India’s airport infrastucture must improve, with more dedicated cargo terminals, for the country’s airfreight sector to develop, reports The Hindu Business Online.
A lack of onsite storage facilities is the biggest challenge for India’s air cargo growth, Cathay Pacific Cargo told the publication.
“Warehouse infrastructure is a big problem. It takes five-six days, on an average, for trucks to reach the warehouse in Delhi. This kills the time advantage that air cargo gives,” said Ashish Kapur, regional manager, Cargo, Cathay Pacific Cargo.
“In more mature markets there are private bonded warehouses with customs checks. That is what we need here. Some work is happening in Chennai but it is not enough,”
Recent aircargo volume growth at Delhi and Mumbai airports highlights what a modern terminal can do for the air cargo sector, the report said.
Aircargo traffic has grown by some 40 per cent at Delhi airport since modernisation work at its cargo terminal began in 2009.
Delhi now handles some 600,000 tonnes of air cargo, up from 430,000 tonnes in 2009. But analysts expect this volume to rise to 1m tones by 2013, once modernisation work to its cargo terminal is completed.
Air cargo companies in India are hopeful that improvements in infrastructure will boost growth. as the Indian market offers a good balance of import-export cargo, the report said.
“From Cathay Pacific's perspective, imports and exports are highly balanced. There's only an eight-nine per cent difference, so it makes the market attractive for us as the freighters come in full and fly out full,” said Cathay Pacific Cargo’s Mr Kapur.
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