GR Gopinath, the chairman and managing director of Deccan 360 announced the launch of his much awaited domestic express logistics operations yesterday.

Deccan 360 will deploy 8 aircrafts, covering 15 airports, with a fleet of over 300 trucks and 850 vehicles nationwide, 8 major surface hubs, a model driven by franchisees and give overnight delivery to 50 cities in the first phase and ramp up its operations for a pan India coverage.

Commercial operations will begin on November 9, 2009.

Deccan 360 will be the first Indian company to create a hub-and-spoke distribution model in the express industry in India with multi-modal capability ensuring clock-work precision in its operations and offer never before reach.

The core of Deccan 360’s hub-and-spoke model is the state-of-the-art hub being developed across a total area of 100 acres at Mihan, Nagpur, according to a company press release. The company has signed an MoU with the GMR group for setting up Express Cargo operating facilities at Delhi and Hyderabad airports, which, together with the central hub in Nagpur, will form an extensive state-of-the-art multimodal (surface and air) storage, transportation and delivery network bringing connectivity to every corner of the country.

Speaking to reporters at the time of the announcement, Gopinath said, “Deccan 360 will provide a network leveraging with which a small auto parts manufacturer in Jaipur is able to efficiently feed the supply line of Toyota near Chennai and a manufacturer from Ludhiana can effectively deliver thread shipments to Arvind Mills plant in Ahmedabad and Delhi NCR or a mango farmer from Ratnagiri can ship fresh alphonso mangoes across the country.”

]]> http://log-india.com/deccan%e2%80%99s-cargo-airline-launched/feed/ 0 http://log-india.com/deccan%e2%80%99s-cargo-airline-launched/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/logindia/~3/Ei2avECu960/ http://log-india.com/panprojects-starts-moving-dmrc-coaches-from-savli/#comments Fri, 03 Jul 2009 15:29:00 +0000 Upasana Rajpal http://log-india.com/?p=639 Panprojects India is moving the first set of four coaches for Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (DMRC) from Bombardier’s Savli factory in Gujarat to DMRC Depot, Khyber Pass, New Delhi by road – a distance of approximately 1,100 km.

The coaches have been loaded and will move out on 3rd July after 11:00 pm. They are expected to reach Delhi by the 12th of July, 2009.

Panprojects has sub-contracted the job to Allcargo Global Logistics (AGL) and is using AGL’s axles as it does not own axles in India. The coaches are being moved on four trailers on a set of 12 hydraulic Goldhofer axles per trailer.

The coaches were to be originally moved on rail, says Sharmila Amin, South Asia Area Head, Panprojects Division, Panalpina World Transport (India) Pvt. Ltd, “Initially, Bombardier had permission to move four coaches per rake but they wanted to move 12 coaches per rake as then the number of trips made will be less.”

She adds, “If four coaches are moved as a unit then the number of trips will increase. Since it is a very busy route, it cannot be kept occupied all the time. Thus, they have not got the permission and the coaches are being moved by road.”

The route for the movement is Baroda – Ahmedabad – Himmat Nagar – Udaipur – Chipurgarh – Nasirabad – Kishangarh – Jaipur – Gurgaon – Khyber Pass.

Panprojects expects to move the next batch of coaches from Savli in two weeks.

Eight coaches have already been air-lifted by Panprojects on behalf of Bombardier from Parchim Airport, Germany to Delhi International Airport in Antonov AN-124 full charter flights.

Panprojects is simultaneously shipping coaches from the Port of Hamburg to Mundra Port. The fourth shipment will arrive at Mundra on 6th of July, taking the total number of coaches imported by sea to 16.

Some key executives from the industry hinted at the possibility that the ground handlers are not ready with the required infrastructure, and are of the opinion that they should be penalised for the delay.

However, many informed sources very clearly indicated that the domestic airlines are the ones vehemently opposing the new ground handling policy the most.

Explaining the primary reason for opposition by the airlines, A. K. Sachdev, COO, Go Air says, “If the policy is implemented, the cost of our ground handling operations per flight will increase by about five times, from Rs. 5000-6000 to Rs.25,000 – 30,000.”

However, G. V. Godbole, senior manager, ground handling, Air India is of the opinion that the cost seem to increase only for smaller airlines with few aircrafts. Bigger ones wouldn’t have this problem, he says.

Another senior executive from Air India with immense know-how of ground handling operations in India stated that since the policy is to be enforced only at metro airports, domestic airlines can continue their current state of operations at other airports.

Overall, it appears that amongst the airlines, Air India is the only one supporting this policy, while the other private domestic airlines still seem unhappy with it.

The new Joint Venture (JV), called DPD Continental Pvt. Ltd., will offer inbound and outbound express parcel services under the world-class brand DPD to customers in India.

Headquartered in Aschaffenburg, Germany, DPD is a domestic and international parcel and express company with a network of more than 500 depots and agencies in over 40 countries.

GeoPost International Management & Development Holding GmbH has a  83.32 percent shareholding in DPD, while the balance is held by DPD Systemlogistik GmbH & Co. KG (10.47 percent) and DPD Zeitfracht GmbH & Co. KG (6.21 percent).

The Foreign Investment Promotions Board, Government of India, had recently approved the application of GeoPost Intercontinental SAS and Continental Air Express Pvt. Ltd. to establish the joint venture.

GeoPost Intercontinental, the international expansion vehicle of GeoPost, will hold 60% shares in the Joint Venture, while the balance 40% will be held by the Vohra family.

Mr. Gautam Nath has been appointed CEO of DPD Continental Pvt. Ltd.

The joint venture company will be head quartered in New Delhi, India.

In the initial phase, DPD Continental Pvt. Ltd. will offer its services in New Delhi & Mumbai. The second phase will see operations being rolled out across several major cities in the country including Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkatta by the end of 2009.

The 275 ton reactor, which was manufactured over the past one year, is being moved from L&T’s Powai facility to the Mumbai Port by road. It left the L&T Powai campus from Gate No. 1 at 1:00 am on the 23nd June, 2009.

The reactor will leave from Mumbai port by 27th June morning in an Inter Marine USA vessel specially called in for moving it. It is expected to reach Port of Xingang in China by the 15th of July, 2009.

“It is the first time that a project cargo of this length is being moved by road till the port. Earlier in 2001 we moved a 50 m PP reactor for Sinopec China but that was from Powai to Mankhurd Jetty, Natvar Parikh yard,” says Pradeep Berde, Materials & Logistics – FPEX, L&T.

He further informs, “Majority of the transporters were not ready to take up the job. They thought it was impossible to move such a long reactor by road to the port because of the narrow roads en route. We at L&T personally did a road survey, mapped out each and every turning and checked whether the vehicle can take the turns. Our survey and presentation convinced the transporter to take up the job.”

The contract has been given to the ReshamSingh Group at a cost of Rs 24.5 lakhs. Owing to the length of the reactor it is being moved on two sets of hydraulic axles of 10 and 8 respectively.

Berde informs, “Ten hydraulic axles are Cometto make and are owned by ReshamSingh. The other eight have been hired from Nabros Transport Pvt. Ltd. by ReshamSingh because of insufficient number of axles with them.”

A 460 hp Volvo prime mover is being used for the transportation. Another 400 hp Volvo prime mover is being taken along as a back-up.

The mishap took place at the domestic cargo facility of the National Aviation Company of India Ltd (NACIL), the merged entity of Air India and Indian Airlines.

The consignment was being sent by Mumbai-based jewellery refining firm, National Refinery, to Pidilite Industries in Hyderabad on an Air India flight.

Reportedly, at this time officials of Pidilite Industries were getting the parcel through security screening. While two parcels were screened, four men came in a car and threatened the staff with loaded guns and fled away with the remaining four parcels. A security guard working for Air India, identified as D S Bhosale, got killed in the process.

The incident is still under investigation.

This is the first time the group suffered losses since it was formed in 2003.

Revenues have dropped 12 percent to €5.01 billion. Further, the Franco-Dutch group had warned in March that it was expecting an operational loss of around €200 million. However, in the last tally losses were €129 million.

Boeing 777 freighter

The company had posted a €756 million profit for the previous financial year.

Air France-KLM said it is reducing capacity by 4.5 percent in passenger travel and by 11 percent in cargo for its summer schedule and a reduction in the initial investment plan of 2.9 billion euros to 1.4 billion euros. The airline did not give a financial outlook for the year ahead but said it will continue to cut capacity and costs.

This is a result of Great Offshore’s non-delivery of the jack-up rig named Samed Shikhar.

As per the terms of contract, the company was to deliver it by 14th May 2009.

In addition, it would also service DHL customers in this region.

Blue Dart said that this initiative consolidates its presence in the North-South corridor of Gujarat starting from Vapi in the South extending up to Mehsana in the northern part of the state.

The company already has service centres in Ahmedabad, Navsari, Billimora, Surat, Ankleshwar, Vadodara, Anand, Nadiad, Halol, Rajkot, Bhavnagar, Gandhidham, Jamnagar and Vapi.

Established in October 2007 as a separate entity, TVS-E Servictec provides services to various industry verticals such as IT and peripherals, cell phones, banking and retail automation, telecom infrastructure and lifestyle electronics.

Its basket od services include warranty and extended warranty services, product end-of-life management, project, technical and remote support, auction, and, sales and distribution.

Raman will also assume the role of Whole Time Director and CEO of TVS Electronics.

Raman joined TVS Electronics in 2005 as its President. In 2007, he was assigned the role of Whole Time Director along with the President and CEO position in TVS-E Servicetec.