Cargo Breaking News
Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) opened a new domestic cargo Common User Terminal (CUT) in Mumbai near the Western Express Highway in Vile Parle this June, which has been outsourced to Concor Air Ltd (CAL) on a build-operate-transfer basis. CAL is a new company formed specially for air cargo facilities and is a 100 per cent subsidiary of Concor.
According to Kamal Jain, Chief General Manager, Concor, the new terminal will also provide warehousing facilities to clients. “We have entered into a concessional agreement with MIAL for this. This new terminal has the capacity to handle 300,000 metric tonnes of cargo annually and is built on an area of 60,000 square feet. It offers state-of-the-art facilities including an online payment facility. We already have airlines like Indigo, SpiceJet, GoAir, Vistara and Jet Airways as our clients. After Mumbai, we are looking to open similar terminals in other cities too.”
The cargo terminal is an ‘elevated terminal structure’ where all arriving domestic cargo is managed from the basement level while departing cargo is handled at the upper level. Air India and Blue Dart handle their own domestic cargo operations at their own terminals.
Manoj Singh, Vice President, MIAL, said, “This project was on for three years and it’s the biggest facility that caters to the Western region. It can also handle hazardous goods. Freight forwarders have the option to have an office here. The Domestic Air Cargo Agents Association of India already has an office here. It became necessary for this region to have an air cargo terminal of this scale because of the increased domestic cargo business and rise in e-commerce. We are expecting an annual growth of seven per cent in business with the new facility.”
Anil Kumar Gupta, CMD of Concor and Chairman of CAL, who was also present at the event, said, “The cargo-handling capacity in Mumbai was very limited. In India, the cost of transportation is very high – it is close to 12-13 per cent as against just eight to nine per cent that is the international standard. We want to link this facility to our ICDS. We have recently started roadways which is the fourth dimension of transport. The need for India right now is developing the air-sea cargo link. We are looking at that right now. Ahmedabad will be the first such facility where we will do this. We will also revive our Mulund facility in Mumbai. We will be expanding the team at Concord to help with our expansion plans.”
