Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport adopted digitalisation to move air cargo when the industry came to a grinding halt during the pandemic, and digitalisation proved to be the silver lining. Following this we remained open to supply life-saving cargo, says Manoj Singh, Senior Vice President and Head, Cargo & Express, CSMIA.
Priyanshi Bana
How has 2021 been different from 2020 for air cargo tonnage? By what per cent has the increase been recorded?
The pandemic has revealed air freight and cargo as a crucial aspect of the aviation industry. Keeping critical supply chains open, the air cargo community remained fully functional, even during the lockdowns, to cater to the
need to mobilize and supply essential life-saving items right from the beginning of the outbreak.
The year has shown some promising signs of the aviation and logistics industry going back to the pre-COVID-19 days. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) has recorded over 4.52 lakh tons of cargo volume this financial year until October 2021 compared to more than 2.79 tons in the same period of FY20. CSMIA also recorded 88,740 tons of freight movement until October 2021 as against 38,006 tons in 2020.
Between April and October 2021, Emirates, Qatar and Turkish Airlines have recorded the highest tonnage this year with 41,993, 36,283 and 23,216 tons, respectively, while they posted the highest tonnage in 2020 with 25,253, 24,503 and 18,580 tons, respectively. Pharmaceuticals, agro products and automobiles were the top three
exported commodities in FY21 and FY22 as well, while automobiles, electrical/electronics, and pharmaceuticals were the top three imported commodities in FY21 and FY22.
To cater to the increasing needs of mobilizing and exporting commodities around the globe, the CSMIA has been working 24×7 and handling the cargo activities seamlessly even amidst the pandemic. CSMIA has facilitated the movement of essential goods by processing over 14,755 tons of COVID-19 supplies, including PPE kits, face masks, other medical equipment, and more than 1.02 lakh tons of pharmaceuticals during COVID-19.
The growth in tonnage and capacity has been consistent month-on-month for both years, 2020 and 2021, and the airport is optimistic that this will continue in the upcoming years as well. CSMIA remains committed to surpassing its role as a facilitator of essential aid in support of India and the globe in maintaining the momentum of battling the pandemic.
Since a lot of medical cargo was transported last year, what other goods were in demand in 2021?
With the ongoing pandemic, critical life-saving medicines and equipment continued to be in demand, and these include essential and non-essential products such as pharmaceutical goods, vaccines and COVID-19 related aid, engineering goods, machinery, electricals, and electronics to name a few. CSMIA transported over 254 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine and witnessed a steady movement in airfreight demand between July and October 2021.
In the same period, automotive parts were seen to be the highest transported goods contributing 22 per cent to the overall general cargo, while pharmaceutical goods contributed to 19 per cent, engineering goods at 11 per cent, electrical and electronics at 9 per cent, and agro products and perishables at 8 per cent and rest was
contributed by other goods such as chemicals, garments, dangerous goods and live animals.
How did digitalization help in moving seamless cargo?
Cargo network expansion is one of CSMIA’s key segment contributing to its long standing in the logistics and supply chain industry, making Mumbai one of the major touchpoints in the region. As one of the busiest airports in the country, CSMIA has played a key role in facilitating the transportation of essential medical goods and emergency services, thanks to its well-equipped infrastructure, digital innovations, and strategic foresight along with a trained and dedicated workforce.
CSMIA Air Cargo is known for innovating solutions inclined towards having greater control over the movement of air cargo in real-time as well as providing efficient transport of goods and introducing the first-of-its-kind Air Cargo Community System (AMAX-ADANI MIAL AIR EXCHANGE) in the air freight industry. CSMIA recently upgraded its Air Cargo IT Application with a view to optimize its digital infrastructure to offer the Mumbai air cargo community with a seamless transactional experience, paperless operations and reduction of dwell time. India’s first Air Cargo Community portal ‘AMAX’ has resulted in the reduction of cost and time for the stakeholders, and boosted the efficiency and agility in cargo operations at the airport. With cent per cent digital communication, CSMIA has the capability to digitally interact with all air cargo allied agencies such as regulators, manufacturers, consignees, freight forwarders and airlines with a single digital point of access. This apart, AMAX can integrate with all kinds of tracking and monitoring devices, thus, ensuring transparency and timely information of the air cargo supply chain. The use of technology has accelerated the supply chain and offered transparency and real-time status updates to the customers.
Besides facilitating paperless transactions, faster clearances, and reduced processing times, the community system developed also supports industry revolutionary concepts such as e-Freight, digital corridor, and inter-connectivity among various IT applications and devices. The advance shipment information concept offered by the community system has enabled CSMIA to make necessary capacity planning, and to achieve the lowest processing time of 12 minutes for domestic COVID-19 vaccine shipments and 25 minutes for international. The GPS and web-based mobile App developed in the Export Pharma Excellence Centre and Android/IOS-based air cargo mobile App for general cargo has taken the digital penetration of CSMIA to the new level.
The Export Pharma Excellence Centre, pharma-dedicated Import Cold Zone, an indigenously developed ‘Cooltainer’ facility, and arguably the largest hub for Envirotainer movements are a few commitments of MIAL for the pharma air cargo industry. Given the requirement for timely and temperature-controlled movement of the vaccine, the existing infrastructure at CSMIA enables the airport to offer a continuous temperature-controlled movement and seamless processing of essential pharma goods. The CSMIA is committed to fulfilling and surpassing its role as a facilitator of essential aid across the country and globally in making sustained efforts for maintaining the momentum of battling the pandemic.
How has the future of air cargo transformed due to pandemic?
During the pandemic, even though the aviation industry came to a standstill, the air cargo operations played a vital role thereby keeping the supply chains open. CSMIA, during the pandemic, has proved its standing to be one of India’s key gateways for pharmaceuticals, perishables, and engineering goods. During distribution of vaccines, CSMIA exported 55.8 million doses across 76 foreign cities. Asia’s largest airport-based export pharma excellence has an annual handling capacity of 3.5 lakh tons spread 4,000 sq.m.
Witnessing the advances made in this transit air cargo hub, the government’s National Air Cargo Policy envisions to make India one of the top five air freight markets by 2025 and create air-transport shipment hubs at all major airports. The expectations of freight movement has resulted in leveraging India as a transit hub between Europe and Southeast Asia and to be a gateway to the South Asian region.
