With Mumbai accounting for 57 per cent of air cargo export, a lot is being done to improve the city’s cargo and logistics infrastructure covering the air network.
Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA), which connects to over 500 cargo destinations, is a major gateway for pharmaceuticals, perishables and engineering goods. CSIA has exclusive terminals for cargo operations and is in the process of increasing its pharma handling capacity at Mumbai to 4,50,000 tonnes.
Export Heavy and Bonded Cargo Terminal at MIAL is a state- of- the-art facility offering exclusive handling for odd dimension cargo, heavy shipments and bonded cargo received from the hinterland. GVK MIAL is the first airport in India and third in Asia to obtain The International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) Center of Excellence for Independent Validators (CEIV) Pharma accreditation, a global industry recognition supporting the air transport industry and is in full compliance with pharmaceutical manufacturers’ requirements.
With the introduction of CSIA’s first air cargo community portal, GMAX has provided access to world class technology, enabling smooth flow of cargo and an increase in freight penetration. CSIA has also launched its ‘Cooltainer’ operations, that has a temperature-controlled transportation facility for managing the movements of pharmaceuticals between terminal and tarmac with no downtime or loss in temperature, in December 2019.
Mumbai air cargo terminal holds the market leading position in Indian airports with the highest air cargo throughput handled, to the tune of over 0.6 million metric tonnes per annum.
Source : Various Agencies