Balagopal Balachandran,
National Head – Air Freight, FEI Cargo, notes that the real challenge in India’s logistics ecosystem is not asset creation but effective utilisation. Multimodal Logistics Parks, designed to integrate air, rail, road, and waterways, have immense potential to bridge last-mile gaps and reduce reliance on road transport. However, these hubs often go live before supporting ecosystems—such as rail connectivity, cargo aggregation, skilled workforce, and streamlined approvals—are fully in place. While rail and waterways investments are growing, cargo continues to default to roads, and digital adoption across multimodal operations remains uneven. Balachandran emphasizes that for these parks to deliver on speed, reliability, and sustainability, execution must be corridor-driven, coordinated across states, and supported by incentivized modal shifts, turning multimodal integration from aspiration to operational reality.
