India is looking to speed up the movement of air cargo to overseas markets by eliminating repeat screening at transit airports. Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said transit time under the new system has fallen from as much as 70 hours to around 20 hours.
The government has expanded its Domestic-to-International (D2I) transhipment air cargo framework, adding Mumbai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Bangaluru to the domestic network along with Chennai. On the international side, London and Copenhagen have been added to Frankfurt.
Under the arrangement, cargo screened at its origin does not have to undergo the entire screening process again at the transit airport. As a result, this will reduce handling and processing time.
Underlining the impact of the reform, Naidu stated to ANI, “What used to take up to 70 hours for the cargo to go from one place to another international destination has now been reduced to 20 hours.”
Mandatory re-screening of transhipment cargo has been removed as part of efforts to boost ease of doing business.
Chennai-Delhi-Frankfurt route tested first
The system was initially tested through a Proof of Concept (PoC) on the Chennai-Delhi-Frankfurt sector. Naidu mentioned that around 280 metric tonnes of cargo had been handled under the initiative.
As per a report by PTI, PoC started in June. Following its success, the network was expanded to the four additional domestic origin stations and two new international destinations.
Farmers and perishable exports could benefit
Naidu highlighted agricultural exports as a potential beneficiary of faster cargo movement.
“We are seeing Shahi litchis from Bihar being exported to London. We are seeing our mangoes, which are also huge in demand across the world, being transshipped to Dubai and Singapore,” he added.
The minister also mentioned that stretching to 70-100 hours can make overseas markets difficult for perishable products.
“Today we have reduced the time for them. So our Indian farmer is able to export his produce to world markets at a very convenient time.” He also further added that “he is also getting a good price from it, which is increasing the income of the farmer,” Naidu stated.
India eyes nearly 10 million MT of air cargo by 2030
As per Naidu, India currently manages around 3.5 million metric tonnes of air cargo, and the government plans to nearly triple this to 10 million metric tonnes by 2030.
Pointing to India’s geographical position between major markets to its east and west, Naidu mentioned, “India is strategically situated in such an advantageous place…. We are rightly placed to become cargo hub of the whole world.”
International transhipment next
While the current reform focuses on Domestic-to International transshipment, Naidu said the government ultimately seeks to open International-to International (I2I) operations as well.
The framework is also planned to be expanded to International-to-Domestic transshipments.
Naidu flagged off the scaled-up phase of the framework at Delhi International Airport Limited’s Transhipment Excellence Centre at Terminal 2 of Delhi airport on Wednesday.
He extended credit to the Civil Aviation Ministry, BCAS, CISF, Customs, airlines including Air India, and other stakeholders for implementing the reform.