Delhi airport easing the pain of cargo ban

Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport has of late become vital to Bangladeshi exporters after the ban on direct cargo flights from Dhaka to any European country.

More than 54 percent of Bangladesh's exports in a year are destined to the European Union.

Following the ban, cargoes need to be rescreened at a third country -- an additional step that has bumped up the shipping costs for exporters.

The Delhi airport, which has the white card in safety and security validation from the civil aviation of the EU, has now turned into an indispensable hub for third-country rescreening for Bangladeshi exporters as it charges less to airlines for cargo handling and rescreening, is less time-consuming and has ample warehouse space.

Take, for instance, the spike in Bangladeshi cargos handled by Celebi Delhi Cargo Terminal Management India in recent months.

“We have been handling the Bangladeshi cargos at the Delhi airport over the last two months,” said Ramesh Mamidala, chief executive officer of Celebi Delhi Cargo Terminal Management India, yesterday.

Even two months ago there was zero cargo from Bangladesh for rescreening at the Delhi airport.

But now, the Turkish company handles 400 tonnes of cargo, especially apparel items, from Bangladesh every month.

Celebi charges Rs 1.5 per kilogram for handling the cargoes and another Rs 2.5 per kg for rescreening them at the airport, Mamidala said.

The airlines charge between $2.65 and $2.70 for carrying a kilogram of goods from Dhaka to any destination in the EU via a Middle-Eastern, which was $1.70 and $1.80 even two months ago, according to freight forwarders.

“The rate is cheaper than in other airports,” Mamidala said, adding that the average staying period of EU-bound goods at the Delhi airport is six hours for transshipment.

Besides, the transit time for Europe-bound flights in Delhi airport is less than in the Middle Eastern airports.

“The airlines take almost same time as those from the Dubai airport to carry goods to the EU due to shorter transshipment period at the Delhi airport,” Mamidala said.

Given the arrival of higher cargo from Dhaka, Calebi has started talks with the higher-ups in Dhaka on how to handle those goods more efficiently.

“We are holding road shows in Dhaka for higher cargo handling business as it has a very bright prospect for us,” Mamidala said, adding that the company is aiming to handle 4,000 tonnes of cargos a month from Dhaka. Sanjiv Edward, head of cargo of Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport, echoed with the views of Mamidala.

Edward is also visiting Dhaka along with Mamidala to grab more cargo business from Bangladesh for the Delhi airport.

“The poor logistic service in any country merely increases the cost of doing business. So, both Dhaka and Delhi can collaborate to improve the logistic service in the airports for smooth operations of export and import businesses.”

The warehousing capacity at the Delhi airport is 1.5 million tonnes, and last fiscal year the airport transshipped 0.06 million tonnes of goods.

The airport has 0.12 million cargo transshipment capacity, he said.

“So, there is a lot of room for more transshipment. We can use this capacity if we get more goods from Dhaka,” Edward said.

Some 1,000 tonnes of goods are shipped by air every day from the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, about 70 percent of which is garment items.

Exporters from Dhaka are facing serious challenges in making shipments from the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport as many airlines have slashed their cargo transport capacity.

For instance, Etihad Airways reduced the number of its cargo flights in a week from six to three, and Oman Air, which used to transport 120 tonnes of cargoes by way of three flights in a week, has stopped carrying cargo altogether.

The situation worsened further when two out of four gantry cranes at the country's premier port in Chittagong were damaged in June this year.

Due to the problems in the port, exporters are opting for the expensive option of air shipments for the sake of maintaining the strict lead-time set by their overseas business partners.