Amazon utilises water, air, rail for faster delivery of packages in India

Starting with one fulfillment centre in 2013, Amazon has also built a nationwide infrastructure and tied up with organisations like India Post and the Indian Railways

E-commerce firm Amazon is scaling up its efforts to enhance its fulfilment, transportation, and logistics infrastructure in India. This includes utilising various modes of transport such as rail, air, surface, and water to ensure faster and more reliable delivery of customer packages and expanding its reach to millions of sellers.

Amazon India and state-run Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) recently signed an agreement that allows the e-commerce firm to use inland waterways for transporting customer packages.

This made the company the first e-commerce player in India to use inland water transport. The aim is to work together with IWAI to build a network of inland waterways for cargo shipment. And, using the support of IWAI and its carriers, it will do a pilot run on Patna-Kolkata waterways.

Amazon India said the inland waterways transport would ensure quicker, sustainable and more reliable delivery of customer packages and widen the reach of sellers. Abhinav Singh, Vice-President, Operations, Amazon India, had said this will open up “new possibilities” for all e-commerce companies. “We seek to harness the potential of the country's rivers, canals, and other water bodies to enhance logistics and transportation efficiency for the Indian e-commerce industry at large,” said Singh.

This initiative is a reinforcement of the company’s commitment to continue building capacity to meet the increasing customer demand. The aim is to also collaborate with government authorities to explore mutually beneficial projects for the e-commerce industry. Since 2013, when its India e-commerce operations first started, Amazon has invested over $6.5 billion.
 

Amazon also recently expanded its flagship cross-border logistics program called SEND, by enabling a hassle-free ocean freight logistics solution. This has been done at competitive rates and end-to-end trackability. This allows exporters to better plan their inventory. SEND has been active for over a year providing air carrier services for small parcel delivery. With SEND, Indian exporters can avail cross-border logistics services from multiple third-party service providers across the air and ocean. Here they can ship their goods to Amazon fulfilment centres in the US. SEND was launched in 2022, and thousands of exporters are already benefiting from the programme.

The expansion of the programme enabled more businesses to leverage e-commerce exports and sell globally during the recent holiday season.

"We have been using SEND Ocean Shipping services to ship products to the US and are extremely satisfied with the efficiency and reliability of the service,” said Krishna Murari, Co-Founder, Cottington, a seller on Amazon.

Bhupen Wakankar, Director, Global Trade, Amazon India, recently said that the company’s focus remains on enabling businesses of all sizes across India to leverage Amazon’s logistics and infrastructure to cater to customers across the world. He said with this Amazon is playing a role in taking ‘Made in India’ products global as the company works towards the pledge of enabling $20 billion in cumulative exports from India by 2025.

Starting with one fulfilment centre in 2013, Amazon has built a nationwide infrastructure and tied up with organisations like India Post and the Indian Railways. It also collaborated with kirana stores to create an effective delivery network across the country. In 2019, Amazon became the first e-commerce company in India to partner with Indian Railways for the movement of packages across the country.

In an interview, Akhil Saxena, Vice President of Operations for APAC, MENA and LATAM, and Worldwide Customer Service Head at Amazon, said that the railways, initially used primarily for moving goods from point A to point B, have become more speed-sensitive, enabling the company to fulfil one-day delivery promises.

In 2023, Amazon India also launched Amazon Air, making it the first e-commerce company in the country to have a dedicated air cargo network.

The company has plans to scale up the services of Amazon Air as it sees more volumes coming its way. It has a partnership with Quikjet, a cargo airline for Amazon Air, and also collaborates with other airlines like IndiGo, SpiceJet, and various regional carriers.

Regarding Amazon Air, Saxena said that the significant advantage is that customers now have full visibility of their shipments. “Also, we are not bound by commercial flight timings,” said Saxena. “We can operate at different times based on what's most convenient for our customers. This means they can shop later and still receive their orders within the promised time frame.”