Pune: The recently launched direct Pune-Singapore flight may have carried 500kg sweets from the city, but the overall response to the airport’s international cargo export facilities has been underwhelming.
The facility was set up in July 2017, and at that time, the airport authorities had set their annual international cargo export expectations at 40,600 metric tonnes. The numbers achieved till September 2018 — 64 metric tonnes — reveal that the facility has fallen woefully short of those expectations. The availability of transhipment facility, which started in January this year, too has not made much of a difference.
From Pune, apart from perishable items like fruits and vegetables, machine parts are exported. A bulk of it is sent out via the Mumbai airport. In fact, almost 40% of the international cargo handled at the Mumbai airport originates from Pune or other places in western Maharashtra.
Earlier this year, the airport officials invited the representatives of cargo companies like Blue Dart and DHL to start their cargo operations from Pune and offered them slots of their choice. But talks are still going on. “It will take some more time for things to materialize,” an airport official told TOI.
Anant Sardeshmukh, the former director-general of the Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture, spoke about infrastructural constraints. “All major exporters have large volumes and have well-established export-import operations from major ports like Nhava Sheva. At the Pune airport, there are space and infrastructure constraints, especially for machines and machinery. Flights and direct connectivity are also issues,” he said.
Aviation analyst and expert Dhairyashil Vandekar agreed. “One needs infrastructure — like cold storage — which isn’t available here. Also, where is the cargo import facility? How can there be only exports but no imports? There is also a lack of will,” he said.
09/12/18 Joy Sengupta/Times of India
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The facility was set up in July 2017, and at that time, the airport authorities had set their annual international cargo export expectations at 40,600 metric tonnes. The numbers achieved till September 2018 — 64 metric tonnes — reveal that the facility has fallen woefully short of those expectations. The availability of transhipment facility, which started in January this year, too has not made much of a difference.
From Pune, apart from perishable items like fruits and vegetables, machine parts are exported. A bulk of it is sent out via the Mumbai airport. In fact, almost 40% of the international cargo handled at the Mumbai airport originates from Pune or other places in western Maharashtra.
Earlier this year, the airport officials invited the representatives of cargo companies like Blue Dart and DHL to start their cargo operations from Pune and offered them slots of their choice. But talks are still going on. “It will take some more time for things to materialize,” an airport official told TOI.
Anant Sardeshmukh, the former director-general of the Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture, spoke about infrastructural constraints. “All major exporters have large volumes and have well-established export-import operations from major ports like Nhava Sheva. At the Pune airport, there are space and infrastructure constraints, especially for machines and machinery. Flights and direct connectivity are also issues,” he said.
Aviation analyst and expert Dhairyashil Vandekar agreed. “One needs infrastructure — like cold storage — which isn’t available here. Also, where is the cargo import facility? How can there be only exports but no imports? There is also a lack of will,” he said.
09/12/18 Joy Sengupta/Times of India
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