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Vizag Airport in talks with contractor to start on air cargo terminal

INDIAN airport authorities are in talks with the AP State Trading Corporation (APSTC) to start building an air cargo terminal at Visakhapatnam, midway up the east coast of India, reports the Times of India.

Airport sources said discussions were held between Visakhapatnam Airport officials and APSTC on the launch the terminal facility in the next couple of months.

"We are finalising the allotment for the international cargo terminal with APSTC," said Vizag Airport director Vinod Kumar Sharma.

"We have already held talks with them and 95 per cent of the work is over. They have also agreed. The final talks are being held now. We will have an agreement once the terms and conditions are jointly accepted by the APSTC and the airport," he said.

Noting that APSTC holds the custodianship for all import and export cargo, Mr Sharma said once the agreement is signed between the two agencies, it may take a little as two months for APSTC to launch services.

Industry sources said apart from seafood exports, the international cargo terminal has the potential to tap into pharma products and also textiles and jewellery exports from the region.

Currently, a large portion of the pharma and seafood products are exported either via Chennai or Hyderabad, as per industry sources.

The airport had earlier called for tenders to operate the cargo facility, but the project was rejected by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) when only one bidder came forward.

Visakhapatnam Airport enjoyed a 128 per cent increase in domestic air cargo with 3,748 tonnes handled from April 2016 to January 2017 against 1,639 tonnes in the corresponding period the year before.