Logistics & Supply Chain
One sector.
Every stakeholder. Every mode.
An advisory firm built only for India’s shipping, logistics, and supply chain ecosystem — from ports, freight, and rail logistics to infrastructure, manufacturing, technology, and the global companies entering India.
Shipping & Carrier Strategy
India’s shipping market is at a structural inflection point. The October 2025 announcement of the Bharat Container Shipping Line — a national carrier backed by $6.9 billion in government-supported investment and 437 new vessels — signals a major shift in global trade dependency. The Maersk-Hapag-Lloyd Gemini Cooperation (Feb 2025) is reshaping trade lanes, while CEVA’s expanded India footprint strengthens logistics infrastructure across 21 cities. In this environment, carrier strategy is no longer procurement — it is a commercial performance lever that directly impacts landed cost, reliability, and global trade competitiveness.
WHAT WE OFFER
Carrier Mix Strategy
Defining optimal combinations of VOCCs, NVOCCs, and integrators based on trade lanes, cargo profile, and volume strategy.
Rate Benchmarking & Negotiation
Market-based freight benchmarking across FCL, LCL, and air freight with structured negotiation and contract optimization.
Block Space Agreements
Designing BSA structures that balance rate stability, space security, and realistic volume commitments.
Alliance Impact Assessment
Evaluating carrier alliances like Gemini Cooperation and their impact on transit times, pricing, and service reliability.
Air Freight Strategy
Carrier selection, rate benchmarking, and mode-shift planning for time-sensitive cargo including pharma and electronics.
BCSL Opportunity Assessment
Strategic evaluation of Bharat Container Shipping Line and its impact on pricing power, slot access, and carrier negotiations.
What this means for you
Carrier relationships are structured using real-time market intelligence, ensuring negotiations reflect actual freight conditions rather than legacy rate sheets. Space security is contractually protected, and carrier mix decisions are aligned with your trade lanes, cargo profile, and commercial priorities.
Freight Forwarding Optimisation
India’s freight forwarding market is projected to grow from $13.57 billion in FY2025 to $21.06 billion by FY2033 at a 5.65% CAGR — but the growth is not being captured equally across the sector. The digitalisation of customs documentation through ICEGATE, the GST e-invoicing mandate, and rising shipper expectations around real-time visibility are raising the baseline of what a competitive forwarding service requires. We work with freight forwarding businesses to close the gaps between where they are and where this market rewards operators for being.
Strategic Services for Forwarders
Commercial Strategy Review
Analysing profitability by trade lane, cargo type, and service line to identify margin-driving accounts and build the right growth strategy.
Pricing Model Redesign
Reviewing rate cards, surcharge management, buy-sell spread discipline, and quoting processes to protect margin without losing competitiveness.
Technology Strategy
Advising on freight management systems, ICEGATE and GST integration, track-and-trace tools, and digital customer interfaces.
Carrier Relationship Optimisation
Reviewing BSA and block space arrangements, renegotiation strategy, and commercial terms that provide rate stability.
Sector Specialisation Strategy
Identifying defensible cargo verticals such as pharmaceuticals, perishables, automotive components, project cargo, and cross-border e-commerce.
Operational Efficiency Improvement
Improving customs documentation, ICEGATE compliance automation, staff productivity, and branch network efficiency.
What this means for you
Freight forwarding businesses that work with us emerge with a clearer commercial focus, a more defensible customer portfolio, and the technology and carrier foundations to compete for enterprise mandates that are currently going to global operators by default — not because those operators are better at forwarding, but because they are better at presenting their capability.
CHA & Customs Brokerage Setup
Customs House Agent licensing in India is governed by CBIC regulations and requires far more than obtaining a licence. Competitive customs brokerage today demands ICEGATE integration, GST compliance, e-invoicing capability, strong internal controls, and professional operating procedures. We provide end-to-end advisory covering licensing, compliance frameworks, operational setup, technology enablement, and long-term professionalisation of customs brokerage operations.
End-to-End Customs Brokerage Advisory
CHA Licence Application Support
Eligibility assessment, documentation preparation, examination guidance, submission management, and end-to-end CBIC licensing support.
Corporate Brokerage Setup
Entity structure design, staffing requirements, compliance frameworks, technology infrastructure, and operational readiness for captive customs brokerage.
ICEGATE Integration
ICEGATE onboarding, electronic filing workflows, ERP integration, and automation of Bill of Entry and Shipping Bill submissions.
Compliance Framework & SOPs
Development of internal procedures, KYC controls, document verification standards, and audit mechanisms that reduce compliance risk.
AEO Certification Roadmap
Compliance gap assessments and implementation programmes supporting Authorised Economic Operator certification requirements.
Operational Professionalisation
Staff capability building, technology adoption, service standards, and commercial positioning that elevate customs brokerage operations.
What This Means For You
CHA and customs brokerage operations established with our support are built on the compliance foundations that CBIC enforcement increasingly requires — with ICEGATE capability, documented SOPs, governance controls, and an AEO-ready framework that protects the licence, strengthens operational resilience, and improves competitiveness when bidding for compliance-conscious clients.
Export–Import Logistics
India’s export and import supply chains require more than vendor coordination. They demand engineered logistics structures across inland movement, customs clearance, port selection, carrier booking, documentation, and final delivery. We work with exporters, importers, and manufacturers to design EXIM supply chains that reduce cost leakage, improve cycle time, and perform consistently at the operational level.
EXIM Supply Chain Optimisation Services
EXIM Supply Chain Design
End-to-end design from factory gate to final destination, including routing, port or airport selection, customs clearance, carrier booking, and inland transport planning.
Export Documentation Review
Reviewing commercial invoices, packing lists, certificates of origin, shipping bills, test certificates, and destination-country import requirements to reduce rejection and customs holds.
Duty & Tariff Optimisation
Reviewing HS classifications, duty drawback, advance authorisation, EPCG benefits, SEZ or EOU advantages, and scheme utilisation to reduce effective duty cost.
Import Supply Chain Efficiency
Improving the import chain from origin supplier to warehouse or production line by reducing dwell time, documentation delays, and carrier selection inefficiencies.
Port & ICD Selection Advisory
Advising on port selection, CFS versus direct port delivery, and ICD-versus-port clearance based on cargo type, cost, transit time, congestion, and reliability.
First-Mile EXIM Consolidation
Designing micro-consolidation strategies for manufacturing clusters such as Tiruppur, Rajkot, and Hyderabad to reduce short-haul cost and improve port throughput reliability.
What This Means For You
EXIM supply chains designed with our support perform consistently rather than only on favourable days — with landed cost optimised across duty, freight, inland transport, documentation quality, customs flow, port selection, and delivery reliability.
Multimodal Network Design
India’s logistics network is moving beyond road-dominated freight. With Dedicated Freight Corridors, PM Gati Shakti integration, coastal shipping capacity, and air freight growth, businesses now have the opportunity to redesign their networks around lower-cost, faster, and more resilient multimodal infrastructure. We design multimodal logistics networks that combine road, rail, coastal, air, hubs, and corridors for the best outcome by cargo profile, service requirement, and geographic footprint.
Network Design Services
Network Baseline Analysis
Mapping origin points, distribution hubs, delivery destinations, modal mix, carrier utilisation, and cost per lane to create a quantified performance baseline.
Multimodal Scenario Modelling
Developing and comparing alternative network configurations using different modes, hub locations, routing logic, cost, transit time, reliability, and carbon impact.
DFC Integration Strategy
Identifying where Dedicated Freight Corridor rail creates cost or speed advantage over road, including first-mile and last-mile integration requirements.
Hub Location Optimisation
Determining the optimal number, location, and size of warehousing and transshipment hubs using corridor logic, incentives, and GST-efficient inventory positioning.
Coastal Shipping Integration
Assessing coastal shipping viability for bulk commodities, containerised FMCG, steel, and cement while designing practical port-to-port and first-last mile movement.
Implementation & Transition Planning
Designing the transition from current network to redesigned model, including carrier contracts, warehouse implications, rollout sequencing, and performance monitoring.
What This Means For You
Multimodal networks designed with our support are built for the infrastructure that now exists in India — capturing DFC rail advantage, coastal shipping economics, and hub consolidation benefits that reduce total logistics cost while maintaining or improving service levels across the network.
Rail Logistics & Operations
India’s rail freight landscape is entering a structural shift driven by the Western and Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridors, faster transit speeds, double-stack container capability, and new rail-based services such as Trucks-on-Trains. We help shippers, ICD operators, 3PLs, container train operators, and logistics businesses integrate rail into supply chains with the right commercial strategy, first-mile and last-mile design, cost benchmarking, and operational transition planning.
Rail Freight Strategy & Operations Advisory
DFC Commercial Strategy
Advising ICD operators, CTOs, 3PLs, and large shippers on service models, customer proposition, trade lanes, cargo types, and commercial opportunities for the DFC era.
Modal Shift Advisory
Building the financial and service case for shifting lanes from road to DFC rail, including TCO modelling, SLA comparison, packaging changes, and transition planning.
ICD Setup Advisory
Supporting site selection, cargo catchment analysis, operator agreements, CBIC licensing, yard layout, equipment selection, technology integration, and operating procedures.
First-Mile & Last-Mile Integration
Designing the road-rail interface, vehicle scheduling, dock configuration, container handoff processes, and carrier arrangements that protect rail’s time advantage.
Trucks-on-Trains Advisory
Advising FMCG, automotive, and retail operators on route feasibility, vehicle compatibility, frequency planning, and customer communication for rail-based movement.
Rail Freight Cost Benchmarking
Comparing rail freight cost structures against CONCOR tariffs, private train operator rates, and blended rail plus first-last mile road costs to identify savings.
What This Means For You
Rail logistics strategies built with our support are designed for the DFC network that now exists — not for the slow, unreliable legacy rail that shaped earlier decisions to default to road. Businesses that integrate DFC rail correctly into their supply chains can build structural cost advantages that compound over time as long-haul road transport costs continue to rise.
Last Mile / First Mile
India’s first-mile and last-mile logistics are becoming critical performance levers for exporters, manufacturers, e-commerce operators, quick commerce platforms, and distribution businesses. From factory-gate consolidation to dark store placement, rural delivery reach, reverse logistics, and EV fleet integration, we design networks that improve delivery speed, reduce cost per movement, and expand serviceability without breaking commercial viability.
First-Mile & Last-Mile Advisory Services
Last-Mile Network Design
Designing delivery architecture by geography, order volume, service level, product category, carrier mix, micro-fulfilment placement, serviceability, vehicles, and technology configuration.
First-Mile Consolidation Strategy
Designing micro-consolidation programmes for exporters and manufacturers to reduce short-haul costs, improve container fill rates, and increase port throughput predictability.
Quick Commerce & Dark Store Advisory
Advising on dark store locations, inventory positioning, picker routing, technology, and carrier infrastructure required to deliver within 10–30 minute windows at commercial cost.
Rural & Tier-2/3 Last-Mile Strategy
Designing hub-spoke-spoke models, franchise delivery partner networks, shared services, and serviceability expansion sequencing for non-metro geographies.
Reverse Logistics Design
Building returns management infrastructure that reduces processing cost, accelerates resale inventory turnaround, and captures customer experience data to reduce future returns.
EV Integration for Last-Mile
Advising on electric two-wheeler and three-wheeler fleet integration, charging needs, range planning, and total cost comparison against internal combustion alternatives.
What This Means For You
First-mile and last-mile operations designed with our support are built for the delivery expectations and geographic reach that Indian consumers and export buyers now demand — with the carrier mix, infrastructure placement, and technology integration that delivers at commercial cost rather than at the margin of viability.
Transportation Optimisation
Transportation is often the largest cost line in Indian logistics operations, yet it is frequently managed without the data discipline required to control it. We work with manufacturers, 3PLs, retailers, and large shippers to optimise procurement, carrier management, route design, load planning, technology adoption, and performance governance as one integrated transportation system.
Transportation Performance Improvement Services
Transportation Cost Baseline
Establishing your current transportation spend by lane, carrier, mode, and business unit while benchmarking cost-per-tonne-kilometre and cost as a percentage of revenue.
Carrier Procurement & Tendering
Designing structured carrier procurement, rate tendering, lane allocation, service requirement definition, and commercial term negotiation with competitive discipline.
Route & Load Optimisation
Redesigning distribution routes, reducing empty running, improving vehicle utilisation, consolidating loads, and implementing load planning discipline across lanes.
TMS Selection & Implementation
Defining TMS requirements, evaluating platforms, managing vendor selection, and supporting implementation until the system is embedded in daily operations.
Carrier Performance Management
Designing scorecards, KPI frameworks, review cadence, accountability mechanisms, lane reallocation rules, and rate adjustment consequences for performance governance.
Fleet vs Third-Party Advisory
Building the financial and operational case for the optimal owned, leased, and third-party fleet mix by lane category and supporting transition to asset-light models.
What This Means For You
Transportation operations optimised with our support reduce cost per unit moved without sacrificing service reliability — by closing the gap between what carrier contracts say and what operations actually deliver, while building the data infrastructure that prevents cost from reverting to pre-optimisation levels.