Even before the dust could settle on the policy guidelines for Air Freight Stations issued by the Indian government, a section of cargo stakeholders have taken it upon themselves to lobby for improved cargo infrastructure.
     Leading the charge is veteran freight forwarder J. Krishnan. As chairman of the logistics committee of the Madras Chamber of Commerce and Industry, he has been advocating the creation of a separate department of logistics headed by a Minister from the government. Krishnan recently presented his case to Nitin Gadkari, minister of Roadways, Highways, and Shipping.
     FlyingTypers caught up with Krishnan, one of the longest-serving air cargo forwarders in the country, to find out why there was a need for a Ministry of Logistics. While in one way the need for a single ministry to handle all sectors would simplify matters, it could also lead to a lot of bureaucratese and delays. As an example, we pointed out that the aviation ministry through all these years had done precious little for cargo.
     Thinking about the future, Krishnan said that to “create a world class infrastructure, a holistic approach needs to be adopted.” In the Indian context, the ministries controlling infrastructure are Aviation, Road, Railways, Shipping, Industry, and different state governments. He pointed out that “inter-ministerial rivalries and the trust deficit between the central government at Delhi and the state (on account of different political affiliations) has remained a major roadblock for commissioning and completing major infrastructure projects.” As an example, he said that the railways focus was on passenger movement while the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI is responsible for major highways in the country) and the ports do not enter into pre-planning consultations. As any project progresses, access bottlenecks emerge and disrupt the progress. This lack of co-ordination between NHAI and any state government road transport ministry has resulted in the lack of dedicated access road to airports at Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Cochin, and a host of other places.
     Hence the suggestion to create a new ministry, said Krishnan. “A dedicated ministry can ensure a world class infrastructure across all modes,” he said, “and this will also bring in a seamless supply chain.”
     As for the present problems that air cargo in the country faces, Krishnan said that the “Indian air cargo industry has not matured to world standards and cargo unitization happens only at airports.” Only loose cargo is shifted to airports. In fact, Indian airports stand out in the number of loose packages handled when compared to the major cargo hubs in Asia and other parts of the world. He went on to say that “air terminal operators do not possess the core competency to handle freight.” In such a situation, “airports must remain only as throughput areas if they are to function efficiently.”
     The ideal solution for all this would be Air Freight Stations where loose cargo is processed, unitized, and delivered to airports for uplift, and in the reverse flow unitized imports are shifted to AFS, de-vanned and delivered, said Krishnan. The recently-announced AFS policy has extended the concept of Dry Ports and permitted existing Inland Container Depots/Container Freight Stations to handle air freight too for regulatory clearances.
TG