The Cargo Village had been inaugurated in December 2008 by members of the executive management of BIAL and executive office members of ACAAI (Air Cargo Agents Association of India) and BCHAAL (Bangalore Custom House Agents Association Limited).
But, so great is the disenchantment that senior members from the two associations make it clear that they would have nothing to do with the Cargo Village. This, despite the fact that BIAL’s CEO, Marcel Hungerbuehler and COO, Hari Marar both taking pains to point out to this correspondent that cargo development is a key focus of BIAL’s core business strategy.
“After almost a year of operation, we are delighted we have come so far, but we have to stabilise,” said Hungerbuehler.“We have to continue to work with all these (freight forwarders, airlines, etc) people, which is very important. Also, we have high plans for relatively lowcost efficiency.”
Impressive on paper
Hungerbuehler believes that the Cargo Village would enable the year-old greenfield Bengaluru airport to enhance its existing cargo operations. On paper, it is certainly impressive. Spread out over 4.5 hectares of land right next to the cargo terminals, it also has provision for future expansion.
The airport’s current facilities include two operational cargo terminals built and operated by Menzies Aviation Bobba Pvt Ltd and Air India SATS Joint Venture consortium. The former has an initial capacity to handle 150,000 tonnes of cargo, while the latter has a two-floor warehouse with a capacity of 200,000 tonnes. Together, they have the capacity to handle twice Bengaluru’s current annual cargo volume of 170,000 tonnes. To-date the airport has handled 70,905 tonnes of cargo.
Completed over a period of more than 10 months, the Cargo Village was built with an investment of Rs 12 crore and includes facilities for banks, conference rooms, training rooms, business centre, help desk, staff canteen, parking for nearly 80 trucks, etc.“We did a lot of planning with a veryrenowned planning company… It is very important you always renew your entire master plan so that it works well,” saysHungerbuehler.
Widespread disappointment
Shesh Kulkarni, president of UT Worldwide, and a prominent member of the Bangalore Air Cargo Club (BACC), however, believes that the cargo facilities are incomplete. He put it simply: “When you talk of BIAL, you talk of Zurich airport — BIAL has five shareholders: Siemens Project Ventures, Larsen and Toubro, Unique Zurich airport, the government of Karnataka and the government of India — you talk about an international consortium.”
That international flavour quality is missing, he says. “It is not effective and there are lots of problems, bigtime problems. To call it a Cargo Village is a misnomer. At best, it is a transit warehouse for the forwardingcommunity in the proximity of the international airport. That is the onlyunique selling point the place has,” saysKulkarni.
“This is not a cargo village. There is no bonding environment. Where are the places where you can bring the dollies and fill the pallets? All those things are not there. I don’t think you can remotely call this a cargo village,” he said.
A fellow forwarder and president of the Bangalore Air Cargo Club, Nirmal Sandhu, is equally forthright: “The entire freight forwarding community is not at all satisfied with the current infrastructure,” said Sandhu who is also director of one of the largest forwarding organisations in the country, Wilson Sandhu Logistics (I) Ltd.
Referring to the office/warehouses as “old-fashioned sheds”, Sandhu said that with no privacy and security, “itis a very risky issue and needs to beaddressed”.
“Moreover, the distance from the so-called Cargo Village to the terminal is a couple of kilometres away, which will definitely delay the process of filing with the customs to complete the processes.”
Many are bitterly disappointed that in the current environment in which the global recession has brutalised the market, that BIAL had not invested in something more inline with its stated business model.
For Kulkarni, BIAL has simply thrown away money. “The office-warehousespaces should have sold like hot cakes,but they have not,” he says calling themnothing more than “horse stables”.
Few takers
BIAL had, in fact, quoted a rather steep price for the space, “so, we just backed off ,” says one freight forwarder, who declined to be named. Later, BIAL came back with a new price, which according to Hungerbuehler, was ‘nextto- nothing’, “I mean it’s the lowest, lowest possible rate you could imagine at only Rs 25 per sq ft.”
The result is very few takers, particularly since most of the top freight forwarders have their offices near the airport and they do not see the new facilities attractive enough to warrant a move. “This was my office when the old airport was functioning and I’m still sitting here,” says Kulkarni.“We just do not see the rationale and thelogic behind moving.”
For his part, Hari Marar, BIAL’s COO, is clear: “We called both the associations (from ACAAI and BCHAAL) and they represent 90 per cent of the cargo clearing work. Between these two associations, they came forward with clear specifications and requirements as to how the Cargo Village should be built, what areas are required, how should we partition, what facilities need to be provided, sewage, water, electricity, power, the telephone connection – everything was discussed in detail and we just delivered exactly as they wanted.”
True, says Sandhu and Kulkarni. ACAAI and BCHAAL may have been consulted. “But do they make up the freight forwarding community? What about the major multinationals who are not part of the two organisations like Schenker, UTi Worldwide, etc.?” asks Sandhu. “None of the leading freight forwarders have been consulted about the Cargo Village. As president of the Air Cargo Club, I should have been asked. There was no intimation. Nor were suggestions taken while the construction was going on,” he says.
Incidentally, soon after the airport started functioning, the air cargo fraternity in the city had protested at the lack of facilities. At that time, many had even toyed with the idea of boycotting the airport and sending their goods to the airports at Mumbai, Chennai or even Coimbatore.
BIAL then called the freight forwarders to sort out the issue, says Kulkarni. “Bringing the whole industry together and opening a channel to work in, that is what they (representatives of ACAAI and BCHAAL) did. I don’t think ACAAI actually knew what was being produced. When people went there, they just couldn’t believe it – the reaction was one of awe, as if you were hit by some kind of lightning or something!” says Kulkarni.