360-degree approach for air cargo
The recently-launched national air cargo policy outlines a globally unique and holistic approach to achieve fundamental engineering in the air cargo ecosystem. Vandana Aggarwal, Economic Advisor, Ministry of Civil Aviation, shares insights.
To upscale the Indian air cargo network and provide cargo transportation by air to masses at an affordable cost and connect every village to the national and global value chains, we are focusing on regulatory policies in support of air cargo growth; strategies to develop the air cargo market; a strategy for security and safety; cargo community infrastructure; technology, innovation and sustainability; human capital development and performance benchmarking. The first air freight station (off-airport common-user facility) at New Delhi is ready to be launched after obtaining security clearance. Multimodal logistics parks will also help decongest airports and reduce logistics cost and air cargo processing time. New import cold storage facilities have been constructed and commissioned by AAICLAS, with a facility for storage of aircraft ULD as well. Similarly, cold storage for pharmaceuticals and other perishable cargo at export wing has been established and construction of new airside sheds has been taken up. Reduction in space rentals for cargo facilities by 50 per cent has been provided at all old AAI terminal buildings for operation and management vendors. A dedicated digital air freight corridor has been launched between Mumbai and Schiphol for establishing advanced information flow and tracking. The dedicated air freight corridors with air cargo clearance within four hours of arrival have also been established between India and Afghanistan. Similar corridors are also under consideration with other landlocked countries. Reflecting the growing capability of Indian airports, the largest class-I dangerous goods consignment ever lifted was from Kolkata airport to Almaty in Kazakhstan in 2018. As part of the Air Sewa module, a ‘Cargo Sewa’ grievance redressal module is also under development. The government has taken several initiatives to sustain the growth in air cargo and to bring the country’s logistics on a par with global standards. Some of the achievements include: 3ERVICE LEVEL STANDARDS SET FOR entire air cargo ecosystem. Reduction of free period for air cargo clearance from 72 hours to within 48 hours. !IR CARGO DWELL TIME ON imports reduced from 72 hours to 52 hours by December 2017. By the end of December 2018, the dwell time had further reduced to about 39 hours for imports as estimated by IATA. Dwell time reduced at major airports by 36-72 per cent on export cargo. )N EXPRESS CARGO OR COURIER terminal, the processing time for imports reduced to about two hours in 2018. -UMBAI AT THE RATE OF per cent per annum and Chennai, at the rate of 17.2 per cent per annum, have been ranked in the global top-10 fastest growing airports in 2017 in terms of air cargo. &OUR )NDIAN AIR CARGO TERMINALS rank in the top six in a global pilot project on express or CTSQ conducted by TIACA. 2EGULAR CUSTOMER SATISFACTION surveys for service standards.