Delhi Airport serves as a transshipment hub between Bangladesh & world

Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), a subsidiary of GMR Airports Infrastructure Limited (GIL), welcomed the first batch of transshipment cargo from Bangladesh, paving the way for a faster and cost-effective route of shipping export cargo internationally. The first batch of cargo, which left Dhaka on February 26, 2023, arrived at Delhi Airport today and will leave for its destined location in Spain on March 5, 2023. Delhi Airport received approval from the Government of India on February 7, 2023, allowing DIAL to serve as a Cargo Transshipment hub between Bangladesh and other global destinations for export cargo. The decision by the government is expected to boost the national economy while reducing the shipment cost significantly for manufacturers and increasing the daily export of international cargo via Delhi Airport including ready-made garments (RMG), handlooms, footwear, leather products, jute products, and pharmaceuticals. Over the years, Bangladesh has emerged as a global manufacturing hub for ready-made garments. The new route of transportation is further expected to create new vistas of opportunity for the South Asian country. Since Bangladeshi manufacturers rely heavily on India for raw materials
including threads, textiles, jute, leather, and pharmaceutical raw material, any boost in exports will directly result in an increase in demand for produced-in-India raw materials in Bangladesh. Bangladeshi RMG products are especially in demand in Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Denmark, parts of Eurasia, and in the USA. With Delhi Airport’s direct connectivity to most European nations, this route will further boost the Indian government’s initiative of helping reach countries of the Indian sub-continent to their full potential. The transshipment cargo will reach from Dhaka to Delhi, via the Bangladesh-India border at
Benapole-Petrapol, said an official release. Once the cargo leaves the Petrapol border after all security checks, the manufacturers will be able to track their shipment throughout its journey, including its arrival at the Delhi Airport, during security clearances, and final uploading of cargo on the aircraft. To ensure ease of doing business, DIAL has created a special truck docking facility and a dedicated X-ray area for the swift transfer of cargo to their outbound locations. Speaking on the occasion, CEO DIAL Mr. Videh Kumar Jaipuriar said “With this initiative, the Delhi Airport is on its way to becoming the International Cargo hub of the world, serving as a
transshipment centre between East and West. Globally, most manufacturing happens in South and South-East Asian countries, which lack freight and cargo handling capacity. This is where Delhi Airport can help nations come together, help businesses and economies of neighbouring countries prosper.” Delhi Airport is the largest Cargo Hub Airport in the South Asia region, with two integrated Cargo Terminals having an annual cargo handling capacity of 1.8 million MT which is scalable to 2.3 million MT. The Cargo handling capacity of the Delhi Airport gives it a unique position to help cater to manufacturers and suppliers internationally, and especially in South East Asia for a faster and cost-effective way to ship their cargo across western nations. Apart from its ability to handle massive cargo loads, the Delhi Airport is equipped with state-ofthe-art handling equipment, advanced screening systems, efficient storage and processing facilities, paperless processes, etc. providing efficient cargo handling services for international as well as domestic cargo. The cargo terminals of the Delhi Airport have a world-class infrastructure with GDP-certified temperature-controlled facilities for handling temperature-sensitive cargo. The temperaturecontrolled cargo facilities have the capacity to handle over 1.5 lakh MT per annum. These facilities
have state-of-the-art temperature-controlled zones with separate cool chambers ranging from –20
deg C to +25 deg C. In terms of airside infrastructure, Delhi Airport is the first and only airport in the country to have 12 Nos. of dedicated Freighter parking bays, providing ample capacity for Airlines to move cargo to
and from the airport. In fact, the cargo apron is capable of doing three Nose Load operations
seamlessly at a single point in time.