab Emirates 74.6% Singapore (SG) 49.7% AIRLINES Flydubai 93.7% Egyptair 50.1% Cathay Pacific Group 45.6% FREIGHT FORWARDER 21.9% DHL Global Forwarding Schenker 23.8% Panalpina 23.8%
leaders like themselves and forge lasting relationships. FACES participants will meet with seasoned air cargo HR professionals who serve as leadership coaches for advice on building their executive profile and planning for their future. Other issues will also be discussed at the Seoul conference. The topmost on the list will be the one on “global standards for advance data”. The topic was discussed at the ICAO and WCO meets in Singapore, with Doug Britten and Sue Presti airing TIACA’s views on this subject.
Russia could counter ACC3 programme
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ussia has plans to bring in new security rules for air freight and mail that are flying from EU countries into Russia. This is in retaliation to the ACC3 validation programme introduced by the EU for securing shipments coming from third country airports and flown into one of the EU member states. As we go to print, Russia has refused to bow down to the EU ACC3 regulation which stipulates that the countries concerned have to accept on-the-spot inspections by officials sent from Brussels. This measure is for all countries that are not on a green list made by the EU. In fact, Russia is not on that list. According to news reports, Russia believes it is an unjustified omission. According to an official, Russia’s international airports “fully comply with the security regime demanded by Brussels for handling air freight”. Russia feels that it is being humiliated since it has been put in the same list as Yemen, Kirgizstan, Pakistan or Mali where airfreight is not secure. Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency Rosaviatsia will announce its countermeasures that experts feel will be similar to those introduced on July 1, 2014 by the EU.
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NUMBERS
10
PER CENT REVENUE EXPECTED FROM CARGO
A
irAsia India expects to earn nearly 10 per cent of revenue from cargo operations. For this, it has appointed Global Air Cargo India, part of French company ECS Group, to manage its cargo sales. “We left it to experts to handle cargo while we will concentrate on the passenger side, which we know better,” Mittu Chandilya, CEO, AirAsia India was quoted saying. “Cargo is critical for an airline though not been given due attention,” he told the Hindu BusinessLine. The airline will carry cargo in the aircraft belly. AirAsia’s planes have a cargo capacity of around four tonnes. However, the airline expects to carry 3 to 3.5 tonnes, the CEO said. Global Air will be the cargo agent only for AirAsia India in the domestic sector and look at aggregating products like pharmaceutical, electronics and textiles,
4.44
MTPA LNG PROJECT FOR GANGAVARAM PORT
G EXPRESSING OPTIMISM: Mittu Chandilya, CEO, AirAsia India and Bertrand Schmoll, CEO, ECS Group at a press conference
said its managing director for India Rajendra Dubey. The company has been operating in India for the last two years as cargo sales agent for international airlines like Tiger Air and Ukraine Airline.
PER CENT RISE IN CARGO AT KOCHI PORT
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argo throughput at Kochi port moved up marginally during the April-June 2014 period compared to the same quarter previous year. Cargo movement through Kochi went up 4.44 per cent and stood at 55,08,000 tonnes during the first three months of the current year compared to the 52,74,000 tonnes during the first quarter of 2013, according to figures from the Indian Ports Association (IPA). The IPA figures said that Kochi is among the major ports in the country that has shown improvement in business during the period though neighbouring New Man-
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galore port has only shown a cargo growth of 0.18 per cent. Among the ports, Mormugao has shown substantial increase in business with a growth of 31.10 per cent. The Kamraj (Ennore) port has shown the second highest growth in cargo at 15.74 per cent. While Mumbai port has shown an increase in business to the tune of 10 per cent, business at JNPT grew less than 6 per cent during the period. Total cargo movement through the major ports during the period stood at 14,30,60,000 tonnes compared to 13,71,76,000 tonnes during the first three months of the previous year.
angavaram port, near Visakhapatnam, may get a 5 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, with capacity to increase it up to 10 mtpa. The state Cabinet has approved the project, the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu, said. “The project is expected to generate `3,085 crore through VAT for the state and also pave way for creation of many downstream industries. While the project will take about four years to commission, we have called upon the developers to expedite it and complete it within three years,” Naidu said. The Chief Minister also said that the state government had decided to induct global oil major Shell, with 26 per cent equity, in the proposed special purpose vehicle (SPV) for setting up a floating storage and re-gasification unit (FSRU) for LNG at Kakinada.
4.7
PER CENT AIRFREIGHT DEMAND IN ASIA PACIFIC
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ir cargo markets continued to expand in June for Asia Pacific, according to preliminary traffic figures from the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA). For the region’s carriers, demand for air freighted goods continued to grow, helped by positive consumer and business sentiment in major developed economies. Over-
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NUMBERS
`11,635 `805 T
CRORE FOR VOC PORT HARBOUR PROJECT
he Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), Southern Region, has hailed the budgetary proposal to allocate `11,635 crore for the first phase of the outer harbour project at VO Chidambaranar Port. Welcoming the proposal, Walter D’Souza, President of FIEO, Southern Region, said that the proposed facility would help exporters, who were facing problems due to high transaction costs mainly caused by poor infrastructure. It may be recalled that the Union Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley, had announced the allocation for the development of the outer harbour project at the Port in his Budget speech. The project would give a fillip to the infrastructure at the Port, which would help to improve surface and sea transportation. D’Souza, however, pointed out that the industry would have been happy if service tax on all export-related transactions had been exempted.
all, airfreight demand in freight tonne kilometers (FTK) grew by an encouraging 4.7 per cent compared to the same month last year. The average international freight load factor rose for the second consecutive month, by 0.8 percentage points to 66.1 percent in June, on a 3.4 per cent growth in offered freight capacity. “The first six months of this year saw a 4.9 percent increase in the number of international passengers carried by Asia Pacific airlines to an aggregate total of 123.5 million. Within the same period, airfreight demand grew by 4.6 per cent, underpinned by a long-awaited pick-up in global trade activities,” Andrew Herdman, AAPA Director General, said.
MN NET PROFIT FOR PIPAVAV PORT
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ujarat Pipavav Port Ltd (APM Terminals Pipavav), one of western India’s fastest growing gateway ports, reported an increased net profit of `805 million for the second quarter of 2014 ended June 30, as against `352 million in the corresponding quarter last year. EBITDA for the quarter was at `989 million. Operating income for Q2CY14 stood at `1,683 million as against `1,220 million for the corresponding quarter last year. Commenting on the quarterly results, APM Terminals Pipavav Managing Director Prakash Tulsiani said: “The operational efficiencies and superior hinterland connectivity to fulfil the needs of our clients has reward-
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ed us with these growth numbers. Despite seasonality in the business and the fact that April-June period is supposed to be a lean quarter for us, we have witnessed a decent volume growth and realisation.”
HORSES FLY WITH LUFTHANSA
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ufthansa Cargo flew 65 horses from Frankfurt to Tehran, Iran. The Boeing 777F’s entire main deck was filled with 22 horse stalls. As the Boeing 777F with flight number LH8350 took off from Frankfurt, the entire main deck was taken up by horse containers. The modern freighter flown by Chief Pilot Claus Richter was in the air around four-and-a-half hours before safely landing in Tehran. “The bright, friendly interiors make travel more comfortable and the horses are also more willing to enter the unfamiliar containers,” said Axel Heitmann, who heads the Frankfurt Animal Lounge. “The sandwich floor with two plates means these sensitive animals hardly feel the vibrations during loading. At the end of the day, we want our four-legged guests to enjoy the most comfortable transport experience possible,” he added. The flight was also something special for Christian Nagel, owner of Agricon-Logistic GmbH & Co. KG, the horse shipper responsible for the entire transport: “Even for us, as the market leader in horse transports to the Middle East, a charter flight with 65 horses is always a highlight in daily operations.
We planned the transport meticulously with Lufthansa Cargo over several weeks.” The experts from Agricon-Logistic and Lufthansa Cargo had to take numerous factors into account. The mares and stallions were kept separate so as not to cause unnecessary stress during the flight. The female animals were placed at the rear of the aircraft, while their male counterparts were kept to the fore of the deck.
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cover story
a branch every few kilometers and staff in these areas is trained enough to handle each location. However, bandhs and strikes due to socio-political unrest affect work many a time. Floods and poor roads, especially during rainy seasons, hamper timeliness and efficiency to a certain extent.” MAXIMIZING DEPRECIATING ASSETS Cargo and fleet owners are worried about the consistent shortage of drivers. A meagre fleet of 81 mail motor service vehicles or MMS vehicles ranging from 1-6 tons serves under the Mail Motor Division with 90 departmentally-recruited drivers in Karnataka. Of the 81, a lion’s share of 51 vehicles caters to Bengaluru while the remaining serve the rest of Karnataka. Ramanujan informs, “For 81 vehicles I have got 90 drivers, so I have got a spare of around nine, but that’s not really spare because they have to be brought on the night shift. And in addition, we have 50 contractual vehicles which are crisscrossing the entire state on a daily basis. On a daily basis each vehicle runs for 100 km on an average which it finishes in a span of about five sq. kms because he has to move in and out of
LEGENDS: Dawk Walas (Postmen) running to reach the Dawa or foot- post (one of the two postal services in India in the 14th century)
FROM LAUNCHING ROCKETS TO PUSHING MAIL BAGS M S Ramanujan, CPMG – Karnataka Circle, India Post, has seen it all WE UNDERSTAND THAT YOU HAVE ALSO HELPED LAUNCH ROCKETS? I belong to the 1981 batch of the Indian Postal Service which is one of the organised civil services. I have served on deputation as the Iron and Steel Commissioner in the Ministry of Steel for a tenure, and then in the Ministry of Defence, and I have served in ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation), I was in control at the Sriharikota Rocket Launch Station so I have had the privilege of launching rockets also from Sriharikota. So launching rockets to moving mail bags has been my range of experience SO LOGISTICS WAS THERE ALL
ALONG… Yes logistics was there because I have to move the rocket parts, satellites from Bengaluru to Sriharikota for assemblage and similarly the rocket engines come from Trivandrum and Mahendragiri. It is logistics of a different order because those are all huge trailers, moving in a high security cordon at selected time with full CRPF and CISF protection. And when I was in the steel industry we were moving huge steel ballets, steel rolls, huge ingots. Take any government department – if you are in the Education Department, you have to move your text books and stationery, if you are in the Health Department, you have to move your medicines and drugs. Whichever department you take, there is always a lot of movement of cargo invariably.
We have better vehicles, better drivers and technology updation with better resources here in Assam like other parts of the country
various roads, lanes and by-lanes. So, this way we are sort of running a huge network. It is not at all economical for us, it is certainly a loss making thing but then because postal department being a government department and since we have this obligation to deliver mail, so we are doing that.” Compared this to Assam which has 200 old and new vehicles catering to the three service routes from Goalpara to Dhubri, Nowgaon to Tezpur and from North Lakhimpur up to Arunachal Pradesh round-theclock. Mitali Das Gogoi, Senior Manager, Business Development – Logistics, Assam Circle says, “Our vehicles are covered and are of 3-6 ton capacity. These are GPRS enabled too and we do outsource services if and when required.” IS OUTSOURCING THE ANSWER? Anywhere in the world, logistics is only as strong as its weakest link – here that trans-
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LOOKS CAN DECEIVE: Packets and parcels at the GPO in Bengaluru being readied for dispatch and delivery
lated into the driver. On one hand, vacancies created by retiring drivers or those taking voluntary retirement in this government department are not being filled up instantly while, on the other, the transportation network including building and maintaining infrastructure like parking lots, garages, fuel bunks and stay arrangements for the drivers or fitting the vehicles with GPRS or RFID – everything is a cause for expenditure. Can outsourcing help the situation? Not really, says Ramanujan, “The gov-
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ernment of India has taken a broad view of outsourcing instead of buying and replacing the aging assets. We don’t want life-long drivers, we are better off having drivers on a hire and fire basis. If I take an ex-serviceman or somebody from the market I have to lose only `5000. So that’s the only manpower savings we get, but otherwise the running expenditure is more or less the same.” TACKLING FATIGUE Ranjan Borthakur, Logistics Manager, India
Post – Assam Circle, feels since the freight movement is gradually shifting from rail to road and airways, the focus is more now on the quality of transport and timeliness of delivery. In such a scenario, nurturing the drivers and fleet maintenance must always remain a top priority. That is exactly what the struggle is all about. Says Ramanujan, “Rest for the drivers is a key issue because there is human fatigue. We conduct frequent health checkups and send them for eye camps. And the
cover story
LOOKING FORWARD TO BETTER LOGISTICS TIME
Mitali Das Gogoi, Senior Manager, Business Development – Logistics, Assam Circle – India Post on providing cost-effective services IS THERE A LOGISTICS POST CENTER IN ASSAM, NORTH EAST? Yes, there is in Guwahati. DOES GUWAHATI HAVE A WAREHOUSE FACILITY? Currently there is no warehouse but one is coming up at Bharalmukh near Guwahati. WHAT KIND OF LOGISTIC SERVICES DO YOU PROVIDE? We have big corporate and government departments where there is bulk delivery. We give solutions like collection, distribution and delivery till the point of destination. There is online tracking system for customer’s queries and parcel detection. HOW COST EFFECTIVE ARE YOU THAN OTHER LOGISTIC SERVICE PROVIDERS? We are the most cost-effective logistic service providers since we have the largest network in the country.
government package of medical benefits is available to them. But by the time they turn 50, most are ailing and it is risky to entrust the vehicle but till the time he retires he has to drive. Also, there is vehicle fatigue because we are flogging our vehicles to run for practically 18-20 hours per day. So, there is very little time for maintenance of the vehicles and in turn they guzzle more diesel and spew more obnoxious carbon monoxide adding to environmental pollution. Fleet management and transportation
network management are certainly key factors that add to the deficit of the department. If the expenditure is `100, my revenue is only about `60.” “To manage logistics better and with excellence, better tools and strategies must be sought to enhance service standards to clients. The MMS vans which we use for road transport should become more advanced like bullet-proofed and that are more security-oriented so that we can serve better and give proper security for instance
to transferring coins and other goods for big clients like RBI, Banks and the like, “shares Borthakur. SERVICING AT ANY COST? Since post offices in the hinterland do not get catered by even the railways, India Post covers them by using state transport buses on seat-payment basis though the actual bulk of delivery is either air-lifted or sent by railways. In tonnage load, Bengaluru airlifts about 100 tons of mail on an average in a month, which includes premium speed
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INFOSYS’ HI-TECH SOLUTIONS FOR INDIA POST
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nfosys recently announced that the company had been selected by India Post to implement and manage a platform that would transform its rural operations. With this new agreement, Infosys will facilitate India Post’s Rural Systems Integration (RSI) programme. This initiative will increase adoption of the department’s services, and enhance the reach of postal services to the country’s rural population, streamlining the distribution of social benefits. As part of an earlier agreement, Infosys is also partnering with India Post to transform its financial services operations and end-user experience under the Financial Services System Integration programme. The two projects are part of the ‘India Post 2012’ modernisation pro-
gramme that aims to bring transparency, agility, flexibility and scalability to its business operations. The programmes will empower employees to deliver services more efficiently to rural communities using the latest technology. They will also position India Post as a key agent in the Government of India’s inclusive growth policies. Infosys will develop a Service Delivery Platform (SDP) that will leverage Infosys solutions such as mConnect, TruSync and Finacle Inclusion. These will serve as a foundation for the RSI programme. The new SDP will allow more than 130,000 rural post offices to offer online services. Additionally, it will connect and manage more than 130,000 handheld devices used by rural postal workers for distribution of social benefits under the National Rural
WEIGHTY: : Big packages are problem for delivery in the North-East
parcels, international parcels, first class mail, registered and speed posts. India Post’s tie-up with the national carrier, Air India, to lift mail bags twice a day to touch 15 major destinations including three in North-East region, namely, Agartala, Imphal and Guwahati, has helped speed up the delivery but Borthakur feels, “Tie-up with Air India has helped but on just two or three routes. To be able to render prop-
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er service, it should be made available on all the routes in Assam and North East. In fact, India Post should have its own air craft which will be of tremendous help because goods and essential commodities would reach their destinations on time.” Ramanujan believes that it will soon turn into a reality, “DHL Worldwide has a vertical called healthcare, they move heart, liver, kidney from country to country in a
Employment Guarantee Act and process Electronic Money Orders. Speaking about this deal, India Post said, “We are very happy to partner with Infosys on one of the largest transformational journeys India Post has ever undertaken. We are confident that Infosys will help make the Rural Systems Integration project a success.” According to Infosys’ C N Raghupathi, VP and Head of India Business, “India Post has been a key driver of the country’s socio-economic development for over 150 years. This partnership will give us the opportunity to promote inclusive growth by helping to deliver services more efficiently to all citizens. We will use our proven technology leadership and innovation capabilities to build a platform that will transform India Post and enhance its reach significantly.”
frozen nitrogen vacuumed containers, so they have those kinds of dedicated aircrafts to lift extremely high value time sensitive items. So it’s a question of time before the post develop their own vertical if not moving those kind of highly time sensitive merchandise may be something lesser than that, say electronic parts.” HUMANS – THE RESOURCE Globally, the postal service is incurring huge deficit and many countries are opting to either privatise or shut down postal departments. But for India, both do not offer complete solution. Instead, India Post is opting for re-inventing and re-engineering processes. A major boost has come in the form of the government committing to invest `5000 crores to modernise the department to bring in state-of-the-art high speed mail processing machinery at metro cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai, while Bengaluru is waiting to finalise its land deal near its airport. According to Borthakur, “If logistics division gets the right boost, there can be a determinant growth and can bring down transportation cost, cost of essential commodities to a great extent. Most importantly, we would be able to serve every nook and corner and help the people of Assam
cover story
READY TO MOVE : Mail Motor Service vans await their loads for delivery
THE LAST MILE ADVANTAGE and North-East.” Coming up of 20 mechanised warehouses For Ramanujan the core is the human and booking centres that can specificalresource when he says, “Technology is ly handle delivery from e-tailers will help certainly the obvious answer. With the adbridge the gap that the e-commerce houses vent of internet and email, worldwide it are not able to cover because they has dented the postal service in simply do not have the caa significant way but now pability to cover the last that we are embracing If logistics division mile… which is India the technology in a big gets the right boost, way, obviously that there can be a determinant Post’s strength. This of the will put us at par with growth and can bring down dependency private players is welthe best in the industransportation cost, cost come on both sides try. But, technology of essential commodias not only it reduces is not going to be the ties to a great the e-tailers’ operating entire story, technolocosts but also helps them gy is only a tool, an enextent with cash-on-delivery option abler. Ultimately the human for their goods because the postal resource will have to be sort of department is a veteran at handling money groomed and trained for that, we will have besides offering economical services espeto bring organisational cultural changes cially in low customer density areas. And which appreciate the value of delivery effithis precisely is the reason why Ramanujan ciency and things like that.”
is confident of India Post never going out of business because of their role as third-party logistics providers for e-commerce companies, “India Post is also one of the delivery channel partners for all of them. We are doing quite a good business with them, so what we are losing by way of mail is being compensated more than adequately by an explosion in the parcel segment and this is a worldwide trend. And so long as the paper is there, there is business for the post to do because nobody can move the paper more efficiently than the post, so at least the last mile delivery will have to be undertaken by the post.” Just as the letter reaches its destination whether by foot-post or horse-post as observed by Ibn Batutah in the olden times, nothing much has changed… because India Post still gets to cover the last mile and no one can take this away from it. Photos: Sarada V Narasimhan, Monalisa Borkakoty
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spotlight
Radar
India on its Qatar Airways Cargo is ramping up services to India. On the one hand, it has plans to make the new Hamad International Airport, one of the top five cargo hubs in the world by 2018, on the other, it has a clear vision of making Delhi airport an international air freight gateway, reports TIRTHANKAR GHOSH
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t is no secret that the Middle Eastern cargo carriers are hogging the air freight business out of India. Of them, Qatar Airways has been steadily working to make the new Hamad International Airport (HIA) at Doha one of the top five cargo hubs by 2018 in the world. Of course, a large share of the hub-creation effort will come from the cargo unit of Qatar Airways. Qatar Cargo’s chief Ulrich Ogiermann makes no bones about the ambitious plans. When he was in Delhi soon after Qatar Airways Cargo started a weekly service between Doha and Delhi using an Airbus A330 freighter (this was in addition to the two daily passenger flights), he pointed out
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to a select group of journalists that his team had a “very clear plan to substantially grow our footprint”. Ogiermann obviously believes that India – or rather Delhi – would feed the HIA hub. He was clear about Delhi’s potential. The Indian capital has one of the country’s largest and fastest growing retail industries. To top it all, “it is an important commercial capital in Asia”, he had mentioned. When C&L approached Ogiermann to question him about Qatar Cargo’s focus on India, he said that “Qatar Airways Cargo tonnages out of India have increased more than 8 per cent over the previous financial year and into India have increased by more than 13 per cent over the previous financial year”. He went on to say that since a large portion of the exports were meant for the Gulf countries as well as China, USA, Europe and Africa, “Qatar Airways Cargo has identified opportunities that will continue to strengthen ties with India, but also to enable Qatar to act as a hub connecting east and west”. Ogiermann was echoing Qatar Airways’ CEO Akbar Al Baker who has often stated that “India is definitely an exciting
market with huge potential as it is one of the world’s fastest growing economies, providing tremendous business opportunities. With an expanding network covering six continents, India is one of the most significant destinations for Qatar Airways”. From 2004, when Qatar Airways flew to only four cities in India, the airline has increased capacity and now flies to a dozen destinations across the country. Baker also said that in tune with the carrier’s aggressive growth plans, “we will continue to increase frequency and capacity to India”. While there are still many hurdles for the Indian ministry of civil aviation to cross to make the country an international cargo hub with enhancement of the present infrastructure being the top priority, Ogiermann seemed quite satisfied with the facilities at Delhi and Hyderabad – two international airports that Qatar uses for pharma shipments. In his conversation, Ogiermann mentioned Qatar’s ground handling agent in Delhi, Celebi and in Hyderabad, Menzies Air Cargo, both with pharma facilities that conform to IATA Chapter 17 standards. The facilities have prompted Qatar to add “more capacity to cater to the increasing pharmaceutical transportation requirements by introducing our second freighter frequency to Delhi, with effect from July 22, 2014 and this is similar to Hyderabad, which is served by two weekly Airbus A330 freighters”. On his part, Delhi International Airport CEO, I Prabhakara Rao, welcomed the moves by Qatar Airways saying that at “Delhi Airport, we have taken a series of steps to boost cargo traffic, which has resulted in an 11 per cent growth in tonnage and helped us cross the 600,000 tonne mark in 2013-14, but we feel there is still a significant opportunity to grow the cargo business in the coming years.”
spotlight
‘Our long-term strategy has always stressed the importance of the Indian market’ Ulrich Ogiermann, Chief Officer Cargo, Qatar Airways, replied to an email questionnaire on the carrier’s vision of making Delhi an international gateway and future plans Sometime ago, you mentioned that Delhi had one of India’s largest and fastest growing retail industries. It was also an important commercial capital in Asia. That is why Qatar Airways has plans to make it an international air traffic gateway for South Asia for both passenger and freight services. What exactly has Qatar Airways been planning and what are the challenges that exist to make Delhi an international gateway? How do you see the India market growing cargo-wise? Qatar Airways Cargo has always had a strong vision, helping it chart a clear path forward in a changing market. This approach – in tandem with continuous investments in new technologies, products and services as well as resources – has enabled us to distinguish our business and stay ahead of the competition, despite volatile market conditions. We are also engaged in a continuous dialogue with our customers in order to understand their expectations and needs, and to offer them reliable services that optimize cost and operational efficiencies across their supply chain. That same dialogue is conducted with Indian exporters and importers, and we are continuously striving to develop a portfolio of products that will benefit their needs as well. From July 22, 2014, we have launched a second Airbus A330 freighter to Delhi. Delhi has one of India’s largest and fastest growing retail industries, which offers Qatar Airways Cargo many opportunities as it is an important commercial capital, and a focal point for business in Asia.
There has been a move to optimise the transportation of time and temperature-sensitive goods, including high-value pharmaceutical products and perishables. Please give us some details?
The Doha Cargo hub operates in accordance with the highest pharmaceutical industry standards. Compliant with Good Distribution Practice (GDP), it offers quality assurance that ensures shipments are consistently stored, transported and handled under suitable conditions as required by product specifications. Our Climate Control team proactively monitor pharmaceutical and perishable shipments from end to end, to ensure the cool-chain process is seamless. The main features at our Doha Hub are the Quick Ramp Transfer (QRT) transportation
between ramp and warehouse with temperature-controlled vehicles that provide protection from extreme conditions during transportation; temperature-controlled handling and storage at the HIA Cargo Terminal in the appropriate temperature zones; and 64 temperature-controlled positions for units requiring refrigeration. Qatar Airways Cargo offers the fastest airline transfer at Doha through its Quick Ramp Transfer (QRT) solution. We are the only carrier in the Middle East to offer refrigerated or ‘reefer’ truck services for
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ramp transfers at our hub. Sensitive commodities are collected from and delivered directly to the aircraft by specialised temperature-controlled vehicles, ensuring the cool-chain process is seamless and uninterrupted, and this eliminates risk to temperature exposure. Rolled out initially to 19 pharma-approved stations in the network, the solution is now available in 43 destinations worldwide. We have received overwhelmingly positive feedback from our clients and so far have moved more than 5000 tonnes of pharmaceutical shipments. Our unique solution makes QR Pharma one of the leading products in the market. We will further enhance this in September this year, when we will include loose pharma cargo as well.
Lufthansa has added facilities to lift pharma from Hyderabad. Is Qatar thinking of doing something similar from Delhi? Our ground handling agent in Delhi is Celebi and in Hyderabad, it is Hyderabad Menzies Air Cargo Private Limited, both of which have pharma facilities that conform to IATA Chapter 17 standards. We have added more capacity to cater to the increasing pharmaceutical transportation requirements by introducing our second freighter frequency to Delhi, with effect from 22 July 2014 and this is similar to Hyderabad, which is served by two weekly Airbus A330 freighters.
The logistics industry in the United States is highly competitive, with the United States having the largest consumer market, and it faces healthy increases on all major trade lanes especially on the transpacific lanes. Air freight between the United States, the Middle East and South Asia, and between the United States and Africa is strong. Qatar Airways Cargo has been operating freighters to Chicago, Atlanta and Houston successfully and in line with market demands, we recently commenced freighter operations to Mexico on June 11, 2014, marking our first entry into Latin America. Our passenger flights to Montreal, Philadelphia, New York, Washington, Houston,
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FLICKR/QATAR
How are the enhanced services to the US doing as far as cargo is concerned?
spotlight
Chicago, Dallas and Miami also offer belly space to these US destinations.
How far has the oneworld membership helped your cargo services? We understand that you have a tie-up with Cathay Pacific for cargo? If so, how does it function? No comments
Now that the giant cargo terminal at Doha has started functioning, do you see it : 1) becoming a hub in the Middle East and, 2) competing with the likes of Dubai? What kind of tonnages do you see in the days to come? Qatar´s rapid economic and architectural development is among the fastest in the world. Positioned at a global crossroads between East and West, Qatar attracts international attention, as well as business and leisure travellers from all around the world. As one of the most sophisticated cargo terminals in the industry, Hamad International Airport is a platform for the expanding global freight business, enabling Qatar Airways Cargo to provide seamless and efficient services to customers and cargo carriers around the world. Our new cargo handling facility promises to set new standards of service and quality not only to the Gulf region, but the wider world. The cargo terminal, which is one of the largest in the world, has the capacity to move 5,700 shipments simultaneously and handle 1.4 million tonnes of cargo per annum, representing a enormous 75% increase from the previous facility’s capacity. This will increase further to 2.5 million tonnes upon completion of the second terminal. This migration of all cargo operations to Qatar’s new Hamad International Airport (HIA) will further spur growth as Qatar is well on track to reach its objective of becoming one of the world’s top five global commercial cargo hubs. We know that what occurs on the ground is fundamental to quality air cargo service. Managing the export acceptance, import delivery, and timely transport of shipments each year is a complex operational challenge. Because of this, we endeavour constantly to improve our service and operational capabilities.
Due to high competition in the region, we are always striving to differentiate ourselves by providing our customers with the best products and services in the market. We are, therefore, constantly engaged in an ongoing dialogue with our customers in order to fully understand their expectations and needs, and to offer them reliable services that optimise cost and operational efficiencies across their supply chains.
What is the long-term strategy for India considering Indian carriers and your rivals are adding more destinations?
accelerated growth in the nation’s aviation and air freight industry in recent years, and that is only set to continue. As such, our long-term strategy has always stressed the importance of the Indian market.
Your fleet of freighter aircraft is constantly growing. Do you intend to enhance the number of frequencies? And which routes do you intent to increase? To Europe or America?
The freighter fleet currently includes six Boeing 777 freighters and three Airbus A330 freighters. A seventh Boeing 777 Our tonnages to and from India have been freighter will join the fleet this year. increasing each year. Qatar Airways At the recent Dubai Airshow Cargo tonnages out of India 2013, Qatar Airways have increased more than The airline has inplaced a firm order for 8 per cent over the precreased capacity and five new Airbus A330vious financial year destinations across the 200 Freighter aircraft, and into India have one of which will join increased by more country to 12 cities, with an the fleet by the end of than 13 per cent over overall frequency of more the year. Also includthe previous financial than 85 passenger flights ed in the order were year. and over 10 freight sereight additional A330The Indian air carvices a week. 200F options, for a total of go industry is fuelled by a 13 aircraft. buoyant drive to export a wide At the recent Farnborough variety of products to worldwide Show, Qatar Airways also announced its destinations: whether high tech or mass intent to order four 777 Freighters with opproduction from the textile sector, or the tions for four more. wide range of pharmaceuticals and perishIn line with our customers’ demands able consumables. and market studies, we have already inAs many of these exports are destined creased our frequencies to many destinafor countries in the GCC region, China, tions in our network. From 1st May, we USA, Europe, Africa, the United Kingdom, increased the freighter frequency to Hong and many other countries, Qatar Airways Kong from 8 weekly to 13 weekly with Cargo has identified opportunities that will Boeing 777 freighters; to Chennai from 3 continue to strengthen ties with India, but weekly to 4 weekly; to Milan from 5 weekalso to enable Qatar to act as a hub connectly to 6 weekly; and to Oslo from 3 weekly ing East and West. to 4 weekly. For example, we commenced freightFrom July 22, Delhi is also being served er operations to Hyderabad and Delhi in by a second Airbus A330 freighter. May this year, and with effect from July 22, Looking forward, Qatar Airways will 2014, we started our second freighter seralso be upgrading services on its Vienvice to Delhi. na route with the introduction of an A330 Since 2004, the airline has increased aircraft to replace the A320 on this thrice capacity and destinations across the counweekly service commencing on September try to 12 cities, with an overall frequency of 1, 2014. Qatar Airways will also be upgradmore than 85 passenger flights and over 10 ing services on its Moscow route with an freight services a week. increase in weekly frequencies to 14, as India is already a major economic well as introducing a new aircraft to help force, and yet it still has tremendous potenmeet the growth in demand to the Russian tial. Cargo demand and supply have been capital. growing rapidly in India in line with the
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focus
A NEW CANAL FOR THE SUEZ
Since its completion 145 years ago, the Suez Canal has made it easier for ships to travel between Europe and Asia without going around the southern tip of Africa. Today ships can only travel in one direction through the canal. An extra shipping lane, announced by Egypt’s President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi on August 5, will make the journey more efficient. The new 45-mile lane will provide travel in both directions for a little less than half of the 101-mile long canal. he new artificial waterway, 72 km in length would cost $4 T billion, according to the head of the Suez Canal, Mohab Memish. Egypt’s President Sisi wants the channel completed
within a year, but the project could take up to five years to finish. The present canal earns Egypt about $5 billion a year and the new one would boost annual revenues to $13.5 billion by 2023. The new canal is part of the Suez Canal Development mega project, which includes the development of sev-
eral seaports in the three governorates bordering the canal – Suez, Ismailia and Port Said – in addition to a seaport in the South Sinai city of Nuweiba and the development of Sharm Al-Sheikh airport. According to Memish, the new project will include the construction of six tunnels to link Sinai and two canal-borderering governorates of Port-Said and Ismailia. The six tunnels will cost around $8 billion with four designated for road traffic and two for railways, Memish added.
Facilities for all NORTHBOUND UNITED STATES: United States was the 18th biggest customer to use Suez Canal in year 2009. United States total commercial tonnage through canal was 19,678. UNITED KINGDOM: United Kingdom was the 8th biggest customer to use Suez Canal in year 2009. United Kingdom total commercial tonnage through canal was 47,760. ITALY: Italy was the largest in Europe and fourth in overall to use the Canal in 2009. Total commercial tonnage through canal for Italy was 58,765.
CANAL HISTORY
TURKEY: Turkey is also one of the biggest customers of Suez Canal with 15th rank in year 2009. Total commercial tonnage through canal for Turkey was 23,476.
The Universal Suez Ship Canal Company was formed and given the right to begin construction of the canal and operate it for 99 years.
1869
1858
1859 April 25, Construction of the Suez Canal officially began. GRAPHIC: NAGENDERE DUBEY
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The UK was given the right to maintain military forces in the Suez Canal Zone and control entry points.
November 17, It opened ten years later at a cost of $100 million.
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Egypt and the UK. signed a 7 year contract that resulted in the withdrawal of British forces from the canal and allowed Egypt to take control of the former British installations.
1936
1875
Debt forced Egypt to sell its shares in ownership of the Suez Canal to the United Kingdom. However, an international convention in 1888 made the canal available for all ships from any nation to use.
1954
1948 With the creation of Israel, the Egyptian government prohibited the use of the canal by ships coming and going from that country.
ent and
focus
SUEZ CANAL EXPANSION PLAN
Egypt has ambitious plans to boost revenues from its historic waterway
$13.5 billion
Projected revenues by 2023
44.74 MILES
Length of proposed new channel
$1.25 MILLION
$4 BILLION
Cost of a large ship passing both ways through canal
Cost of drilling new channel
5 YEARS
Estimated time to complete project
$5 BILLION
Egypt’s current annual revenues from Suez Canal
29,000 SQ MILES
Area of proposed logistics hub around canal
101 MILES
Length of current canal
The Canal today
The Suez Canal is operated by the Suez Canal Authority. The canal itself is 163 km long and 984 feet (300 m) wide. It begins at the Mediterranean Sea at Point Said flows through Ismailia in Egypt, and ends at Suez on the Gulf of Suez. It also has a rail track running the entire length parallel to its west bank. The Suez Canal can accommodate ships with a vertical height (draft) of 62 feet (19 m) or 210,000 deadweight tons. Most of the Suez Canal is not wide enough for two ships to pass side by side. To accommodate this, there is one shipping lane and several passing bays where ships can wait for others to pass. The Suez Canal has no locks because the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea’s Gulf of Suez have approximately the same water level. It takes around 11 to 16 hours to pass through the canal and ships must travel at a low speed to prevent erosion of the canal’s banks by the ships’ waves.
SOUTHBOUND INDIA: India also uses the canal for its import and exports. India was also one of the largest customers of the Suez Canal and ranked 12th with a total commercial tonnage of 38,893 tons in 2009. SAUDI ARABIA: Saudi Arabia was the biggest user of the Suez Canal. Total commercial tonnage through canal was 96,995 for Saudi Arabia in year 2009. CHINA: China was the third biggest customer to use Suez Canal in year 2009. China’s total commercial tonnage through the canal was 61,029 tons. MALAYSIA: Malaysia was the ninth largest customer to use Suez Canal in year 2009. Malaysia’s total commercial tonnage through canal was 46,093 tons. October 29, 1956: Israel invaded Egypt and two days later Britain and France followed on grounds that passage through the canal was to be free. In retaliation, Egypt blocked the canal by intentionally sinking 40 ships bringing on what is known as the Suez Crisis
Egypt made its final payments for the canal to its original owners (the Universal Suez Ship Canal Company) and the nation took full control of the Suez Canal.
1956
1956 Both nations withdrew their support and the Egyptian government seized and nationalised the canal so passage fees could be used to pay for the dam.
1962
1956
November 1956: The Suez Crisis ended when the United Nations arranged a truce between the four nations. The Suez Canal then reopened in March 1957 when the sunken ships were removed. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, the Suez Canal was closed several more times because of conflicts between Egypt and Israel.
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hi-tech
SmartKargo grows stronger
The latest cargo solution using Microsoft cloud computing, SmartKargo, has been recognised for its architecture and its low operating costs.
B
ack in November 2013, Team SmartKargo had showcased its solution at the Air Cargo Americas show. It was an attempt to woo air cargo stakeholders to test the nextgen solution. With its state-of-the-art architecture and low operating costs – essential these days — It must have impressed everyone who saw it. Today, SmartKargo has moved on from its initial client to a include carriers around the world among which are some Indian ones. Projected as the solution of the future, SmartKargo is unique in many ways – the foremost being able to instant deliver real time information. Perhaps, what is more important is the fact that it can be used wherever there is an internet connection. Clearly, this solution has raised the bar and with its utilization of Microsoft Cloud technology, it is within grasp of every stakeholder. An old India hand, Jay Shelat, Executive Vice President, Smart Kargo, and responsible for overall sales development and marketing strategies was in Mumbai to showcase his product to prospective clients when C&L caught up with him to find out more about SmartKargo. Excerpts from the conversation:
How effective have the present air cargo IT solutions been to the industry? Airlines have typically invested more in passenger solutions than in air cargo, for the obvious reason: relative revenue. But as global trade has grown, cargo has become an important – and highly profitable – revenue source. Thus airlines are now looking to replace older, less capable IT with a robust and comprehensive solution like SmartKargo.
What makes SmartKargo different from the others?
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SmartKargo, but that’s a good start.
Can you explain SmartKargo’s functions?
It was an attempt to woo air cargo stakeholders to test the next-gen solution. With its state-of-the-art architecture and low operating costs – essential these days – It must have impressed everyone who saw it. Jay Shelat
Executive Vice President, SmartKargo
SmartKargo delivers all the functionality you would expect from a pickup-to-final-delivery solution – booking, capacity planning, pricing and revenue management, scheduling, accounting, tracking, and more. Take a look at the graphic that summarizes SmartKargo capability.
How will SmartKargo help to further the implementation of e-Freight? Say goodbye to paper, and all its inherent limitations! SmartKargo is the realization of e-Freight. It’s built on IATA standards and is fully compliant with C-IMP messaging.
What is the future of IT solutions for the air cargo industry? We think that future solutions will look a lot like SmartKargo does today – a comprehen-
SmartKargo is the first solution that truly harnesses the advancements in IT and network of the past 10 to 20 years. It was designed by MIT engineers in collaboration with domain experts from the world’s largest airlines. It is the only pure play cloudbased solution available globally with unlimited scalability, which removes the expense of dedicated hardware and software – not to mention allow you to work SmartKargo wherever you have an Internet connection – at home, at a coffee shop, wherever. Moreover, it was the first system designed to manage air cargo from start to finish, enabling different stakeholders in the supply chain (shippers, agents, carriers, ground deliverers, etc.) to use the same system and to have access – with proper security, of course – to the same data, at the same time. And unlike older systems, SmartKargo delivers on-demand reports and other business intelligence instantly, not days or weeks later. There are a lot more benefits to
hi-tech
sive, flexible, cost-effective solution for airlines and their partners in the supply chain.
Can you please tell us why you chose SQL Azure and Windows Azure to overcome this challenge? Microsoft Azure is a highly reliable, scalable, open platform for cloud computing. As you know, cloud computing has many players, but almost none with as much experience and presence as Microsoft. The technology stack integration Microsoft has been able to deliver to Cloud Application developers is truly impressive and unparalleled. Convenient access to Microsoft’s technical team located right across from our head office in Cambridge, USA played a role as well!
Sales Data Management
Domestic and International Operations
Revenue Accounting
MIS Reporting & Business Intelligence
Capacity Planning
Rate and Yield management
Debit/ Credit Management
Access and Data Control
Agent Stock Control
Flight Schedule Management
Spot Rate/ Deal/ Incentive Management
IATA Messaging
Internet Bookings
Piece Level Identification and Tracking
Device Mobility Management
Public/ Private Hosting
e-Booking
e-AWB
e-Accounting
e-Tracking
Is there a strong appetite for technology investment in the current economic environment?
WIKIMEDIA
Airlines understand they need to invest in better cargo IT, but even well-funded carriers typically invest elsewhere – in new aircraft, ground facilities, passenger IT. That’s why we built SmartKargo in the cloud, eliminating the need for high upfront capital investment and allowing carriers and others system access on a “pay as you go” basis, and at a very reasonable price
compared to the value that we deliver.
Mobility is all pervasive now in the consumer world. Where do you see the main impact for air cargo? Mobile solutions have gone from “nice to have” to a business necessity almost overnight, and SmartKargo understood from the start that we needed to support mobile users – on a smartphone, on a tablet, on the move. Our competitors are scrambling to catch up!
WIKIMEDIA
What improvements can business intelligence bring and what can the air cargo industry expect? This is another area where SmartKargo shines. We knew carriers and other stakeholders needed way, way more business intelligence that existing systems delivered. Moreover, none of them can provide BI in real time – it’s always later, sometimes much later, like the next week or month, because
their systems are based on batch processing. SmartKargo allows you to know now. How much did we carry today? SmartKargo can tell you today.
We understand that to make the solution viable in emerging economies, SmartKargo is available on a pay as you earn model. How does this system work? The SmartKargo pricing model is unique. When an airline agrees to partner with us, we customize the system to their needs and implement quickly (we just went live with an up-and-coming Pacific airline in a record 80 business days!), and we charge a realistic upfront fee to get started – far less, of course, than new hardware and a license and all that. From there, it’s pay as you go – SmartKargo charges based on shipment weight. We align ourselves closely with our customers revenue model – if our customers do well, we do well is our approach!
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Supply chain design via Creating a supply chain may sound easy, but RAMESH KUMAR recounts with real-life examples that it requires more than ‘out of the box’ thinking to develop the perfect solution. Ramesh Kumar
Shamsher Singh has spent a chunk of his career moving liquor for prestigious Indian made foreign liquor brands in India. He was the most wanted man in the liquor logistics business because of his innovative route mapping for dispatches that ensured loaded vehicles to have a smooth run without any regulatory hassles. 24
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ou’ve no reason to know Achal Paliwal. On the other hand, if you know him, well and good for you, I mean. A few weeks ago, he called it quits after a 28-year long innings at two Japanese automotive giants operating in India: Maruti Suzuki and Honda Cars India. His entire was life spent on shop floor engineering and finished vehicle logistics. When I think of supply chain design, I cannot but think of him. For me, the challenges of higher damages to finished vehicles that was a big money sucker and teaser to the top Maruti Suzuki management in the 1990s and how the man from Etawah, Uttar Pradesh with a dream to work in the automotive segment helped solve the crisis with his unique ‘out of box’ thinking was extraordinary. Call it common sense, if you like, but it is great learning stuff. In a way, the solution was nothing short of deserving a Nobel prize worthy of innovations. Yet, it quietly evaporated the costliest headache that Maruti Suzuki in its initial days was confronted with. Finished or ready-for-market passenger cars, manufactured at the Gurgaon plant of Maruti Suzuki, used to be sent to the railway siding hardly a few kilometres away by road to be dispatched to Mundhra port on the Gujarat coast for shipment to overseas markets. Almost 15 per cent of such dispatched vehicles would be found ‘damaged’ at the time of Pre-Delivery Inspection (PDI) at Mundhra, thus warranting ‘not okay’ and returned to Gurgaon plant for repairs – more than a 1,000 km reverse logistics exercise. That was wastage of precious time, men and material and, of course, business shrinkage, however temporary it may be. In walked the young Paliwal, who sought a transfer to the finished vehicle logistics department at Maruti Suzuki soon after his training in advanced engineering in Japan! Given the importance of sales and dispatch at the country’s numero uno passenger car maker, objections over Paliwal’s transfer were overruled.
Sochiro Honda’s philosophy of “to be there” simply means that whoever designs or develops anything has to be there on the ground. One has to know how things are made from the moment they are a slab of metal to when they come out as a piston….
After a quick and thorough study of the existing practices of dispatch from the plant to the railways siding in Gurgaon, what caused the problem became crystal clear: At regular intervals a clutch of managers and workers would board a van, wielding scythe and cutting instruments and travel the plant-to-railway siding route, pruning tree tops and branches that jutted into the road. Since the vehicles were carried in trucks with two tiers and an open top, tree tops and branches would brush against them or hit the market-ready vehicles en route thus causing damages. Somehow, it did not occur to the team that switching over to a closed top carrier would solve the challenge. Paliwal offered the simple and common sense design solution and the damage ratio came dwindling down. It also almost saved tonnes of
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common sense! money because Maruti was bearing 100 per cent of insurance costs of such damage-in-transit. This Paliwal episode flashed in my mind, while discussing the latest bestseller, Driving Honda written by financial journalist Jeffrey Rothfeder with a bookworm friend. Paliwal, indeed spent almost a decade at Honda Cars India as Head of Exports and Logistics, the iconic Japanese automotive giant created by none other than Sochiro Honda with his philosophy of “to be there”. In a recent interview with Washington Post, Rothfeder explained this catch phrase’s meaning: “Whatever you’re going to design or develop, they call it sangen shugi, you have to be there on the ground. You have to know how are things made from the moment they are a slab of metal to when they come out as a piston. How do people make it? How does the car use it? What are some of the distinctions you can make for it? All of that can only be determined by asking the right questions and being curious and observant. And that’s one of the precepts of Honda Motor.” If Paliwal was at one end of the spectrum of innovative ‘out of the box’ thinking to address supply chain and logistical challenges, Shamsher Singh, branch head of Agarwal Packers & Movers at Varanasi – Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s constituency – is another solid example. The Hissar-born veteran has spent a sizeable chunk of his career in moving liquor for prestigious Indian made foreign liquor brands in India and SAARC countries. “I was always the most wanted man in the liquor logistics business because of innovative route mapping for dispatches. All the time, I have to understand, assimilate state level excise duty regulations and ensure my loaded vehicles have a smooth run without any regulatory hassles. One goof up and the company loses heavily. The route planning has to be perfect since the cargo carried is in breakable bottles mostly and in-transit damage on bad roads is a huge business loss,” elaborates Singh at his Varanasi godown-cum-office on a cloudy July evening. Now, the critical or crucial question is: What’s supply chain design? “Successful supply chain design is about deploying assets in ways that enhance profitability and shareholder value. You need to consider market and sourcing strategies that will generate the best financial performance. You must identify the optimal number of
plants, warehouses and distribution centres to maximize long-term profit. It is important to understand exactly how and where to deploy assets for optimal operational and financial performance. Personnel involved in supply chain design require a tool that considers business objectives, resource constraints and subsequent financial impacts in order to define ays an optimal supplier-to-customer supply chain structure – one that cuts costs and increases profitability,” says Velocity Technologies honchos .“Focusing on supply chain design is one way companies can combat the problems caused by increased competition and shorter product life cycles. Supply chain design attempts to create the appropriate supply chain for the company’s operating environment,” writes Sean Peter Willems, a research scholar in a paper submitted to the Alfred P Sloan School of Management way back in 1993, which is still relevant. He adds: “Once the product’s design has already been fixed, the central question is determining what parts and processes to select. For example, various vendors can supply a certain raw material, multiple machines or processes can manufacture the assembly, and multiple shipping options can deliver the completed product to the final customer. Each of these different options is differentiated by its production time and direct cost added. Given these various choices along the supply chain, the problem is to select the options that minimize the total supply chain cost... When product life cycles are short, the company could opt to overengineer certain components or subsystems in the current generation. This would increase the current period’s costs but allow the company to forgo a development cycle in the next period and gain cost efficiencies by exploiting the higher volume from two generations of demand.” (The author is Member, Committee on Supply Chain & Logistics, National Centre for Cold-Chain Development - A Govt of India Organisation Under Ministry of Agriculture. He is also author of 10,000 KM on Indian Highways, Naked Banana! and An Affair with Indian Highways
Achal Paliwal used his common sense to design a solution – a cover for the trucks transporting finished vehicles to the railway siding – that ensured the damage ratio of Maruti vehicles to come dwindling down. It also saved tonnes of money because Maruti was bearing 100 per cent of insurance costs of damage-in-transit. Cargo & Logistics I August 2014
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profile
From Pallia to Paris VIPUL NANDA, Chairman and Managing Director of Mercurio Pallia Logistics, has carved out a niche for his company by not only focusing on the opportunities available but also providing top-of-the-line services. It is no wonder that the Italians first noticed his work...
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n a bitter, cold mid-January 2012 afternoon, portly Vipul Nanda gingerly stepped out of a massive warehouse on the outskirts of Paris, France and subjected himself to the tightest multilayer security regulations ungrudgingly. Mind you, he was no ordinary visitor. Why? Because he is the 50 per cent equity partner of India-based Mercurio Pallia Logistics specialising in finished vehicle movement for almost all Indian auto OEMs. Above all, the warehouse he was visiting that cloudy, wintry day belonged to his newly-found joint venture partner, Gefco, a fully-owned subsidiary of PSA Peugeot Citroen of France and Russian Railways. Notwithstanding this ground reality, the much-soughtafter Indian niche player by global giants wanting a toehold in India, is game and smiling. “Let them do their duties. I am sure, even Yves Fargues (the then Chairman of Gefco) would have gone through the same regimen,” avers the broad-rim spectacled fortyish Nanda. Absolutely, down to earth. No airs. Belonging to the Nanda’s clan of Pallia – the small town nestling on the Indo-Nepal border in Uttar Pradesh that has been in the
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passenger and goods transport business for more than half a century – Vipul, the youngest son of late Goverdhan Lal Nanda – has almost been written off. Through sheer determination and focused approach mixed with excellent networking skillsets, Vipul – affectionately called, ‘Pappu’ by his friends and family – proved them wrong. In a span of less than decade, he has established a name for his organisation among the auto OEMs that matter a lot from the business perspective — which in a way brought him suitors from abroad. The Italians were the first to fall in love with him. Mercurio, a renowned 3PL servicing global auto majors across continents, signed up the nuptials in 2008, thus paving the way for the name change from Pallia Transport to Mercurio Pallia Logistics with equal equity stakes. Mercurio bossman Andrea Conti used to proclaim: “It was His wish that we come together.” But as luck would have it, Conti subsequently sold his stakes to Gefco of France, the French 3PL giant, replacing Mercurio as the main overseas partner with no change in the name of the company. Hit by the global recession, Gefco was hived off by its parent Peugeot to stave off looming financial crisis two years ago. It is the turn of Russians – ZDR or Russian Railways – to step in to do business in India. As of now, the French continue to run the Indian business with the Russians acting as strategic investors. Thus, in a span of less than a decade, Mercurio Pallia Logistics – the cynosure of all transporters, particularly the car carrier fraternity – has metamorphosed into an Indo-Russian 3PL giant via Italian and French connections. Mind you, Nanda’s business partners are not private equity partners who have entered India with an exit date pre-deter-
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mined but dedicated and hardcore automotive logistics practitioners. It is just not moving finished vehicles across the globe but neck deep in every aspect of inbound, outbound, yard management and transportation and what not. Though he had begun with passenger cars, he has forayed into two- and three-wheelers as well as heavy commercial vehicles or trucks. “We are always forward-looking,” he explains from his chamber in his Gurgaon corporate office and continues, “and do not hesitate to bear risks and be the pioneers.” The advent of ‘people’s car’ viz., Maruti Suzuki in 1980s, coinciding with their arrival in the Indian capital, enabled the Nandas to focus on the finished vehicle transport business. The growing popularity of Maruti among the Indian masses boosted business. Until his father’s demise in 1998, the Nainital-educated Vipul played second fiddle to him. With his brother Puneesh Nanda opting out of transport business, Vipul became the real head of Pallia Transport Company, ably supported by his wife, Puja. “Our board meetings used to be held in bedroom mostly,” says the present Chairman and Managing Director of Pallia Transport Company matter of factly. A close knit group of friends – Rajiv Chauhan, Sanjay Bansal, Anant, Rajgupta – also threw their collective weight behind Vipul in helping him pursue his dreams. In 2003, the Pallia Transport Company boss sensed a fresh business opportunity
and decided to throw his weight behind Mahindra & Mahindra, which was making a big foray into the passenger vehicle segment beyond the jeeps they were famous for. The gamble paid off handsomely with M&M emerging as one of the top most players in the automotive segment. MPL, thus, has double European connections: Italian and French. A unique combination indeed. Perhaps, it is the only Indian logistics company with such a rich 3PL automotive logistics experience as equity partners at a time when the Indian automotive segment is expected to grow exponentially.
The Nandas came from Lyallpur in Pakistan with empty pockets. Today, they are one of the richest in the transport logistics business. Pallia Transport Company, celebrated its Golden Jubilee in 2011, continues to rule the roost in that once sleepy town. It continues to transport sugarcane, sugar, grain, etc. However, it has discontinued its Passenger Bus Service a few years ago. The latest feather in Mercurio Pallia’s cap is the bagging of Fiat India Automobile’s yard management and transportation business to be managed out of Ranjangaon, near the Italian car giant’s Indian manufacturing plant. “With the GST roll-out round the corner, stock yard management and transportation is going to be the future,” says a confident Nanda. With auto majors seriously exploring moving finished vehicles by rail – besides road – for a variety of reasons, thus getting fresh impetus to rail logistics, Mercurio Pallia Logistics is not lagging behind. With its new Russian Railways joint ownership and Gefco’s own innate strength in moving finished vehicles by rail, Mercurio Pallia Logistics is exploring containerised movement on rails with strategic tie-ups in this segment. — Ramesh Kumar (The profile is part of C&L’s spotlight on personalities from the cargo and logistics sector who have contributed immensely to the Indian economy.)
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News in Brief
AIR CIAL POSTS RECORD PROFIT Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) has registered an impressive growth rate of 11.68 per cent in its
profits rates to post a record profit of `124.42 crore during the fiscal 2013-14. According to official estimates, the company’s gross profit stood at `157.46 crore while the total turnover was at `361.39 crore. Of this, 44.8 per cent of income (`161.99 crore) comes from non traffic sector. The total revenue of the company during last financial year was at `306.5 crore with a profit after tax of `111.41 crore. During the period, aircraft movement grew by 13.67 per cent and cargo traffic has also shown a significant improvement with the figures standing at 18.62 per cent and 8.39 per cent in the international and domestic sectors respectively. Meanwhile, the number of passengers increased by 9.93 per cent with the total number of passengers handled standing at 5.3 million during the period.
RUSLAN DELIVERS VIP PERFORMANCE Ruslan international – the joint venture company which manages and markets the 17-strong fleet of giant Antonov An-124 aircraft belonging to its shareholders Antonov Airlines and Volga Dnepr Airlines – pulled out all stops to deliver an urgent shipment of ethanol production equipment on time for a VIP opening ceremony. The cargo totalled 79,000 kilos, with the heaviest individual piece weighing in at 58,015 kilos, and measuring 13.157m x 3.15m x 3.81m. The project
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Subdued half year for Lufthansa
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ufthansa’s group cargo volumes fell 3.1 per cent in the first six months of 2014 to 932,000 tonnes in a subdued freight market for the German carrier’s airline businesses which include Lufthansa Cargo, Swiss and Austrian Airlines. In its half-year financial review, Lufthansa said: “The global cargo business was more subdued than the passenger business in the first half-year. Revenue tonne-kilometres climbed 4.4 per cent year on year in the first five months of 2014.” The Lufthansa Cargo segment
saw a 3.8 per cent decline in half year volumes to 807,000 tonnes as revenues fell 4.8 per cent to €1.2 billion at the business which includes airfreight container specialist Jettainer and the equity investment with DHL in the cargo airline Aerologic. Available tonne-kilometres at Lufthansa Cargo for the half year were reduced by 2.1 per cent and cargo tonne-kilometres fell by 1.9 per cent. The cargo load factor went up by 0.1 percentage points compared with the first half of 2013. Average yields fell slightly by 2.9 per cent.
ETIHAD TAKES 49 PER CENT STAKE IN ALITALIA
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ames Hogan, President and Chief Executive of Etihad Airways, has announced that the carrier has spent € $739,540,277 to acquire its 49 per cent equity stake in Alitalia. In an effort to better serve the Italian cargo market, which is the third largest in Europe, Alitalia’s cargo business will be re-launched and expanded, with the establishment of a center of excellence in Northern Italy, investment in handling capabilities at Italian airports, and the optimisation of an integrated cargo network. “For Etihad Airways, this is a strategic, long-term commercial investment,” said Hogan. “On completion, we are committed, with the other shareholders, to build a reinvigorated Alitalia as a competitive, sustainable and profitable business that can operate successfully in the global air travel market. We believe in Alitalia. It is great brand with enormous
Etihad Airways CFO James Rigney; Alitalia chairman Roberto Colaninno; Etihad Airways’ president and CEO James Hogan; and Alitalia CEO Gabriele Del Torchio mark the official signing of the investment deal in Rome, Italy.
potential. With the right level of capitalisation and a strong, strategic business plan, we have confidence the airline can be turned around and repositioned as a premium global airline once again,” he added. The deal adds to Etihad’s growing list of equity partners, which includes airberlin, Air Serbia, Jet Airways, Virgin Australia, Air Seychelles and Aer Lingus.
News in Brief
Virgin expands lightweight container fleet
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irgin Atlantic Cargo has taken delivery of its first 802 lightweight air cargo containers and will add a further 250 new units in the coming weeks. The investment is part of the carrier’s sustainability programme to save fuel and reduce its carbon footprint. The airline will ultimately replace all 3,200 of its LD3 units. The first phase of its new composite container fleet will enable Virgin Atlantic to achieve further fuel efficiencies and reduce its CO² emissions by an additional 565 tons in 2014. Neil Ferdinando, Virgin Atlantic’s General Manager Cargo Operations, said: “We have been trialling lightweight containers over several months and with the first delivery we have replaced 25 per cent of our LD3s with composite containers that are 16 kilos per unit lighter. This provides a dual benefit to the airline of improved fuel consumption and makes another valuable contribution towards our target of reducing aircraft CO² emissions by 30 per cent by 2020.” Virgin Atlantic is sourcing its lightweight containers from Nordisk and Advanced Composite Structures (ACS).
Hactl achieve GDP accreditation
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ong Kong Air Cargo Terminals (Hactl) is the first handling facility at the airport to achieve Good Distribution Practices (GDP) accreditation, bringing it in line with the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) quality assurance guidelines for the handling of pharmaceuticals. To meet the GDP guidelines, Hactl has enhanced the temperature-controlled zones in its SuperTerminal 1 facility, to accommodate pharmaceutical products requiring temperatures of 15°C to 25°C, 2°C to 8°C, and -15°C to -25°C; these are equipped with temperature mapping and 24-hour monitoring by trained operatives. Hactl has also designated a fasttrack Golden Route to ensure that all pharmaceutical cargo enjoys the fastest possible transit between the apron and the handling areas. Hactl supervisors and corresponding managers have undergone professional GDP training on standards, operating procedures and quality issues. All pharmaceutical handling areas are now regularly cleaned and sanitised in accordance with GDP hygiene standards.
Japan Airlines reports healthy cargo
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apan Airlines reported healthy cargo in Q1 of 2014, which runs from April 1 to June 30. The volume of international cargo, in terms of revenue cargo tonne kilometers (RCTK), increased by 16.5 per cent year over year, and international cargo revenue increased by 9.2 per cent to 14 billion yen. “The Japanese economy has been recovering at a moderate pace, while affected by a reactionary decline in demand following the front-loaded increase in demand prior to the consumption tax
hike, though the impact has gradually weakened. Effects of the Japanese government’s stimulus package have begun to show, although the prolonged downturn of European economies has been a downside risk to the Japanese economy,” JAL said. The volume of domestic cargo, in terms of RCTK, decreased by 6 per cent year over year, and domestic cargo revenue fell by 5 per cent to 5.7 billion yen. Total operation revenues for international and domestic cargo rose 0.8 per cent in Q1 compared to a year ago.
AIR was performed in cooperation with Fly Easy, a charter-broker based in Brazil. “We are very glad we were able to accommodate this urgent request, which successfully exploited the full range of expertise which Ruslan International can bring to bear in such demanding situations,” said Paul Bingley, Commercial Executive, Ruslan International.
AIR PARTNER FLIES PORTABLE HOSPITAL Air charter broker Air Partner teamed up with Ruslan International to move an entire portable hospital on behalf of a Middle Eastern ruling family. The demountable, modular clinic comprised 10 individual units – a reception hall, radiology room, operating theatre, dentistry unit, intensive care unit, pharmacy and medical store, and twin generators. All units were based around ISO 20ft containers for ease of transport and assem-
bly on site. The portable health centre, weighing a total of 44 tonnes, was flown on a single AN-124 flight from its manufacturer in Turkey to Tangier’s Ibn Batouta Airport, en route to its final destination. Air Partner’s Regional Freight Manager for Turkey, Emir Ozdabak, commented: “We chose the AN-124 because it could carry all 10 units on a single flight, and because its on-board crane system meant loading and unloading could be performed directly to and from road vehicles, without the need for any handling equipment. We have a huge amount of experience in dealing with outsize cargo, and we were pleased to be able to work with Ruslan International to find an innovative solution to meet our client’s needs.”
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News in Brief
SHIPPING AND PORTS SCI POSTS `49.50 CR PROFIT Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) reported a net profit of `49.50 crore for the first quarter ended June 30 against `98.70 crore loss during the same period a year ago. In the quarter ended March, the company had reported a profit of `13.24 crore, though the full year it suffered a loss of `274 crore. During the first quarter, both liner and tanker operations suffered losses and the offshore services reported lower profit. The company cancelled orders for two new vessel a container vessel and an OSV as the yard could not deliver them on time.
LIFETIME LICENCES TO INDIAN SHIPS In a significant step, the Ministry of Shipping has decided that lifetime li-
TAMP REJECTS PROPOSED JN PORT CARGO FEE India’s Tariff Authority for Major Ports (TAMP) has turned down a proposal by Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) to impose new fees on shipments moving via Gateway Terminals, an APM Terminals facility in the country’s largest state-owned container port. The port authority planned to start levying charges of `94.42 per 20-foot container and `188.84 per 40-foot container to offset costs incurred for infrastructure development outside the licensed area, particularly for road maintenance and construction. TAMP said in its order, “Given the position that the expenditure
Indian controlled ships to get preference cences will be issued to Indian ships and any other ship charted by an Indian citizen or an Indian company. Such licences had to be renewed every year. The decision, approved by the Minister for Shipping, Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, also provides for all the five Registrars of Ships—at Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Goa and Cochin—to issue such licences under the provisions of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1958. The licences will be issued with a lifetime fee now instead of an annual fee, but the licence will be co-terminus with the certificate of Registry of the ship. A ship is registered by the Principal Officers of Mercantile Marine Department (MMD) of the Director-
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hips under the “Indian controlled tonnage” category would be registered under foreign flags even though they are owned by Indian companies and would get preference for carrying coastal cargo over ships owned by foreign lines when such vessels are in-chartered, the recently issued guidelines by the government said. According to the guidelines, when such vessels are charted to India, they will have the right of first refusal of cargo over non-Indian ships. This move is likely to enable Indian companies to register ships under “tax-friendly” foreign countries, which also expected to help them to raise funds at lower cost. Though the domestic shipping companies were happy with the new policy, they are a bit disappointed over the stipulation that they should maintain the level of Indian tonnage they own as on April 1, 2014, which means they cannot flag out any of their existing ships.
relating to repairs and depreciation on the road in question has already been taken into account in the general tariff revision proposal of JNPT disposed in the years 2011 and 2014, consideration of the said cost components again to arrive at the quantum of a new levy would amount to double counting of the said items of expenditure.” The port’s move earlier drew a sharp protest from the Mumbai-Nhava Ship Agents’ Association, which represents local agents of ocean carriers operating at the ports of Mumbai and Nhava Sheva.
Adani Ports Q1 net Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone’s Q1FY15 (April-June) consolidated net profit jumped 36 per cent at `568 crore versus `417.5 crore in a year ago period. The consolidated total income was down 14.6 per cent at `1,261.6 crore versus `1,478.4 crore, Y-o-Y. Total income from port-related operations increased by 27 per cent to `1,430 crore from `1,131 crore in same quarter last fiscal. The cargo handled by the company was 33.83 million tonnes in the quarter, an increase of 27 per cent over
News in Brief
Pipavav Port plans for expansion
SHIPPING AND PORTS ate-General of Shipping (DGS), who are designated Registrars of Ships by the DGS. They would now get powers to issue lifetime licences too, informed an official release. The decision will immensely benefit seagoing Indian and other vessels engaged in coastal trading as the process has now been decentralised and liberalised. Ship operators now need not undertake the exercise of renewing the licence every year, the release stressed.
IWAI TO DEVELOP NW-5 Pipavav Port is planning to invest USD 100 million over the next two years to ramp up its container handling capacity by over 50 per cent. The port, now led by Maersk Group’s APM Terminals, has already tied up USD 70 million in external borrowings for the same, while the rest will come from internal accruals. The expansion work involves replacing a crane with a more
net profit jumps the corresponding quarter last year. The company’s port at Mundra handled 28.86 million tonnes of cargo in the first quarter, a 22 per cent growth over the year-ago. The acquisition of the Dhamra Port was also completed during this period and it handled 4.20 million tonnes of cargo during the quarter, a growth of 36 per cent over the corresponding quarter last year. Volume at the Dahej port grew by 28 per cent and at the Hazira port by 85 per cent on a year-on-year basis.
powerful one and constructing a new yard, which will help in expanding the overall capacity. The port had in April announced a cut in its capacity expansion on both the container and bulk cargo side. While the cut in container capacity was a minor one (from 15 lakh TEU to the 13.5 lakh TEU), the one on the bulk cargo was drastic, as it slashed new addition target from the earlier 20 mt to 4-5 mt.
Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the government of Odisha and the ports of Paradip and Dhamra for the development and maintenance of viable stretches of National Waterways-5, of about 332 km, in two phases. In the first phase, the stretch between Jokadia to Dhamra and Paradip Port will be developed for the purpose
Indo-B’desh trial run to start by Oct 14
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ndia and Bangladesh are set to start coastal shipping by this year and trial runs between the ports in two countries are slated by October 14. “An understanding has been reached between the two countries for commencement of coastal shipping between the ports of Bangladesh and the eastern ports of India... It was agreed that a trial run of Bangladesh/ Indian vessels would be undertaking latest by October 14,” an official source said to a daily. The two countries have agreed to conform to Indian standards of River Sea Vessels (RSV)-4 for operation of ships. India has agreed to assist Bangladesh through Indian Register of Shipping (IRS) for classification of Bangladesh vessels. Coastal trade with Bangladesh will come huge saving to the industry.
of shipping and navigation of cargo vessels of about 1,500 tonnes, with the required infrastructure and navigation aids. In the second phase, the stretch between Talcher and Jokadia, of about 131 km, is scheduled to be developed. IWAI is tasked with preparing the project proposal for this stretch of National Waterways-5 in the next 5 months and, after obtaining necessary sanction of the estimated cost, will initiate action for the execution of the project.IWAI would complete the project within a period of 3 years at a total estimated cost of over `2,000 crore. The Ministry of Shipping would be approaching Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for funding of the project.
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News in Brief
LAND DHL LAUNCHES NEW SERVICE DHL Global Forwarding has enhanced its cold chain logistics offerings through the transport of shipments at frozen or cryogenic temperatures. Designed for customers from the life sciences and healthcare industry with an increasing
need for sophisticated cryogenic logistics solutions, this service is maintained by LifeConEx, DHL’s temperature management specialist, in collaboration with Cryoport, a provider of complete global frozen shipping services. David Bang, CEO LifeConEx said: “By introducing this latest solution in collaboration with Cryoport, we are further strengthening our dedication to the life sciences and healthcare industry.” For DHL’s life science and healthcare customers, the new service combines express delivery speed and Cryoport’s best-in-class solution for shipping temperature-sensitive products and biological materials in a deep-frozen state. The integral part of the new service is a non-hazardous liquid nitrogen dry vapour shipper which has an IATA A152 waiver and is classified as non-hazardous, providing 10 days of holding time at minus 150 º Celsius in a safe and environmentally friendly manner. The new service is an addition to DGF’s other leading temperature controlled services and complementary to DHL Express’ Medical Express by uniting the global Life Sciences & Healthcare network of DHL with Cryoport’s advanced solution for deep frozen logistics.
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VIRAJ GROUP SETS UP ICD IN TARAPUR, MAHARASHTRA V
iraj Profiles Ltd, the $ 1.5bn leader in stainless steel long products, after its successful operations at CFS, Nhava Sheva has extended its logistics arm by setting up its Inland Container Depot – Vaishno Container Terminal at Tarapur, Maharashtra. Set up at an investment of `90 crores, the Inland Container Depot (ICD) is located at Tarapur- Boisar, in Thane district, at a distance of 150 Kms from the Nhava Sheva Terminals and 128 Kms from Mumbai Port Terminal , with a travel time of 4-5 Hrs, ensuring smooth transportation between ICD to Gateway Ports. The facility was inaugurated by V S Krishnan, IRS, Chief Commissioner of Central Excise, Service Tax and Customs. The Vaishno Container Terminal has paved yard of 11.4 acres for contain-
INDIAN RAILWAYS EARNINGS UP 10 PER CENT
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ailways have earned `49,026.31 crore during April-July this year as against `44,264.23 crore during the same period previous year, registering an augment of 10.76 per cent. The total earnings from goods during the 4 months this year were `33,040.22 crore compared to `30,516.04 crore during the corresponding period previous year, registering an increase of 8.27 per cent. Railways carried 357.57 million tonnes (mt) of freight traffic during April-July 2014 as against 343 MT in the corresponding period last year, registering an increase of 6.25 per cent. According to Railway Ministry data, during the month of July 2014, the freight carried by the national transporter was 89.89 MT, as compared to 86.21 MT during the same period last year, showing an increase of 4.27 per cent.
er stacking handling up to 5000 TEU’s per month, with adequate warehousing space of 33000 Sq.ft for Import/Export, LCL/FCL warehousing, as per requirement. State of the art container/cargo handling equipment, trained manpower and its close proximity to the gateway ports are some of the key points which will contribute towards the success of the ICD.
AMAZON TO INVEST MORE IN INDIAN E-COMMERCE
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mazon says it will invest another USD two billion in India after local rival Flipkart attracted USD one billion of fresh funds. Amazon, which opened its Indian website in June 2013, has cut prices, launched same-day delivery, added new product categories and embarked on a big advertisement campaign. Amazon and Flipkart have been joined in India’s USD 13 billion e-commerce sectors by marketplace Snapdeal, fashion e-tailer Jabong, and US auctioneer eBay Inc. “With this additional investment of USD two billion, our team can continue to think big, innovate, and raise the bar for customers in India,” said Amazon Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jeff Bezos. “India is on track to be our fastest country in gross sales,” he added. Amazon said it will be opening
News in Brief
GATEWAY RAIL FREIGHT TO LEASE WAGONS G ateway Rail Freight Ltd (GRFL), the container train operating subsidiary of Gateway Distriparks Ltd, a Mumbai-based logistics firm, is likely to lease wagons from the market, which has an oversupply, said Sachin Bhanushali, President, GRFL. He said GRFL was looking to lease wagons for two to five years. As of now, there are two American firms in the wagon leasing market — GATX and Touax. The company has 21 train sets in the market, of which 18 are under operation. Bhanushali said the company would like to wait for the Railways to finalise the design of new lighter wagons before they buy new wagons, add-
ing that the payload per wagon will be 75 tonnes against 61 tonnes at present. For the first quarter of current fiscal, Indian Railways carried almost 12 million tonnes of container load, about 1.6 mt more than the corresponding period last year.
FOODGRAIN TO AGARTALA VIA BANGLADESH
S
five more warehouses, almost doubling storage capacity to half a million square feet. Amazon makes its money in India by charging third-party suppliers to use its website to sell 17 million different products including books, electronics and clothing. The government is considering allowing foreign retailers to sell directly to customers, recently allowing retailers to sell online products manufactured in India.
ARR Freights successfully delivered the first tranche of 5000 metric tonnes (MT) of foodgrains in Agartala from Vizag using sea-riverine-road route and passing through parts of Bangladesh. The successful delivery was part of a pilot undertaken on behalf of Food Corporation of India (FCI), which is exploring alternate ways of transporting foodgrains to North Eastern region of the country in coordination with government of India and Bangladesh, respectively. FCI has awarded the contract for transportation of a total 10,000 MT of food grains to Agartala to SARR Freights. The new route also helps in overcoming some hurdles of old route (using rail/ road transportation), which is often disrupted due to rough geographic terrain, roadblocks and other issues. Currently, the new route through Bangladesh is only opened for FCI. SARR Freights will shortly undertake the shipment of second tranche of 5,000 MT of foodgrains to Agartala using the new route.
LAND CONCOR’S PROFIT GOES UP Container Corporation of India (CONCOR) reported 6.25 per cent increase in net profit to `261.88 crore for the quarter that ended on June 30 on the back
of higher income. The company’s net profit in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal was `246.47 crore, according to the company’s press release. The company said that the total income from operations went up to `1,269.67 crore from `1,194.54 crore in the same quarter of FY’14. It said that the total expenses also increased to `1,020.54 crore, against `969.11 crore in the corresponding quarter of previous financial year. CONCOR manages the largest network of dry ports in the country, and has introduced and promotes the concept of multimodals in transport of goods both in the international and domestic segments. The company has constantly strived to facilitate faster and more efficient movement of goods by expanding and upscaling its infrastructure.
ALLCARGO LOGISTICS Q1 NET PROFIT RAISES Allcargo Logistics Limited reported a 26.73 per cent rise in its net profit for the first quarter of the current fiscal due to higher revenue from the multimodal transport operations and container freight station (CFS) business. The company said that Net profit for the quarter ended 30 June 2014 rose to `48.98 crore from `38.65 crore for the same quarter a year ago. Net sales for the quarter rose 34.71 per cent to `1,318.63 crore as compared to `978.89 crore year ago. Director of finance S. Suryanarayanan said,“ The benefits of consolidation of acquired companies have helped us to report good numbers.”
Cargo & Logistics I August 2014
33
News in Brief
INFRASTRUCTURE CAPACITY BOOST AT FIVE MAJOR PORTS The Union government has proposed to grant `4,575 crore for seven projects under public-private partnership (PPP) mode in order to enhance the capacity of five Major Ports by 67 million tonnes (mt). The projects include the development of a liquid terminal at Jawaharlal Nehru Port, dry port at Chennai Port, liquid terminal and container terminal at Kandla Port, storage area for bulk cement at Mumbai Port and development of iron ore and multi-cargo berths at Paradip Port, official sources said. The capacity of the 12 major ports, which handle about 61 per cent of the total cargo traffic, stood at about 700 mt as on March 31 this year. According to sources, 44 projects worth `30,221 crore were already under implementation under PPP in the sector. The Minister of State for Shipping, Krishanpal Gurjar, said in July that the government had prioritised a total of 72 projects in the port sector under PPP, of which 28 valued at `8,945.86 crore had been completed.
CEVA WINS SILVER AWARD CEVA Logistics was awarded the Silver Supplier Excellence Award at the Singapore Aerospace Awards (SAA) 2014 organised by the Association of Aerospace Industries, Singapore (AAIS). This award recognises CEVA’s supply chain expertise and experience in the highly specialised aerospace sector, in particular for delivering an innovative cost effective solution to meet the specific challenge of a long standing aerospace customer in Singapore. CEVA was the only 3PL nominated at the Singapore Aerospace Awards this year. The Awards ceremony was graced by Guest of Honor, Josephine Teo, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Finance and Transport, and Charles Chong, President, AAIS who presented the awards to the winners.
34
August 2014 I Cargo & Logistics
READY FOR ACCD CRICKET TOURNAMENT?
T
here is palpable excitement in Delhi’s air freight fraternity, as 12 teams from various companies/organizations prepare to compete in the ACCD Cricket Tournament hosted by the Air Cargo Club of Delhi from September 13, 2014. The first chapter of the tournament was held in 2003. Since then, the tournament has become an annual feature with the present one being the seventh in the series. There is a running trophy for the winning team and the first runner’s up. Played on the T-20 format, the initial matches will be day games played on Second Saturdays and Sundays of the month, while the Semi-final and
Finals will play out as night matches under lights. The final will be held on October 31, 2014. The ACCD has extended an open invitation to everyone to come and share the thrills and joys of the game. The venue will be intimated shortly. Watch this space for the latest!
CHENNAI TO GET COMMON AIR CARGO
I
t will soon be possible to walk into a common user domestic terminal at Chennai airport to send parcels and courier packets by air instead of going in search of airline offices to book the cargo. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has already earmarked three sheds next to the international cargo terminal for creation of this common user facility and talks are underway with the
Container Corporation of India (CONCOR) to operate it. More, the common user facility would help to centralise the movement of domestic cargo and standardise the cost, a senior AAI official said. The domestic air cargo segment has been seeing growth with the transportation of fresh fruits, flowers, cotton, textiles, pharma products, electronic items and mobiles phones.
KICK-START FOR JN PORT SEZ
P
rime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone recently for the critical Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust Special Economic Zone (SEZ), at Sheva in the Port’s vicinity. He also laid the foundation for widening of the road from the Port to the National Highway, besides symbolically handing over developed land allotment letters to JNPT project-affected persons (PAPs) under the 12.5 per cent scheme. The `4,000-crore SEZ will be spread over 277 hectares and will be located near the Port. The SEZ will be developed through a Special Purpose Vehicle under the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) mode and is expected to be ready in three years. The `1,926-crore Port Connectivity
Prime Minister Narendra Modi handed over land allotment letters to Project Affected Persons at the foundation stones laying ceremony of JNPT SEZ and Port Connectivity Road at Sheva
Highway Project, taken up under the National Highway Development and Port Connectivity Programme, envisages construction of a 6-8 lane highway with necessary flyovers, railway overbridges and interchanges to ensure uninterrupted flow of traffic bound to and from the Port. It will be completed by December 2017.
News in Brief
Appointments
Anand Yedery
Ashish Kapur
Cathay Pacific Airways has appointed Anand Yedery as Regional Cargo Manager - South Asia, Middle East & Africa with effect from August 1, 2014. Yedery will be responsible for overseeing the business and operations of Cathay Pacific cargo in the three regions and will be based in Mumbai. Born and educated in Mumbai, Yedery has been working with Cathay Pacific since 2004. He joined the airline in the Customer Services department at Mumbai Airport. In 2007, Yedery moved to the Commercial side of business, heading Passenger Sales for Southern India based out of Chennai. Yedery has replaced Ashish Kapur who has moved to Dubai from Delhi as Country Manager, UAE and Oman, Cathay Pacific Airways.
DB SCHENKER
ACI WORLD
DB Schenker in India has appointed Vivek Chopra as new Director Region North India. He will be based at regional office Gurgaon and will be reporting to Managing Director Allgeier. Prior to the position Chopra was working as Director – Air freight with Schenker India Pvt. Ltd.
PS Nair, CEO, GMR Airports Ltd. has been nominated on the World Governing Board of Airport Council International (ACI) World, Montreal. Earlier, he was PS Nair elected as the Second Vice President from amongst the 18 Directors of the Hong Kong headquartered ACI-Asia Pacific Regional Board. Nair is an ex-fulltime Board Member of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) who has also held several other key positions in AAI such as Director of Trivandrum, Mumbai and Delhi International Airports, Executive Director-Cargo/Commercial/Key Infrastructure Dev. etc.
Gunjan Dhingra has joined Schenker India as Director – Airfreight replacing Vivek Chopra. Dhingra has got 16 years of experience as an air cargo professional. Prior to joining Schenker India, Dhingra was Regional Cargo Manager –South East Asia in one of the airlines based out of Thailand. Gunjan Dhingra will be reporting to Shubhendu Das, COO.
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stats
INDIAN PORTS ASSOCIATION TRAFFIC HANDLED AT MAJOR PORTS
HANDLEDVIS-A-VIS AT MAJORAPRIL PORTSTO JULY’2013) (DURING APRILTRAFFIC TO JULY’2014* (DURING APRIL TO JULY'2014* VIS-A-VIS APRIL TO JULY'2013)
(*)
TENTATIVE
PORT
(IN '000 TONNES) TRAFFIC PERIOD
P.O.L.
IRON ORE
FERTILIZER RAW FIN.
COAL CONTAINER THERMAL COKING TONNAGE TEUs
OTHER CARGO
TOTAL
% VAR. AGAINST 2013-14
KOLKATA TRF APRIL-JULY'2014
162
48
20
34
-
6
2534
162
1330
4134
TRF APRIL-JULY'2013
200
55
4
-
-
149
2501
158
1183
4092
TRF APRIL-JULY'2014
2058
469
73
182
428
1642
592
37
3644
9088
TRF APRIL-JULY'2013
2052
634
74
118
646
1866
715
40
3999
10104
TRF APRIL-JULY'2014
2220
517
93
216
428
1648
3126
199
4974
13222
TRF APRIL-JULY'2013
2252
689
78
118
646
2015
3216
198
5182
14196
TRF APRIL-JULY'2014
6125
682
51
1614
8859
2648
18
1
3361
23358
TRF APRIL-JULY'2013
6441
1451
14
1158
9192
1987
16
2
2871
23130
TRF APRIL-JULY'2014
4951
3942
538
320
813
1920
1603
89
6552
20639
TRF APRIL-JULY'2013
4795
4120
564
241
958
2479
1691
89
4872
19720
KAMARAJAR(ENNORE) TRF APRIL-JULY'2014
894
-
-
-
7965
141
-
-
766
9766
TRF APRIL-JULY'2013
560
-
-
-
6952
196
-
-
658
8366
TRF APRIL-JULY'2014
4422
39
73
58
-
-
10033
520
3061
17686
TRF APRIL-JULY'2013
4653
27
38
101
-
-
9712
503
2937
17468
V.O.CHIDAMBARANAR TRF APRIL-JULY'2014
212
-
163
265
2554
-
3541
179
3507
10242
TRF APRIL-JULY'2013
108
-
152
141
2251
-
3236
165
3285
9173
TRF APRIL-JULY'2014
4568
-
54
134
48
-
1750
120
614
7168
TRF APRIL-JULY'2013
4919
-
20
27
-
-
1554
109
392
6912
TRF APRIL-JULY'2014
6954
904
224
37
968
2284
347
23
691
12409
TRF APRIL-JULY'2013
7620
499
201
30
1562
2076
249
17
652
12889
TRF APRIL-JULY'2014
195
228
47
-
416
2034
73
6
1334
4327
TRF APRIL-JULY'2013
164
-
16
-
-
2459
75
6
698
3412
TRF APRIL-JULY'2014 11474
-
40
90
1520
-
153
17
5999
19276
TRF APRIL-JULY'2013 10956
-
59
36
1302
-
144
13
5244
17741
TRF APRIL-JULY'2014
1462
-
-
-
-
-
19549
1488
730
21741
TRF APRIL-JULY'2013
1621
-
-
-
-
-
18248
1377
882
20751
TRF APRIL-JULY'2014 18219
323
992
440
2697
97
-
-
8088
30856
TRF APRIL-JULY'2013 17933
388
931
442
2489
83
438
29
8123
30827
TRF APRIL-JULY'2014 61696
6635
2275
3174
26268
10772
40193
2642 39677
190690
TRF APRIL-JULY'2013 62022
7174
2073
2294
25352
11295
38579
2508 35796
184585
-7.51
9.74
38.36
3.61
-4.63
4.18
Kolkata Dock System
Haldia Dock Complex TOTAL: KOLKATA
PARADIP
VISAKHAPATNAM
CHENNAI
COCHIN
NEW MANGALORE
MORMUGAO
MUMBAI
J.N.P.T.
KANDLA
ALL PORTS
% Variation from previous year
-0.53
5.33
10.84
1.03
-10.06
-6.86
0.99
4.66
16.73
1.25
11.65
3.70
-3.72
26.82
8.65
4.77
0.09
3.31
3.31
Source:INDIAN PORTS ASSOCIATION
36
August 2014 I Cargo & Logistics
stats
INTERNATIONAL AIR FREIGHT MOVEMENT AIRPORT
SL. NO.
MAY 2014
FREIGHT (IN TONNES)
For the month MAY 2013
% Change
For the period May
2014-15
2013-14
% Change
(A) 18 INTERNATIONAL AIRPORTS 1
CHE NNA I
19322
18304
5.6
37749
36653
3.0
2
KOLKATA
3904
3078
26.8
7400
6479
14.2
1329
1575
-15.6
2772
2922
-5.1
89
152
-41.4
212
307
-30.9
3
AHMEDABAD
4
GOA
5
TRIVANDRUM
2136
2236
-4.5
4221
4465
-5.5
6
CALICUT
1707
2493
-31.5
3697
4755
-22.3
7
LUCKNOW
122
87
40.2
242
134
80.6
8
GUWAHATI
1
4
-75.0
4
7
-42.9
9
SRINAGAR
10
JAIPUR
11
BHUBANESWAR
12
MANGALORE
13
COIMBATORE
14
AMRITSAR
15
TRICHY
16
V A RA NA S I
17
PORTBLAIR
18
IMPHAL
TOTAL
0
0
-
0
0
-
25
29
-13.8
65
46
41.3
0
0
-
0
0
-
16
0
-
41
0
-
71
77
-7.8
147
137
7.3
27
227
-88.1
47
273
-82.8
376
408
-7.8
796
782
1.8
0
0
-
0
0
-
0
0
0
0
0 29125
0 28670
-
0 56960
-
1.6
0 57393
0.8
(B) 6 JV INTERNATIONAL AIRPORTS 19
DELHI (DIAL)
36843
31605
16.6
71466
63846
11.9
20
MUMBAI (MIAL)
40544
39082
3.7
79115
79020
0.1
21
BANGALORE (BIAL)
13439
12401
8.4
26020
25375
2.5
22
HYDERABAD (GHIAL)
4607
4181
10.2
9056
8536
6.1
23
COCHIN(CIAL)
6020
3405
76.8
10445
6921
50.9
24
NAGPUR (MIPL)
34
39
-12.8
63
76
-17.1
101487
90713
11.9
196165
183774
6.7
PUNE
0
0
-
0
0
-
0-
0
0
-
0-
0
0
-
TOTAL (C) 7 CUSTOM AIRPORTS 25 26
VISAKHAPATNAM
0
27
PATNA
0
28
CHANDIGARH BAGDOGRA
29 30
MADURAI
31
GAYA
0
0
-
0
0
-
0 0
0 0
-
0 0
0 0
-
0
0
-
0
0
TOTAL
0
0
-
0
0
-
(D) 17 DOMESTIC AIRPORTS
0
0
-
0
0
-
(E) OTHER AIRPORTS
0
0-
0
0
-
253558
240734
5.3
GRAND TOTAL (A+B+C+D+E)
130612
119383
9.4
Source: AIRPORTS AUTHORITY OF INDIA
Cargo & Logistics I August 2014
37
stats
DOMESTIC AIR FREIGHT MOVEMENT SL. NO.
AIRPORT
(A) 18 INTERNATIONAL AIRPORTS 1 CHE NNA I 2 KOLKATA 3 AHMEDABAD 4 GOA 5 TRIVANDRUM 6 CALICUT 7 LUCKNOW 8 GUWAHATI 9 SRINAGAR 10 JAIPUR 11 BHUBANESWAR 12 MANGALORE 13 COIMBATORE 14 AMRITSAR 15 TRICHY 16 V A RA NA S I 17 PORTBLAIR 18 IMPHAL TOTAL (B) 6 JV INTERNATIONAL AIRPORTS 19 DELHI (DIAL) 20 MUMBAI (MIAL) 21 BANGALORE (BIAL) 22 HYDERABAD (GHIAL) 23 COCHIN(CIAL) 24 NAGPUR (MIPL) TOTAL (C) 7 CUSTOM AIRPORTS 25 PUNE 26 VISAKHAPATNAM 27 PATNA 28 CHANDIGARH 29 BAGDOGRA 30 MADURAI 31 GAYA TOTAL (D) 15 DOMESTIC AIRPORTS 32 INDORE 33 JAMMU 34 RAIPUR 35 AGARTALA 36 VADODARA 37 RANCHI 38 AURANGABAD 39 UDAIPUR 40 BHOPAL 41 LEH 42 DEHRADUN 43 RAJKOT 44 JODHPUR 45 TIRUPATHI 46 DIBRUGARH (D) 17 DOMESTIC AIRPORTS (E) OTHER AIRPORTS GRAND TOTAL (A+B+C+D+E)
MAY 2014
For the month MAY 2013
AIRCRAFT MOVEMENTS(IN NOS.) For the period May % 2014-15 2013-14 Change
% Change
6357 7943 3314 170 118 8 241 714 436 96 454 22 617 11 0 133 197 363 21194
5285 7181 2699 174 115 12 228 508 324 610 280 21 503 19 0 30 186 275 18450
20.3 10.6 22.8 -2.3 2.6 -33.3 5.7 40.6 34.6 -84.3 62.1 4.8 22.7 -42.1 343.3 5.9 32.0 14.9
12354 14862 6514 413 244 14 466 1358 751 164 895 43 1173 29 0 166 437 683 40566
11340 13128 5461 354 208 32 451 1030 572 1054 559 44 947 27 0 49 387 607 36250
8.9 13.2 19.3 16.7 17.3 -56.3 3.3 31.8 31.3 -84.4 60.1 -2.3 23.9 7.4 238.8 12.9 12.5 11.9
21443 17793 8732 3431 955 414 52768
15083 14659 7159 2940 764 338 40943
42.2 21.4 22.0 16.7 25.0 22.5 28.9
38756 32703 16375 6517 1845 950 97146
29917 28584 13746 5593 1505 708 80053
29.5 14.4 19.1 16.5 22.6 34.2 21.4
2416 152 504 107 227 92 0 3498
1633 130 339 378 124 111 0 2715
47.9 16.9 48.7 -71.7 83.1 -17.1 28.8
4203 340 889 523 411 188 0 6554
590 130 310 563 215 276 99 0 58 181 0 10 0 0 20 2452 111 80023
417 134 277 525 142 163 64 0 70 101 0 13 1 0 35 1942 77 64127
41.5 -3.0 11.9 7.2 51.4 69.3 54.7 -17.1 79.2 -23.1 -100.0 -42.9 26.3 44.2 24.8
1071 259 576 1043 417 513 183 0 120 383 0 20 1 0 37 4623 213 149102
3053 276 657 610 244 209 05049 840 255 505 1061 306 346 119 0 139 234 0 28 3 0 59 3895 197 125444
37.7 23.2 35.3 -14.3 68.4 -10.0 29.8 27.5 1.6 14.1 -1.7 36.3 48.3 53.8 -13.7 63.7 -28.6 -66.7 -37.3 18.7 8.1 18.9
Source: AIRPORTS AUTHORITY OF INDIA
38
August 2014 I Cargo & Logistics
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stats
INTERNATIONAL & DOMESTIC AIR FREIGHT MOVEMENT SL. NO.
AIRPORT
(A) 18 INTERNATIONAL AIRPORTS 1 CHE NNA I 2 KOLKATA 3 A H ME D A B A D 4 GOA 5 TRIVANDRUM 6 CALICUT 7 LUCKNOW 8 GUWAHATI 9 SRINAGAR 10 JAIPUR 11 BHUBANESWAR 12 MANGALORE 13 COIMBATORE 14 AMRITSAR 15 TRICHY 16 V A RA NA S I 17 PORTBLAIR 18 IMPHAL TOTAL (B) 6 JV INTERNATIONAL AIRPORTS 19 DELHI (DIAL) 20 MUMBAI (MIAL) 21 BANGALORE (BIAL) 22 HYDERABAD (GHIAL) 23 COCHIN(CIAL) 24 NAGPUR (MIPL) TOTAL (C) 7 CUSTOM AIRPORTS 25 P UNE 26 VISAKHAPATNAM 27 PATNA 28 CHANDIGARH 29 B A GD OGR A 30 MADURAI 31 GAYA TOTAL (D) 15 DOMESTIC AIRPORTS 32 INDORE 33 JAMMU 34 RAIPUR 35 AGARTALA 36 V A D OD A R A 37 RA NCHI 38 A U R A N GA B A D 39 U D A IP U R 40 B H OP A L 41 LEH 42 DE HRA DUN 43 R A JK OT 44 JODHPUR 45 TIRUPATHI 46 DIBRUGARH (D) 17 DOMESTIC AIRPORTS (E) OTHER AIRPORTS GRAND TOTAL (A+B+C+D+E)
NOTE:
MAY 2014
For the month MAY 2013
AIRCRAFT MOVEMENTS(IN NOS.) For the period May % 2014-15 2013-14 Change
% Change
25679 11847 4643 259 2254 1715 363 715 436 121 454 38 688 38 376 133 197 363 50319
23589 10259 4274 326 2351 2505 315 512 324 639 280 21 580 246 408 30 186 275 47120
8.9 15.5 8.6 -20.6 -4.1 -31.5 15.2 39.6 34.6 -81.1 62.1 81.0 18.6 -84.6 -7.8 343.3 5.9 32.0 6.8
50103 22262 9286 625 4465 3711 708 1362 751 229 895 84 1320 76 796 166 437 683 97959
47993 19607 8383 661 4673 4787 585 1037 572 1100 559 44 1084 300 782 49 387 607 93210
4.4 13.5 10.8 -5.4 -4.5 -22.5 21.0 31.3 31.3 -79.2 60.1 90.9 21.8 -74.7 1.8 238.8 12.9 12.5 5.1
58286 58337 22171 8038 6975 448 154255
46688 53741 19560 7121 4169 377 131656
24.8 8.6 13.3 12.9 67.3 18.8 17.2
110222 111818 42395 15573 12290 1013 293311
93763 107604 39121 14129 8426 784 263827
17.6 3.9 8.4 10.2 45.9 29.2 11.2
2416 152 504 107 227 92 0 3498
1633 130 339 378 124 111 0 2715
47.9 16.9 48.7 -71.7 83.1 -17.1 #DIV/0! 28.8
4203 340 889 523 411 188 0 6554
3053 276 657 610 244 209 0 5049
37.7 23.2 35.3 -14.3 68.4 -10.0 #DIV/0! 29.8
590 130 310 563 215 276 99 0 58 181 0 10 0 0 20 2452 111 210635
417 134 277 525 142 163 64 0 70 101 0 13 1 0 35 1942 77 183510
41.5 -3.0 11.9 7.2 51.4 69.3 54.7 #DIV/0! -17.1 79.2 #DIV/0! -23.1 -100.0 #DIV/0! -42.9 26.3 44.2 14.8
1071 259 576 1043 417 513 183 0 120 383 0 20 1 0 37 4623 213 402660
840 255 505 1061 306 346 119 0 139 234 0 28 3 0 59 3895 197 366178
27.5 1.6 14.1 -1.7 36.3 48.3 53.8 #DIV/0! -13.7 63.7 #DIV/0! -28.6 -66.7 #DIV/0! -37.3 18.7 8.1 10.0
Biju Patnaik Airport, Bhubaneswar, Odisha and Imphal Airport, Manipur airports declared as International airports vide Notification No.AV.20014/003/98-VB(AAI) dated 14th November, 2013 by Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India.
Source: AIRPORTS AUTHORITY OF INDIA
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August 2014 I Cargo & Logistics
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‘IT’S BEEN A GREAT JOURNEY – SO FAR’ Suman Dhaulta, Director, KVM Air Cargo, is a hardcore air cargo professional. She began her journey when the number of women in freight forwarding could be counted on the fingertips. Today, Dhaulta is regarded as a specialist in her field, handling dangerous goods or ordinary shipments with ease. Cargo is essentially a male-dominated industry. How did you find yourself in it? Yes it is, but you have to find your way if you want to achieve something in your life. With hard work and dedication one can get it. I find myself well placed in this industry as I enjoy working with more and more challenges in my life every day. How many years have you been with the cargo industry and how has the journey been this far? Now almost 26 years and the journey has been great so far – Thanks to God, my parents and colleagues who helped me be here and last but not the least my husband who was always there with me in my ups and downs. How have your colleagues and those reporting to you reacted to you? I am lucky as till now my colleagues are very nice to me although some of them have created some problems. But then this is how it is, one has to be strong enough
to overcome from such situations. Persons who were reporting to me were also very nice as I have been giving them the respect they deserve. In turn, I have also got the same amount of respect that I expect. Do you specialize in any section of the industry? Yes I have been handling dangerous goods from 1990. I remember that time, very few persons were there in industry who used to handle dangerous goods and I was one of them. What is so exciting about the cargo industry that keeps you attracted to it? It is the challenges every day. Every shipment has taught me another lesson which excites me a lot. How confident are you about future growth on equal opportunity basis with male colleagues? Indeed, I am very confident as I think opportunities don’t look for males or females: It is a person who grabs the opportunity when it comes to him or her. What advice would you give youngsters – especially women – to join the industry? Hard work, dedication and willingness to learn every day are required in our industry. Do not take any single step lightly while handling any cargo as a small mistake can lead to a huge loss for the organisation for which you are working. For women I think self-belief and self-confidence are important – both unfortunately lacking in our women.
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August 2014 I Cargo & Logistics
RNI No. DELENG/2011/387546
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