Cargo Talk Feb2021 (2) - Flipbook - Page 22
EXPERT TALK
Robust airfreight station
network: A missing link
India’s total air cargo volumes reportedly grew to around 3.75 million tonnes in the financial year 2019.
Narayanankutty Karayangal, Senior Director – Airfreight, DHL Global Forwarding, expresses his views on setting up
Air Freight Stations (AFSs) to handle international air cargo.
implementing regulations around cargo
handling, staging and storage freight
outside the airport.
everal freight forwarders
including
DHL
Global
Forwarding have a long
standing expectation for Air Freight
Stations to develop. India’s total air cargo
volumes reportedly grew to around 3.75
million tonnes in the financial year 2019,
a 7.5 per cent growth rate. Airports are
built to handle certain capacity levels
but are currently handling several times
more. There will come a certain inflexion
point where these facilities can’t continue
expanding to cater to such growth.
Further, the quantum of cargo that needs
to be handled during the peak periods
at the end of every month and quarter
is significantly higher. Airports are less
geared to handle these peaks and have
limitations on space, infrastructure and
the workforce. All these factors can lead
to congestions, disruptions to turnaround
time and negatively impact the deliveries
for customers.
S
Building import cargo
DHL Global Forwarding
operates its own cargo handling
facilities in all major cities
across continents.
All the facilities are TAPAcertified and well equipped with
security features, capable of
building break bulk import cargo
with dedicated pallets and break
down positions.
22 CARGOTALK
FEBRUARY - 2021
Increasingly, freight is getting more
sophisticated and needs very careful
handling, onto and off airline pallets.
The lack of skilled handling staff and
equipment are often a challenge.
An external facility managed by
warehouse experts is greatly needed to
meet these requirements.
Implementation
takes time
The air cargo sector sees the value
and benefits of establishing air freight
stations but implementation takes
time. There are a few AFSs in India but
not commonplace at this juncture. To
expand the availability of such facilities,
there are several factors to consider;
first, making it cost and market
competitive for freight forwarders to
establish AFSs and airports to transfer
ULDs (unit load devices) to freight
forwarders and secondly, reviewing and
DHL Global Forwarding operates its
own cargo handling facilities in all
major cities across continents. We
receive the airline ULD, handle the
break bulk and stage them according
to individual cargo characteristics. All
these facilities are TAPA-certified and
well equipped with security features,
capable of building break bulk import
cargo with dedicated pallets and break
down positions. Equally, these facilities
have different chambers to cater to the
various temperature needs of freight.
They facilitate conditioning of packing
materials as well, so as to support
passive cooling solutions for different
types of cold chain cargo movements.
All these facilities operate with the
latest warehousing digital solutions
to track the location of freight at any
given point in time. Furthermore, we
have customised vehicles to transport
airline ULD, like roller bedded trucks,
which are equipped with forklifts,
hand trollies, etc. All these facilities
are also monitored by CCTV at
specific intervals with the objective of
using the footage for continuous
improvement of processes.
While Indian airports differ from one
another in the provision of such facilities,
the main differences include the daily
maintenance of warehouses, and the
mindset for freight-handling. These
warehouse/AFS have Customs bonded
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