Cargo village takes off at B'lore airport

Continuing to enhance the airport’s infrastructure, Bengaluru International Airport on Monday inaugurated its Cargo Village.

Spread over 11 acres with provision for future expansion, the facility, located near the cargo terminals is expected to strengthen Bangalore’s position as a trade and commercial hub while ensuring faster clearance of consignments imported or exported from the cargo terminals at the airport. The facility, completed over a period of 10 months, has been built at an investment of Rs 12 crore.

The Cargo Village will house 120 freight forwarders and 80 custom house agents. It will be ready for occupation from January 1, 2009, post execution of agreements with Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) and will be managed by the cargo associations.

Essential facilities at the warehouse like banks, conference rooms, training rooms, business centre, help desk, staff canteen, truck parking and other facilities have been set up. It will also allow for parking nearly 80 trucks.

“Cargo development is a key focus of BIAL’s core business strategy. With the inauguration of the cargo village we will be able to further enhance existing cargo operations for Bangalore. Our airport has witnessed both a quantitative increase in terms of export facility area and qualitative improvements in terms of storage and handling capabilities to promote the outflow of goods. The facility will generate employment opportunities and create a better working environment for its occupants,” said Albert Brunner, CEO, BIAL.

The airport’s current facilities include two operational cargo terminals — built and operated by Menzies Aviation Bobba Pvt Ltd and Air India SATS Joint Venture consortium. The former has an initial capacity to handle 150,000 tonnes of cargo, while the latter has a two floor warehouse with a capacity of 200,000 tonnes.

Till date, the airport has handled 70,905 tonnes of cargo. Together, they have the capacity to handle twice Bangalore's current annual cargo requirement which stands at 170,000 tonnes. Over 740 freighter flights (international and domestic) have operated from Bengaluru International Airport since it began commercial operations on May 24 this year.

Of these, two new freighters — Expo air and Jett8 Cargo — were introduced after the airport became functional. Today, the airport operates freighters to 10 destinations across India and overseas.