Serum Institute of India (Vaccination maker for the Covid-19 Pandemic)

Serum received approval to produce a potential vaccine for COVID-19 from Oxford University. As such, it was projected that regular volumes will be imported from the UK by Air. However, the purchase managers involved had not yet selected a freight forwarder to handle logistics for this project. We managed to secure this position thanks to our competitive rates and quotations on the most reliable direct airline from London to Mumbai.

Of the 20 or so shipments that we handled successfully, one had to be transferred to Air India due to technical issues with Virgin Atlantic. At this point, we encountered a logistical issue when the shipment landed in Mumbai as one loader from Air India failed to unload a number of pallets resulting in those pallets being unwittingly transported to Bangalore. Moreover, Air India was not able to move the remaining pallets back to Mumbai without detouring them to New Delhi and taking an additional 10 to 15 days.

In addition, we faced the challenge of obtaining the green light from Bangalore Customs to manifest our cargo separately before moving it.

The increasing demurrage for the partial shipment combined with days of delay and uncertainty, and growing impatience of our client put our candidacy for handling future imports in jeopardy.

We moved quickly to receive clearance from Bangalore to move the partial cargo to Mumbai through bonded trucking. Over the next three days, we engaged in critical negotiations with airport officials, ultimately producing a letter from our client explaining the urgent nature of the project in relation to COVID-19 and requesting clearance as soon as possible.

Following this, we received clearance to transport the cargo through a custom bonded truck to Mumbai within 4 days without further delay.

We managed to reduce a potential 20-day delay down to 4 thanks to involvement from our chairman, client, and other top executives. Our client was ultimately satisfied with this result and continues to entrust shipment of this critical project to us today.