The Andhra Pradesh government urged the State’s exporters to wield the existing air cargo facilities of the State rather than going to Hyderabad or Bangalore for their air cargo and said that the air cargo industry plays a vital role in the overall logistics ecosystem in the Andhra Pradesh. V Vijay Sai Reddy, a member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee and Rajya Sabha MP, said that the upcoming international airport at Bhogapuram will harbor world-class facilities and a dedicated air cargo center.
Recently, the Vizag Airport achieved substantial boom in cargo handling in Q1-2021 with 15.43% growth in domestic and 747% growth in international cargo. An official from Andhra Pradesh Air Travelers Association said that the authorities plan to introduce multi-product temperature control zones, high quality packaging equipment and latest cargo handling equipment to aid further growth in cargo processing at the airport.
On similar lines, plans to introduce a designated building for cargo handling along with cold storage facility are also in the pipeline for the Vijaywada Airport.
Recently, a domestic air cargo terminal was also inaugurated at the Tirupati Airport taking advantage of the economic activity in the area surrounding the airport and leveraging it to increase economic growth.
The Andhra Pradesh government also has plans to set up 2 multi-modal logistics parks on PPP model in Krishnapatnam and Kakinada ports. The key logistics policy of the state will be to create better infrastructure for freight movement and parking bays for trucks on state and national highways. The policy will also include manufacturing containers, warehouses and other facilities in the logistics parks to be developed.
The state has the country’s second longest coastline of 974km, 1,23,000km of rail network, 2,600km of rail network, 6 ports and 6 airports and also boasts of the largest off-shore gas field in India at the KG Basin.
The State Government strives to make sure that the problems faced in the logistics ecosystem of the state are viewed and solved with an end-to-end perspective. However, a critical element to exploit the true potential of the State in regard to air cargo is to sensitize the stakeholders and evolve efficient policies for logistics and supply chain in the State.
