What makes Changi Airport the best
Lim Ching Kiat, Managing Director-Air Hub Development, Changi Airport Group, in a tête-à-tête with CARGOTALK shares the airport’s achievements and goes on to enlist their expansion plans.
How many airlines, precisely cargo, does the airport cater to?
The airport caters to 24 freighter airlines that operate more than 310 weekly scheduled freighter flights, linking Singapore to 47 cities in 27 countries. Including passenger flights, over 120 airlines operate about 7,000 weekly flights to 380 cities, providing a good mix of freighter and bellyhold capacity. In 2016, Changi Airport welcomed two new freighter carriers – Neptune Air (Feb 2016), Silk Way West (Jun 2016, which gave us a new city link to Baku, Azerbaijan). K-Mile Air also resumed operations at Changi Airport. Enumerate the recent developments at Changi.
The developments are divided into the e-commerce, pharmaceuticals, perishables segments.
e-commerce
DHL Express launched their fully-automated South Asia Hub at Changi Airfreight Centre in October 2016, which tripled their cargo handling capacity to 628 tonnes during the peak processing window, and increased their parcel-sorting speed by six-fold to 24,000 shipments and documents per hour. SATS has also officially opened their new e-commerce Airhub in April 2017. With Singapore Post (SingPost) as its anchor customer, the new facility will improve efficiency and space utilisation, and enhance the consignment handling capabilities for both SATS and SingPost. SATS will be the first ground handler in the region to own such an airside facility. With mailbag processing capability increasing by more than three times and automation to reduce mail processing time by 50 per cent in this new facility, e-commerce shipments can be loaded more quickly onto flights.
Pharmaceuticals
The Changi Airport is the first air cargo community in Asia Pacific to undergo the IATA CEIV Pharma certification, allowing pharmaceutical products to be handled with the highest standards at Changi. Till date, we have established an end-to-end supply chain that meets the IATA CEIV Pharma standards. As a strategic member of Pharma. Aero, Changi Airport Group (CAG) also works with like-minded partners to share market knowledge and improve end-to-end reliability of pharmaceutical cargo handling.
Perishables
Both our ground handlers (dnata and SATS) have temperature controlled fa ci lities (dn at a Coolchain and SATS Coolport) with multi-tiered zones and individual cold rooms at different temperature ranges to handle temperature sensitive cargo. Most recently, chilled meat shipments from New Zealand have been certified to pass through Singapore en route to markets in the European Union. With this arrangement, the shelf life of meat in EU markets will be extended by about two weeks. This arrangement is expected to cost about 50 per cent less than direct air freight for the entire journey. This EU approval paves the way to enable new trade flows to Singapore. What makes Changi airport stand out from other airports globally?
Changi Airport has established itself as the leading air cargo and a major transhipment hub in the region. The key factors contributing to our success are: Pro-business government regulations and environment: The CAG cultivates strong ties with business partners and stakeholders such as airlines, Ground Handling Agents (GHAs), government agencies such as Singapore Customs, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS), Economic Development Board (EDB) and International Enterprise (IE) Singapore. Good infrastructure: The Changi Airfreight Centre and the Airport Logistics Park of Singapore (ALPS), spanning over 70 hectares is a 24hr Free Trade Zone, where transshipment cargo can be broken down and reconsolidated with minimal customs formalities. The two ground handlers operating in the CAC also have specialised facilities (Coolport by SATS and Coolchain by Dnata) to handle more than 300,000 tonnes of temperature sensitive cargo annually such as perishables and pharmaceuticals. A total of 125,000 sqm of warehouse and office space within the CAC enables cargo agents to process their export and import cargo within the FTZ, thereby offering a hassle-free transfer and clearance of goods. SATS is also the first in the world to be certified by IATA as a Centre of Excellence in Pharmaceutical Handling and dnata is in the midst of attaining certification. Excellent connectivity: Our excellent connectivity means that shippers and forwarders have ample options to get their cargo to their destination through Changi. How many tonnes throughput the airport has handled in the last ſUECN [GCT! For our last fiscal year (ending Mar 2017), Changi Airport handled 1.99 tonnes (close to 2 million) of airfreight throughput, a 7 per cent increase compared to the corresponding period.
For the 12 months ending April 2017, we are happy to share that Changi Airport crossed two million tonnes of airfreight throughput, a new milestone and the highest ever in Changi Airport’s history. What is the Indian contribution?
India is Changi’s fifth largest cargo market. For the 12 months ending March 2017, over 122,000 tonnes of airfreight throughput was handled between Singapore and India, registering a year-onyear growth of 8 per cent.
What are your expansion plans?
Changi Airport is preparing to meet capacity and to be completed in late 2020s, an industrial zone – the Changi East Industrial Zone. This will strengthen Changi Airport’s position as a major air hub.
Changi Airport has established itself as the leading air cargo and a major transhipment hub in the region