On the anniversary of the first Nepal quake on April 25 2015, FlyingTypers caught up with Gagan Mukhia, Country Manager of DHL Express Nepal.
     As reported by our correspondent a year ago, on the day the first 7.8 magnitude quake shattered the Himalayan country, most DHL staff were enjoying a team bonding picnic on a pleasant hill some 30 minutes outside the capital Kathmandu.
     They saw monuments and buildings in a nearby town collapse as the ground around them shook.
     Many panicked about the safety of their families. The terror was mirrored around Nepal.
     Even for those whose families escaped unscathed, some 90 aftershocks over the next few months added to the sense of insecurity.
     They also added to the damage. Almost 9,000 people were killed by the quakes, thousands more were injured, and almost a million houses were left partially or completed damaged.
     In the immediate aftermath, DHL’s Disaster Response Team—currently helping Ecuador deal with its own quake—were quickly on the scene. Aided by Gagan’s local contacts, they were able to vastly improve the handling operation airside at Tribhuvan Kathmandu International Airport.
     But a year on, what’s the situation like in Nepal?
     “Every citizen of Nepal is worried a major earthquake could happen again,” said Gagan by phone from Kathmandu. “Reconstruction is progressing and the monsoon season is coming in June.”
     The reconstruction effort has indeed moved slowly. Nepal’s government has not rebuilt a single permanent house or school since the earthquakes started a year ago, according to the Wall Street Journal. Indeed, the authority in charge of reconstruction only became a legal entity in December and did not distribute its first funds—some $4.1bn was donated by international agencies last June—until March 2016 as politicians instead battled over a new constitution.
     Fallout from of the constitutional dispute included the unofficial closure of the border with India, which saw fuel rations introduced across Nepal, inflation spike, and GDP growth grind to a halt. With limited fuel, NGOs were forced to close down or scale back relief operations.
     “People in the affected areas are still living outdoors and nothing to help them has reached them so far,” said Gagan. “We are hoping something will happen in the next few months.”
     Like most businesses in Nepal, DHL is still recovering. “We’re not back to the same momentum we had a year ago,” he explained. “There was no fuel or cooking gas coming to Kathmandu. We had some rationed fuel, improvised a car pool, and made deliveries by bicycle around Kathmandu or used what public transport there was still available.”
     The key truck link to Indian ports from land-locked Nepal is now open, fuel deliveries are arriving, and gas prices have fallen. The airport is also operating normally.
     But inflation of over 10 percent makes rebuilding businesses and lives difficult. Remittances are also down as Nepal’s army of overseas workers have been too short of funds to travel, or too afraid to leave their families. And key industries such as tourism and handicraft exports are in dire straits.
     DHL is continuing to focus its operations on Kathmandu, which accounts for 90 percent of its revenues in Nepal. Outside the capital, many roads have still not been rebuilt.
     “We’re hoping the government implements measures to improve the economy soon,” said Gagan.      “Many people are living outdoors. If the monsoon comes before they get help it will be very difficult.”
SkyKing

     After spending time in Nepal last year our reporter on the humanitarian disaster, Mike ‘Sky’ King—exasperated with the ineffectiveness of the relief efforts—started working with a brave teenager called Suman Khadka, who took it upon himself to help his devastated village.
     This became a charity called Suman’s Story – Direct Aid for Nepal. Last year the charity distributed emergency food packages, 70 tons of rice, tarpaulins, and water filters. 600 chickens were also bought to set up a chicken farm.

Families In Peril

     But Palchok and its 586 families are still in dire straits.
     They have received no assistance from either NGOs or the government.
     Almost all of the villagers are still living in temporary accommodation and many are suffering from basic poor health. The majority of the illnesses contracted by Palchok residents fall into the primary healthcare category such as skin infections and gastrointestinal ailments, ailments preventable if water access, sanitation, hygiene, and nutrition are improved.

Doing The Most Good

     Mike and his team have now completed a needs assessment of Suman’s village and they are trying to raise USD $8,000 (https://www.gofundme.com/2m9exbmk) to set up and operate a drop-in health clinic complete with part-time nurse and receptionist.
     This limited expenditure will cover the cost of all medicines, educational materials, and the employment of staff over a two-year period.
     “Our needs assessment of the area shows this will vastly improve the lives of the 586 families in Palchok and the surrounding area who have received almost no help from the government or major NGOs since the village was devastated by a series of major earthquakes in 2015,” said Mike.
     “With any additional funds raised we will expand the scope of those we are helping to more villages.”

Can Somebody Help?

     “If we could get some sponsorship from a major airline, forwarder or integrator we could do so much more.”
     If you would like to help Suman and Nepal here please go here:
     You can also contact Mike directly about this on: mikeking121@gmail.com
     For more information please read regular updates here:
Geoffrey

When Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet recently opened the doors for the $75 billion UAE investments in India’s infrastructure, it also signaled the beginning of a project that had been hampered by a lack of funds. Set for establishment near Delhi’s international airport, the ECC or Exhibition-cum-Convention Centre is only a part of a project that includes an air cargo complex spread over 144 hectares of land. The project had been hanging in mid-air for four years owing to a dispute between two government bodies: the Delhi Development Authority and the Japan-funded Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation (DMICDC). Now, with the Cabinet directive, the land has been transferred and work can begin soon.
     Infrastructure has been emphasized as a top priority time and again by the Minister for Civil Aviation P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju. He stated that infrastructure and airlines had a great role to play for developing cargo hubs.
     “Now,” he said to his listeners at an air cargo seminar on transforming India’s airports into international cargo hubs, “is the right time to translate ideas into actions. We (the government) are eagerly looking for ideas from the industry players to work together. Let’s work together to turn our dreams into a reality.”

     That has brought cheer to air cargo stakeholders—both Indian and foreign—who have been harping on enhancement of infrastructure. However, it is time to take a look at the situation. To begin with, the economic reforms introduced by the government, improvement in transportation facilities, and industrial growth have not only created but also enlarged the opportunities for logistics service providers (LSP) in India. As a result, the Indian logistics industry has been seeing development and expansion of its existing infrastructure. Perhaps more importantly, the e-commerce boom has ushered in a whole new brand of logistics solutions.
     There is no doubt that the country has potential. Gopal R., Global Vice President, Supply Chain & Logistics Transformation Practice, Frost & Sullivan put it rather aptly when he mentioned that “India’s freight volumes are still not justifying our economic size. Ideally, we should be handling three to four times the freight volume that we handle today, in comparison to other countries with similar economic activity. This translates to huge potential, which can lead to transformational growth of the Indian logistics industry. We need to focus on ways to build this freight volume through enhanced infrastructure capacity, productivity, and process efficiency.”
     Frost & Sullivan’s recent study, ‘Indian Logistics Industry 2016 Outlook,’ has projected this potential: the logistics industry is likely to grow at a CAGR of 8.6 percent between 2015 and 2020. For its part, the government has also taken measures to bring in growth. The Foreign Trade Policy (2015-2020), for example, aims to increase the value of trade to US $900 billion by 2020. Exports will go up when manufacturers and others move ahead in step with government initiatives like ‘Make in India,’ ‘Digital India,’ and ‘Skills India.’
     The study mentions that while sea freight—more than 70 percent of international trade is through the country’s sea ports—could grow by 5.7 percent driven by demand from Asia, Europe, and Africa, international air freight is likely to grow at 12.5 percent against domestic air cargo— that comprises one-third of air cargo volume— which could grow by 2.3 percent in 2016. Under the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17), an estimated US $11.4 billion has been allocated for airport modernization and expansion. For the present, 13 regional airports have been selected for infrastructure expansion.
     Delhi Airport’s head of Cargo and Chairman of The International Air Cargo Association (TIACA) Sanjiv Edward (left) would like the government’s commitment to “develop the infrastructure to make the industry grow.” The country needs to develop its gateways and that can only be done with a commitment to enhancing the infrastructure in “our gateways to get a place on the world map.”
     While the government is keen to do its bit—the Airports Authority of India, for example, has taken the responsibility of upgrading and enhancing the infrastructure of 25 airports in the country—it is the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model that has yielded results. In fact, the Economic Survey 2014-15 mentioned that the PPP model in Indian airports had witnessed a significant growth in infrastructure.
     The major initiatives to enhance the facilities came through PPP projects at four of the AAI-controlled airports at Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, and Jaipur. In addition, a number of Greenfield airports were constructed. Cargo throughput at airports in the country went up significantly: International cargo throughput increased by 8.3 percent and domestic by 19.3 percent in April-December 2014-15 compared with the corresponding period in 2013-14.
     All that air cargo stakeholders are looking at now is action on the ground. The general belief is that things will move once the National Aviation Policy is implemented. Until then, air cargo infrastructure will remain relegated to a simple cargo terminal at airports. As Sam Katgara (right) from Jeena and Company, one of the top freight forwarders, put it, “Cargo infrastructure is much more than the cargo terminal, but also includes special facilities for express freight, temperature-controlled goods, airmail, and hazardous goods.”
Tirthankar Ghosh