Tamil Nadu   

Cargo movement intact

For an industrialised district as Coimbatore that has a basket of products exported to various destinations, international connectivity is essential.

Garments, components and castings are some of the products that get air lifted from the district regularly. The air cargo complex here handled nearly 3,000 tonnes of cargo in 2006-2007.

It was 3,476 tonnes in 2007-2008. This year, during the first three months, it was about 300 tonnes. The manufacturers here use airlines for cargo movement mainly to meet delivery schedules and to send samples, says an official at the air cargo complex.

Manohar D. Menon of Peirce Leslie India points out that Coimbatore has Air Arabia, Silk Air and Sri Lankan Airlines with three to four services a week from each.

Each flight has 3 tonnes to 5 tonnes of cargo loading capacity. Though the cargo charges have not gone up, the fuel surcharge has been increased. It is Rs. 54 a kg now as against Rs. 38 a kg about two months ago.

The Airports Authority of India has also increased the Terminal Storage and Processing charges.

The volume is not increasing here substantially and the costs are one of the reasons, he says.

Facilities also should be improved. For instance, Coimbatore should have facilities for plant quarantine certification to encourage vegetable cargo movement. These items now go to other airports, he says.

A garment industry representative in Tirupur says when garments are sent by air, the charges are seven to eight times more than regular shipment.

Hence, exporters resort to it mainly to send samples and when they are under pressure to meet delivery schedule.

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