Foundation stone laid for Cargo Handling Facility at B'lore airport

Bangalore, Jan 19 (UNI) Air India Chairman and Managing Director V Tulasidas today laid the foundation stone for building a Cargo Handling Facility at the under-construction Bangalore International Airport at Devanahalli, about 35 km from here.

Speaking on the occasion, he said the Rs 100 crore state-of-the-art cargo handling facility, taken up as a joint venture with Singapore Airport Terminal Services Limited (SATS), will have two warehouse floors with a gross floor area of 18,000 sqm and designed capacity of 1,50,000 tonnes of cargo. The project is expected to be completed by April 2008, when the airport was likely to be inaugurated.

Mr Tulasidas said Air India, understanding the fast growing cargo segment in Bangalore, had forayed into this venture to increase its market share to a respectable level from the present less than ten per cent of the total 3,50,000 tonnes.

''As part of the joint venture, AI-SATS aims at bringing in the necessary professional expertise to build, operate and maintain the cargo faciity, thereby achieving excellent domestic and international cargo operations. Both the entities will share the investment on a 50:50 basis,'' he said.

Equipped with the latest Material Handling System (MHS), the new facility would be able to handle general, perishable and specialised cargo, including courier and mail. The MHS would also have an integrated computer system for tracking cargo within the warehouse.

This would ensure quick processing for delivery and acceptance of cargo.

Earlier in a talk with newspersons, SATS Chief Operating Officer Karmjit Singh said the facility could be expanded to handle 2,00,000 tonnes of cargo in the second phase.

He said this was the first venture of SATS in cargo handling field in the country, after successfully setting up such a facility in 33 airports in nine countries and six cargo terminals in Singapore. it had registered a turnover of 950 million Singapore Dollar last year, with the profit being 200 million Singapore Dollars.

UNI