The company has been making considerable investments in fleet & technology to help its fledgling cold chain as well as normal (Ambient) Fleet division grow its full potential.
In a recent interaction to MOTORINDIA, Ms. Binafier Jehani, Director, CRISIL Research, suggested that over the next five years, the cold chain industry is expected to grow at a robust pace of 13-15% to Rs. 470-475 billion, driven by a rise in demand from end-user industries such as Meat, Seafood, Fruits & Vegetables, and Pharmaceuticals, among others. Moreover, the growing presence of organized quick service restaurants and organized retail is expected to increase the penetration of cold chain further.
Transportation, in itself, is a process-driven business. Throw an exercise of managing temperature-controlled transportation in it, it starts to get a bit complex. To handle such materials, one requires an experienced service provider. The Pune-based Vayudoot Road Carriers is no stranger to the process of efficient transportation, hence the company’s decision to foray into cold chain logistics has peaked optimism, for the sector that has a very few organized pan-India reefer fleet operators.
Speaking to MOTORINDIA, Mr. Ashwani Singhal, Director, Vayudoot Road Carriers Pvt. Ltd., revealed: “We are diversifying into cold chain industry, starting with 10 vehicles with 32 feet (container) single axle on the Tata 1613 model and have laid out plans to add 30 more vehicles in the next 6 months. We are 100 per cent sure that with our proven processes in the dry cargo segment, we will raise the benchmark and set new standards in the area of temperature-controlled cargo.”
Pan-India integrated operation
What makes Vayudoot Road Carriers an efficient and trustworthy leader to take on the baton of cold chain logistics is its unprecedented body of work. For the uninitiated, Vayudoot Road Carriers is a leading Carriers of Logistics and Transportation services in India. The pedigree of this group traces to the early 80’s with Mr. J.B. Singhal starting a transport organization.
During the course of the interaction, Mr. Singhal asserted what has been Vayudoot’s guiding force. Vayudoot, over the last three decades, has become synonymous with fast, safe and reliable service. “Our nationwide network covers all major industrial towns across India. We are backed by the well-trained professional team to cater to our esteemed clients led by highly capable Directors, Mr. Jai Bhagwan Singhal (MD), Mr. Arun Singhal and Mr. Abhay Agarwal.”
The company has been tech-savvy and has upgraded itself to ERP software’s, able to cater to compliances related to GST and other Government norms. Vayudoot, has come a long way in establishing itself a Leading Brand in Containerized Transportation in the FMCG sector today. Backed with decades of domain expertise in the field of transportation, Vayudoot has passed through the turbulent days of the transportation industry and has undergone a metamorphosis from time to time. Innovation has always been the key for sustained growth and quality in services. The company believes in doing things right, and this has helped it a big way in establishing itself in the transportation space.
At present, Vayudoot Road Carriers Pvt. Ltd. has been into movement of goods with 32 feet single axle, 32 feet multi axle, 20 feet and 24 feet containerized trucks operating for clients in the foods, FMCG and white goods sector. “With owned trucks of around 300 parked across our company’s 28 branches in India covering all major cities, we cater to most of the white goods and FMCG companies in the country, transporting their refrigerators, air-conditions, washing machines, mobile phones, non-durable packaged foods, tyres, etc.,” declared the Director.
In order to serve the customers with changing demands the company also presses into service attached fleet of around 450 vehicles. Not only does the company boast of a huge fleet size, but also ensures that the quality of neither the service nor fleet is compromised. “We ensure that our vehicles are well maintained, appear aesthetically clean and hygienic for foods and other sectors. We diligently carry out painting, denting and preventive maintenance to sustain the longevity of the trucks at the centralized state-of-art maintenance hub at Lonikand, Pune. The same standard of quality of fleets also applies to our attached fleets too. Also, all our fleets are equipped with the GPS tracking system for real time track and trace, and a robust network of MIS to clients,” beamed Mr. Singhal.
Leaving no stone unturned
Given the diligence the company has been known for, Vayudoot is leaving no stone unturned in manufacturing high-quality reefer containers from professional reefer vehicle manufacturers. Asked what will Vayudoot’s USP in reefer transportation would be, Mr. Singhal said: “We are selling our discipline transparency and cost, as clients demand timely delivery, transparency of temperature maintained at transit and viability in terms of cost. We have invested in the GPS-based system that in real-time logs temperature data, sends instant alerts about door-openings and offers precise co-ordinates of the truck to us as well as the customers on their hand-held android device through an app as well as on computers. As we enter deep into a variety of clients, adding even last mile reefer delivery, we would grow to touch 300 vehicles of reefer containers in the next two years.”
The quality of material delivered in the FMCG segment is important, and one cannot have the material delivered damaged. The same is true with goods transferred in temperature-controlled trucks. Apart from maintaining vehicles, Vayudoot adheres to training drivers with timely delivery in mind. “We have 95 per cent on time adherence ratio. We give incentive to the drivers for reaching on time and also penalize them if they are late or too early. We don’t want drivers to resort to overspeed and violate the safety norms. Apart from quarterly driver training, we also have them covered under insurance for any accident (whether driving or outside truck) even after their duty hours. Due to proper training related to driving practices, including defensive driving, the accidents rate is very low,” he said.
When Vayudoot delivers on its commitment the trust of the customer is strengthened. “We deliver what we commit. As far as the client knows how the intend will be taken care and there is transparency in communication with our GPS-enabled fleet giving accurate information, the confidence of the client goes up,” beamed Mr. Singhal.
While there are plans for growth, both in normal containerised and refrigerated transportation, Vayudoot has four major hubs, in Pune, Kolkata, Bangalore and Chennai, and a robust branch network to support its growth objective. “Our USP has always been scalability of transportation with multi-city and multi-State, multi-location handling of consignment network,” concluded Mr. Singhal.