Wednesday, 9 May 2012

Cargo volume down at Chennai airport


Domestic, international sectors witness dip first time in 10 years
Chennai, May 9:
For the first time in 10 years, cargo volume at the Chennai airport has dipped.
The drop was witnessed in both domestic and international sectors in the just concluded financial year.
In 2011-12, there was an 8.14 per dip in cargo volume to 3.57 lakh tonnes compared with 3.88 lakh tonnes, the previous year.
Mr E.P. Hareendranathan, Airport Director, attributes the drop to global economic slowdown, poor demand from the US and Europe and the dollar appreciation.
Cargo revenues in 2011-12 were flat at Rs 194 crore. “Major boost was supposed to have come from cargo with the handling rates being revised. Despite this, cargo volumes have dipped,” he said.
Mr J. Krishnan of S. Natesa Iyer & Co, a leading freight forwarder in Chennai, said traditional commodities such as textiles, garments and leather to traditional markets such as the US and Europe have dropped last year.
Even during the global recession period of 2008-09, there was a marginal increase in cargo volume by 0.65 per cent.
Passenger traffic
“Last year has been the worst so far,” said an industry source.
After a spurt in growth rate of passenger traffic in 2010-11 – in the immediate wake of economic recovery – the growth rate quietened in 2011-12. Passenger traffic grew a modest 7.3 per cent to 1.29 crore (43 lakh international; 86 lakh domestic) against 1.20 crore the previous year.
While the traffic in the domestic sector grew over 10 per cent, the international traffic went up marginally by 1.47 per cent, according to Airports Authority of India data.
“The number of business travellers have come down,” said Mr Hareendranathan.
Total revenue for the Chennai airport during 2011-12 increased to Rs 711 crore (Rs 693 crore).
Projections
Airports Authority of India projects cargo volume at the Chennai airport to grow five per cent to 3.75 lakh tonnes during 2012-13. The current year will see the passenger traffic grow by 8.4 per cent to 1.4 crore.

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