Mumbai airport cargo volume grows 13pc over fiscal year

MUMBAI airport has posted a 13 per cent increase in cargo to 44 million tonnes from April 2010 to March 2011 despite infrastructure bottlenecks and strikes, reports the Indian Express.


This after operations were hit by infrastructure bottlenecks and strikes. The airport handled 44 million tonnes of international cargo last year.


At the airport's air cargo complex, the success of Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) in handling cargo has meant reduction in business for the other airport custodian, Air India. When MIAL took over airport operations in 2006, Air India handled 50 per cent of the airline's air cargo business. Now, MIAL handles nearly 70 per cent of it.


Over the last six months, airport officials have been holding monthly meetings with cargo agents to resolve bottlenecks. "Not much has changed. No capacity or space has been added. The cold storage that MIAL promised is yet to be implemented," one cargo agent said.


Warehouse capacity, city side roadways, multi-location operations, are bottlenecks, MIAL said. "On long-term planning, we are restructuring the air cargo complex that would resolve the existing challenges and would also enhance handle capacity to one million tons per annum," said a MIAL official.
(Source:http://www.schednet.com)