AISATS has signed deal with Yamuna International Airport to build a MMCH at NIA by third quarter of 2024 to enhance freight capacity, strengthen supply chain, ease road and rail congestion. It will develop a cargo village at Kempegowda International Airport, says Sanjay Gupta, CEO, AISATS.
Ritika Arora Bhola
Please tell us about the recent developments, advancements and investments done by your company in the technology and air cargo sector.
Multimodal Cargo Hub (MMCH) infrastructure will be the first of its kind in India where an ICT will be interlinked with an Integrated Warehousing & Logistics Zone (IWLZ), thereby providing faster cargo processing times, increased visibility to forwarders and reducing the overall cost of cargo operations. We will be implementing COSYS+ (developed by SATS) to execute this integrated structure. We aim to make the Indian supply chain globally competitive and deliver value to our customers and end consumers. Air India SATS Airport Services Pvt. Ltd. (AISATS) Cargo Village at Kempegowda International Airport will be spread across 8.2 acres and move cargo through the Cargo Village by providing value added services.
Share with us digital and physical infra for storage, handling, and transportation of all types of cargo, pharma, and bulk cargo?
The MMCH’s physical and digital infra will be built to handle, store, and transport all types of cargo. It will be built over 87 acres of land, housing an inter-connected ICT and IWLZ. The ICT will contain separate domestic and global cargo terminal zones, a courier terminal for express courier and e-commerce shipments, and a coolport for pharma, perishables among others. The IWLZ will include a BUP facility, a bonded warehouse, consolidation centres, a 3PL warehouse and a trucking centre. We will establish a satellite cargo station within NIA’s vicinity to ease the movement of goods for our customers. This infrastructure setup has been designed to prioritize multimodal connectivity (rail, road, and air), which means it will be built to handle all types of cargo. Whatever the cargo is, be it cold chain products, pharma, retail, and dangerous goods, the MMCH will be able to process it based on the cargo’s specific handling, packaging, storage, labelling and documentation needs. The AISATS intends to deploy AI, ML tools and inbuilt cargo monitoring technologies to provide visibility to stakeholders involved.
How do you rate infra in India for cargo flow? Does it support the airlines’ plans for seamless movement of cargo, especially pharmaceuticals?
The current infra at major airports in India is disjointed. The lack of an integrated approach has resulted in bottlenecks, hindering the seamless flow of cargo. Hence, the AISATS MMCH at the greenfield NIA will prove to be the best example for this fresh approach wherein the airport operator and the cargo concessionaire are designing the cargo ecosystem keeping in view the current problems/bottlenecks faced by the industry. The MMCH has been designed to address this lack of infra and enable efficient cargo handling, storage, and processing, and to provide seamless global cargo transshipment (when Indian laws allow it). The ICT will provide cargo handling services under one roof and serve as a single point of contact for our customers, while the IWLZ will offer improved logistics, warehousing efficiencies, a bonded warehouse, a dedicated trucking zone, light manufacturing, and assembly facilities. With an interlinked ICT and IWLZ, we serve our clients with faster response times, greater operational efficiencies, lower transportation costs and reduced administrative overheads.
What are the pain points of ground handlers presently? Focus on major existing challenges and suggest solutions?
Cargo and ground handlers face pain points such as limited transparency, lack of visibility and infra in the cargo ecosystem. They not only create operational inefficiencies, but also increase the overall logistics costs. The AISATS MMCH infrastructure and cutting-edge technologies work to bring transparency and visibility to the most complex cargo processes through digital documentation, real-time cargo tracking and predictive analytics for cargo delivery times. Air cargo gateways tend to face infra bottlenecks and capacity challenges due to warehousing and logistics constraints. Our integrated approach allows us to leverage efficient design layouts and tech to alleviate these bottlenecks and optimize cargo flows. Technologies such as COSYS+, automated material handling systems, autonomous vehicles (for direct connectivity between the ICT and IWLZ), RFID trackers, AI, ML allow for a higher cargo throughput across less space with lower dwell times at the MMCH. Our Single Window Airport Cargo Community and Trucking Center will reduce these bottlenecks even further.
Cargo handlers are likely to get ‘creative’ ideas to gain business. What will be AISATS’s strategy for consolidation in the coming years?
AISATS aim is to be a leading provider of comprehensive air cargo handling and logistics services in terms of quality, efficiency, and customer satisfaction. The AISATS MMCH is driving towards creative innovation and adopting cutting-edge tech to enhance operational excellence, improve service offerings and meet evolving customer demands. We believe in the development of sustainable logistics practices. Our broader goal is to develop MMCHs across India that can help consolidate our cargo handling services, provide long-term value for our stakeholders, strengthen India’s supply chain, and logistics sector. We are optimistic we can deliver seamless, best-in-class cargo handling experiences for all stakeholders, not just at NIA, but across all Indian airports.
How does tech help in creating end-to-end visibility and transparency and help in avoiding future disruptions?
The AISATS MMCH will contain advanced cargo handling equipment that includes automated sorting systems, electric-powered forklifts, and advanced cargo handling machinery to improve cargo handling speed and accuracy. The hub will also implement robust IT systems such as COSYS+, augment reality, real-time tracking, and data analytics tools to enable seamless operations. Electronic documentation, digital wallets and automated processes have been designed to reduce paperwork, and augment efficiency. AISATS will incorporate the SATS Tracer solution, an easy to use web-based platform, into the MMCH for real-time tracking services of special shipments. Additionally, it will also incorporate the SATS Cargo App providing clients with the opportunity to access flight status, shipment location, delivery order status on their mobile phones. Once the Coolport gets developed at the MMCH, AISATS will introduce its Pharma Tag solution for end-to-end temperature tracking of sensitive pharma shipments from the shipper warehouse to the aircraft.
What is AISATS’s goal to succeed?
India needs to focus on creating a healthy ecosystem of transhipment cargo hubs across the country as the Indian economy continues to grow by leaps and bounds. This will help Indian airlines and freight forwarders ship more cargo tonnage across the world by leveraging this ecosystem and will aid India in becoming a global air cargo market leader. Despite enjoying a geographical edge, Indian airports have not lived up to their full potential as transhipment hubs. One reason is there has been a lack of an integrated air cargo hub with multimodal connectivity. With our unique infrastructure setup and multimodal link, AISATS MMCH hopes to lead the way in establishing this transhipment ecosystem across India.
