Panalpina plans Rs 20 crore expansion

Panalpina World Transport, a global forwarding and logistics services provider, on Wednesday announced the launch of its first logistics centre in Whitefield, Bangalore in partnership with Logiwiz Logistics India.

Panalpina intends to open four more such facilities in Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai in the next 2 years with a cumulative investment of close to $5 million (Rs 20 crore).

Logiwiz Logistics in a Sri Lankan-based firm and has a decade old partnership with Panalpina which is being extended to India. As part of this agreement, Logiwiz will be involved in setting up the physical infrastructure which will be used by Panalpina for movement of cargo.

This investment will be ploughed into expansion of Panalpina Network Office & Logistics centres. The setting up of the Logistics Centre is a first step towards the aggressive growth plan Panalpina has chalked for its operations in India.

The Logistics Centre is spread over an area of 40,000 square feet in Whitefield, Bangalore, and will offer services such as Material Handling Equipment (MHE), selective pallet racking system, docking bays equipped to handle 20' as well as 40' trailers and a comprehensive insurance coverage for its customers.

Said Robert Timmerman, Regional CEO AIMEC, Panalpina World Transport, "This significant investment is a continuing reiteration of our long-term commitment to India to bring in world-class best practices, technology, processes and significant investment in order to facilitate development of critical infrastructure in supporting the acceleration of India's international trade."

The new facility is expected to specially benefit Bangalore's sizeable IT, auto, pharma, fashion & retail and garment/textile industry and will enable them to better organise their supply chain due to improved inventory planning and predictability.

"With India poised to become a global outsourcing hub for textile, local companies and local arms of the pharma, IT & textile majors are expected to play a significant part in the development process," he added.

The company said that it is growing at around 20-30 per cent in India and with this Logistics Centre, is expecting further rapid growth.