Even as Pune struggles to provide direct freight services to the estimated annual air cargo traffic of at least 80,000 tonnes, Nashik with a volume of over 10,000 metric tones per year is set to steal a march over the second most important city in state on Saturday.

On March 15, the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL)- Container Corporation of India (CONCOR) joint venture HALCON will leverage Ozhar airport at Nashik for direct export-import cargo movement in the western region. “By June, we expect to start dedicated cargo flights to the Gulf. Once the volume increases, we’ll connect Gulf and the European countries. This facility will cater to cargo originating from western, northwestern and west central regions, apart from Nashik and the surrounding industrial regions,” said Sanjeev Verma, CEO, HALCON in Nashik. The western region comprises Maharashtra and parts of Gujarat-Surat, Ahmedabad and Vadodara.

While Pune may arguably be the hub of automobile, IT, and horticulture sectors, most of its EXIM cargo is still routed through Mumbai. The lone air cargo complex in the city is at Dighi, which has had EXIM facility since 2002, but air clearances from Lohegaon airport were given the green signal only in 2005. “We use two gateway ports – Sahar International in Mumbai and the Lohegaon airport. Every month, about 7,500 tonnes of air cargo moves in and out of Pune, but we handle only about 200 tonnes, out of which Lohegaon’s share is marginal. The rest of it is routed through Mumbai,” said Praful Talera, Dynamic Logistics, the custodian of Dighi ACC.

http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/City-air-cargo-may-soon-become-history/284260/

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