Mercurio Pallia Logistics, the 50:50 joint venture set up in March last year between Indian logistics provider Pallia Transport and European logistics major Gruppo Mercucio, is planning to establish a new subsidiary to design and manufacture long-haul trucks and trailers for finished vehicle shipments in India.
The new wholly-owned subsidiary, called Mercurio Pallia Auto Works, is likely to begin operations in November this year, with the parent company investing Rs 50m in a facility at Dharuhera in the Rewari district near New Delhi in northern India, which is just 40km from Maruti Suzuki’s plant at Gurgaon.
In the first year of operations Mercurio Pallia Logistics increased its fleet from 275 carriers to 550 and is expecting a major increase in the volume of vehicles it transports this fiscal year, up from 75,000 vehicles between April 2009 and March 2010. At the moment it transports around 10,000 vehicles per month.
Vipul Nanda, chairman and managing director of Mercurio Pallio Logistics, told Automotive Logistics News that the new subsidiary will be improving on the existing design of trailers being used in India, something that will help the parent company add capacity on demand as well as take care of maintenance on the existing fleet.
“In addition to this, [Mercurio Pallia Auto Works] will also make car carriers for all other transporters in India. The company has plans for exports in future. We will start with an initial capacity of 20 trailers per month and will increase it to 35 by 2012,” said Vipul.
The new subsidiary will work with OEM customers on trailer design and will modify European designs provided by Italian-based Gruppo Mercurio to suit the conditions of vehicle transport in India, including road conditions, infrastructure and the regulations of the Indian Motor Vehicle Act, Vipul added.
The state-of-the-art facility at Dharuhera will be supported by engineering and technical expertise from Italy with Indian technicians employed at Mercurio Pallia Auto Works receiving training in Europe.
The company also aims to establish an Italian joint venture for trailer fabrication called Indo.
