Friday, January 28, 2011

Celebi Unveils Cargo Plans For India

Aviation Week Daily


Jan 27, 2011


 
Turkey-based Celebi Holdings believes the development of a cargo terminal at Delhi International Airport, which it started in August 2010, will be completed by September and meet global quality standards.

The company has already spent $35 million on construction and $12 million for purchase of new equipment.

The company is also bidding for a similar cargo complex in Mumbai expected to be finalized this year.
“We believe in three to four years, growth in the economy will lead to cargo growing to one million tons,” says Cemil Erman, president Cargo, Celebi. With Mumbai’s second new airport now announced, Celebi expects to participate in that too.

Erman says it is likely that cargo operations will move to the new Greenfield airport in Mumbai once it is ready in three and a half years.

Celebi, one of the top three cargo handlers operating in Frankfurt, says the brownfield facility in Delhi is posing congestion problems that will go away once the work is over. “We can safely say this facility is the safest cargo facility in India, following our investments in security as soon as we moved in,” says Erman.

Challenges remain in the cargo sector with inadequate infrastructure, bureaucratic custom procedures and poor handling facilities, time embargos causing delays in processing, leading to lack of cost efficiencies.
“It is good that India is looking seriously at its cargo infrastructure upgrade. India exports pharmaceuticals in a big way ... Lack of facilities will hold up growth,” says Canan Celebioglu Tokgoz, vice chairman.

The company will also be shortly starting domestic cargo handling once it receives the necessary authority.
Delhi Airport photo: Neelam Mathews

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