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 #INTHEAIREVERYWHERE |
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| Vol. 14 No. 32 | Friday
April 17, 2015 |
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Istanbul is home to fast rising Turkish Airlines
Cargo, and the carrier just moved into a beautiful and dramatic
new Air Cargo Transfer Facility on January 1, 2015. |
Delta Cargo Vice
President–Commercial Ray Curtis gets excited and deeply involved
whilst attending air cargo industry events. He can also get pretty
worked up about show venues that offer an opportunity to do some
good, lasting business.
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“Perishable
products are a key component of our business and we will continue
to make investments to support the efficient and reliable transportation
for these products in line with the needs of our customers.  |
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 The big Intermodal South America show held last week in Sao Paulo, Brazil, gets high marks from Jim Bellinder, Vice President, Cargo Sales Americas – United Airlines. “United Cargo always gains high value from our presence at Intermodal South America. We benefitted again this year from the opportunity to interact with many high-level decision makers in a supportive environment. Staying connected to our customers ensures we will continue to expand our business in this very dynamic region. “We discussed creative customized solutions with several customers and had the chance to review emerging trends and business conditions with many more. United’s strength in Asia was a focus, as interest remains strong in the Latin-to-Asia trade lane. The outbound Latin-to-Asia market continues to grow, led by the automotive and aerospace sectors along with perishables and pharmaceuticals. “On the subject of pharma, we highlighted the many ways we’re enhancing our TempControl business: expanding the network, offering new product options, making new containers available, and elevating our customer service. We were also encouraged by the level of interest in the e-AWB, with a number of customers stating their intentions to explore or adopt the process. “I’m hoping for the same strong level of customer connection at the CNS Partnership Conference next week. We’re looking forward to a series of customer meetings less formal than in the past: plainspoken and practical conversations about how we can contribute to each other’s success. Now that customers have seen United Cargo’s new ‘business friendly’ ads and brand identity, we want to support those ideas with deeper levels of partnership and collaboration.” Sabiha |
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 The Internet may have almost sent the venerable 150-year-old India Post into hibernation, but it is the same Internet that is bringing it back to its feet. Like the fabled carrier of the mail, for India, the postman rings twice! In fact, FlyingTypers learned in an exclusive interview that India Post—incidentally the world’s largest postal network—is keeping pace with the fast-changing technology, especially in logistics. That is helping to keep the behemoth’s huge network running and well oiled.  Today,
India Post is looking at the e-commerce market, which it would not
have thought about a few years ago. Looking at the potential, the
Chief Postmaster General (CPMG) of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala
postal circles, M. S. Ramanujan has demanded that India Post needs
a fleet of dedicated aircraft to deliver e-commerce shipments. The
CPMG knows what he is talking about. He was stationed at the Indian
Space Research Organization and was in control at the Sriharikota
Rocket Launch Station. “I have had the privilege of launching rockets also from Sriharikota. So launching rockets to moving mail bags has been my range of experience,” he said. “Logistics was there because I had to move the rocket parts, satellites from Bengaluru to Sriharikota for assemblage, and similarly rocket engines from Trivandrum and Mahendragiri. It was logistics of a different order…” And a few months ago, while talking with this correspondent, Ramanujan said that India Post would be able to take on the e-commerce business. He mentioned that DHL Worldwide had a healthcare vertical that moved heart, liver, and kidney transplants from country to country in frozen nitrogen vacuumed containers. “They have those kinds of dedicated aircraft to lift extremely high value, time-sensitive items. So it’s a question of time before India Post develops its own vertical—if not for moving those kinds of highly time-sensitive merchandise, [then] maybe something lesser than that, say electronic parts.”  So
this time, while speaking in Bengaluru—the headquarters of Amazon—in
the presence of Union Minister for Communications and Information
Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad, the CPMG mentioned that in the last
financial year (ended on March 31, 2014) the e-commerce business had
reached Rs 100 cr ($16.1 mn) and would double in 2015-2016. “We need dedicated aircraft for the transfer of air mail cargo,” he said, looking at the boom in the air cargo business. Ramanujan went on to add that it was “a great time for e-commerce and we are excited as it is translating into a lot of revenue.” In fact, India Post has not only tied up with Amazon but also with other e-commerce majors like Snapdeal. Amazon, for instance, sent out 7000-odd packages in January 2014. That figure went up to 85,000-odd packages in October 2014. The primary reason for the demand of aircraft, according to the CPMG, was that the postal department was not too happy with the services of Air India or the private carriers. For these carriers, perishable goods and human organs were a priority, bringing them high revenues. As a result, shipments booked by India Post were often off-loaded and flown later, causing delays to customers. It may be mentioned that in 2006 India Post had taken three freight aircraft on lease from the then Indian (Airlines) for a four-year period. That lease ended in 2010.  Not
too long ago, India Post was used by almost everyone: for sending
letters, money, and parcels, and the organization also did a fair
bit of banking by maintaining accounts of small savers. With its humongous
postal network of more than 1,055,015 post offices of which 89.76
percent are in the rural areas, India Post’s reach was literally
to the last mile. Today, that reach is paying dividends. As Ramanujan
put it, “We will bring all 104 pincodes (similar to the zip
code in the US) in Bengaluru under same-day delivery for bookings
made up to 2:30 p.m. (India Post’s tie-up with Amazon for same-day
delivery has made Bengaluru the first city in the country to have
such a service). We have put in the infrastructure and technology.
My boys are already doing deliveries up to 9 p.m. every day.”
He also emphasized that it was only India Post that could deliver
beyond the Tier-I and -II cities. The department’s reach went
up to Tier-VI or the village level.With Internet penetration in India on the rise, the e-commerce sector in the country is likely to witness a huge growth in the next five years, according to the Economic Survey 2014-15 (the Indian Ministry of Finance’s document that reviews the developments in the Indian economy over the previous 12 months, summarizes the performance on major development programs, and highlights the policy initiatives of the government and the prospects of the economy in the short to medium term). “India's e-commerce market is expected to grow by more than 50 percent in the next five years,” the Economic Survey, presented in Parliament, pointed out. The survey also mentioned the hurdles faced by the e-commerce sector: “Inventory management, logistics planning, and resource availability are important hurdles for online retail in India.” Aware of the immense potential of the e-commerce sector, towards the end of last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi initiated a Task Force to find out how India Post could drive up its revenues. The Task Force, which submitted its report in January this year, recommended setting up a holding company under the Department of Posts to roll out e-commerce services in addition to banking and insurance. Tirthankar Ghosh |
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