Challenges before aviation logistic sector in India

Indian aviation sector has seen rapid growth in the last two decades after liberalization of the economy in 1991. The air cargo segment of the aviation market also has seen corresponding growth in last 20 years. The strong and efficient air cargo sector is essential for the growth of the export sector of the economy. But there are some issues, which air freight is facing in the country.

The first is that air cargo is very expensive.  This may be due to the fact that there are not many cargo airlines in India and attempt by some to start the cargo airlines has not met with success. The share of Indian aviation cargo in the world aviation cargo is only 3 percent.

Challengers of air cargo

Lack of adequate infrastructure is one of the main bottlenecks in the air cargo growth in India. The most of the   air cargo is concentrated in few metro airports. The second and third tier cities have negligible or hardly any air cargo facility. The airports which have some cargo for airlift do not have facilities to handle the movement of cargo.

  

The constrictions in the interstate movements of good also creates problem in the free movements of cargo to the airports in time. The lack of timely delivery impedes the air cargo services between inner city airports to the gateway airports.

Lack of modernization of cargo International Parcel Service in Kandivali  handling facilities delay the movements of cargo from airports to the airplanes. This lowers the cost efficiencies.  The delay in shipment increases the chances of rejection of export order and also low export reorders in future.

Companies engaged in air cargo services do not get the required trained manpower. 

The onsite training facility is not yet developed and companies cannot afford to spend money on training facilities of workers. The result is that there is lack of professionals to handle the air freight cargo. The untrained manpower cannot handle the operations efficiently.

The government has to create condition by regulations to encourage the growth of air cargo companies. Currently, the passenger airliners are doing the air cargo airlines jobs. The growth of air cargo companies will create competition and completion always reduces the rates.

Fortunately, the government of India is aware of these challenges. The government has taken number of step to promote the air cargo sector. The construction of air cargo hub in Nagpur in the Maharashtra will encourage International Parcel Service in Borivali  the private players to use air cargo services of airlines. 

The relaxation in regulation on the new airlines will add air cargo capacity in India. The price of air cargo is expected to come down in future, which will open up many opportunities in the second tier cities for growth of air cargo.

Role of air cargo in the economy development of a nation

Air cargo allows a nation to connect with the global supply chain effectively and efficiently. The geographical location of a nation has no impact on the growth of air cargo services .The land locked country can also have the more efficient air cargo infrastructure.  Only an air cargo service will enable a landlocked country to connect to the global market.  The growth of economy in several developing countries depends on the air cargo services. The market reach of a nation and its products increases with the reach of air cargo service.

The trade in fruits, seasonal vegetations, and different types of flowers gives employment to hundreds of thousands of people in several developing countries. The air cargo services play a vital role in small tropical countries in the Caribbean, as they can connect with advanced markets of the North America efficiently. The least developed countries of the Africa and Latin America   can overcome the inadequate land infrastructure to gain export markets in Europe and America.

The speed and reliability International Parcel Service in Kandivali of the air services is the reason why relief supplies, medical supplies and emergency aid are always provided through air cargo services. The delivery of vital industrial parts, medical organs for transplantations are done only through air cargo services. Efficient air cargo services are the only mode to connect the remote part of India like north east and ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir during winter months.

Many small nations depend on air cargo services for exports of perishable products. For example, in Kenya, an east African country, the horticulture is third major source of foreign exchange. The flowers are exports to the Europe and Netherlands is the major market of the horticulture sector of the country. Since followers are the highly perishable commodity, they must reach the end user within short period of time. The flowers are exported in the morning and reach the Amsterdam market at evening.

The largest economy International Parcel Service in Borivali benefit of the air cargo service is that it increases the overall productivity level of the economy. It also boosts exports; increase the size of markets, and at the same time increases competition, which reduces the cost for end consumers. 

The increase in exports and opening up of new markets creates new jobs in the local economy. When air cargo services increase between destinations, the chances of increase in foreign direct investment also goes up. The investment of capital and technology creates a new cycle of growth and prosperity for the region and subsequently for the nation.   

Growth factors of air cargo service and challenges faced by it

The demand for air cargo services has increased manifold in India. The demand has increased because of short product life and demand for delivery of the product on the time. The growth in trade in perishable products has accelerated the growth of air cargo. The perishable cargo cannot be transported by ships. The changing business models and global outsourcing has also lifted the air cargo movements in India. The companies are now reaching to the market in faster paces. The import of components, sourcing of parts and inputs and delivery the final products is part of the value added chain. The companies cannot wait for months to receive the parts or components from ships to deliver the final products. The export of fruits, vegetables, and horticulture products needs air cargo services. The supply of critical parts of industry or manufacturing units also goes through air cargo. The documents are sending through air parcel services.  

The demand for air International Parcel Service in Kandivali cargo will continue to increase as the growth of the economy will take the economy to higher trajectory. The growth of airlines business in India, after the latest government policy to allow low cost airlines with less than five years of experience to fly abroad will create more belly space for air cargo. 

The issues which are blocking the growth of air cargo in India at present are lengthy process of cargo delivery, lack of auto processing for shifting the cargo from one part of the terminal to another and queues at the terminals. 

The infrastructure of the air cargo industry needs to be modernized, so that the industry is able to match the growth of the economy. Of all the parts of the air cargo operations, the cargo terminals are critical part. The loading and unloading of cargo takes place at the terminals. The three main part of the air cargo terminal, are airlines, forward cargo agents and air cargo terminal operators.

The development of International Courier service in Church gate new exclusive terminals is essential to make sure that time spent at the terminals is less and cargo is put on the airlines without waste of time. The modernization of air terminal for cargo will clear the cargo for export without logistic hurdle.  

The government has to give proper thought to the air cargo sector. The sector needs fast clearance for any up gradation and introduction of automation processes.  The proposals to increase direct foreign investment in the sector will enable the sector to handle increasing air cargo.

Modernization of major Indian ports for increasing cargo handling capacity

In coming years it is estimated that the ports of Indian will handle more traffic via cargo and container ships .The current capacity of the Indian ports is only 1500 MTPA, while it is estimated that by the year 2025, the ports have to handle the 2500 MTPA cargo. To meet this growing traffic at ports, the government of India, has started a modernization drive of major ports of India.

Under the sagarmala project, the various steps are being taken to increase the capacity of major ports of India to deal with growing traffic. These steps include not only modernization but also increase the draft that is depth of the ports. Increased depth of the ports, ensure that big ships and ultra large vessels can berth in the ports. The third step is to mechanization of ports that is using modern machines and equipments to load and unload the cargo from ships and containers. The use of machines reduces the time spend in loading and unloading. The less time means that more and more ships can be handled within short period of time.

The lack of modernization has held back the capacity of major ports. The machines used at the ports are insufficient to meet the current requirements of ships and container ships. The need has been felt at some ports to change the machines and equipments for handling cargo. These ports are kandla, tuticorn and haldia. Twenty new harbor cranes have been sanctioned for use at major ports.

The depth at major ports in India is low compare to several leading ports of the world. The result of this low depth has been that major container ships by pass India and go to either Singapore or Dubai for unloading traffic. The size of ships has increased in the last few years. It is important to make International Relocation Service inAndheri India ports capable of handling the large vessel to keep pace with word cargo traffic and growth. The draft has to be increased from current levels of 12 – 14 or 18 meters to at least 22 meters for handling large container ships

The growth of major International Relocation Service in Andheri ports is restricted by the lack of new terminal or development of existing facilities. The existing ports need new berths and terminals to take more cargo and generate more revenue.  All these steps have to be implemented not only at major ports but also at small ports to ensure that major part of Indian exports goes through Indian ships, not foreign ships.

Challenges and scope of logistic sector in India

The overall goal of any logistic company in air or sea cargo is to reduce the operational costs, improve efficiency and achieve the satisfaction of customers by delivery their products safely on record time. The importances of logistic operations are increasing because world economy is becoming highly globalised and interdependency is increase among nations and blocks of nations. Not only multinational companies but even small and medium range companies are sourcing products from different countries and supplying to different parts of the globe.

The growth of Indian economy in the recent years has increased the size of logistic business in India..However , there are some concerns due to lack of infrastructure development ,  inefficiencies in transport , lack of storage facilities at major ports , delay in loading and unloading at ports due to lack of advanced facilities , tax structure and untrained professionals working at various levels .

The most of the cargo International Parcel Service in Kandivali before reaching ports and air ports has to be transported by roads. The rail is efficient means of transportation of cargo but the railways cargo has reached the point of saturation. There has been little increase in railways tracks since independence. The increase is not matching the demand for railway for cargo movement. The second issue is the freight rates of the railway are high. This is because the government has been subsidizing the passenger tickets costs by freight rates. The road quality is also poor and in raining seasons the quality of roads at some places gets worse.    The truck industry is highly fragmented; this increases the competition and forces the truck owners to overload the trucks.

The ports sector also is facing problems due to congestion and slow unloading of ships. The coastal shipping has not developed to the expected level due to lack of ports and related infrastructure development.

The storage facilities have not come up because land acquisition is major problem in India. The political parties also cannot go beyond a point because it affects their electoral prospects. Unless cold storage facilities are developed, the movement and trade of several perishable goods cannot take off.

The payment of tax at several places reduces the time in transportation and increase the cost of transportation. The current GST bill envisages single tax structure as panacea for all intra country cargo movements’ problems.

Since there lack of big investment in cargo industry, the training level of personals associated with industry at various level also remains low. The creating climate for investment will lead to better management practice International Parcel Service in Borivali being implemented to improve the efficiency of logistic industry. This will automatically force companies to either hire trained personals or train existing staff.  

Role of shipping in overall trade of India

Shipping industry plays an important role in the development of Indian economy. Some 90 % of trade of the country passes through sea lances. The country has one of the largest fleet among the developing countries. Many foreign shipping companies are operated by Indiana. The many foreign ships plying in Indian waters are operated by Indian crew members.

The sea trade is being carried out from western side and eastern side ports of the Indian peninsula. The crude oil and petroleum imports from the west Asian countries are handled by the ports located on the western shore of India. The location of largest oil refinery in the world, on the Gujarat coast ensures that bulk of the oil imports are taken by the ports in the areas. The eastern shore ports are gateway to the look east policy of the country. These ports maintain link with south East Asian country and beyond Japan, china and Korea. There are at least 55 shipping companies in the trading field, out of which 29 sail beyond the sea frontier of Indian and only 19 deals with costal trade. Some companies operate in both domestic and foreign trade. Both government and private shipping companies take part in foreign trade.

Generally the shipping is used for the transportation of bulk cargo, oil, petroleum products and agriculture produce. This is the type of cargo which cannot be transported by any other mode of transport

The Indian shipping corporation over the decades has developed many other facilities besides supporting national and international shipping cargoes. The facilities are, ship repairing, ship building, International Relocation Service in Mumbai light houses facilities, freight forwarding etc. To face the competition from foreign companies in both shipping cargoes and port handling facilities, the Indian shipping corporation with the help provided by government of India, has installation modern cargo loading and unloading machines in major ports on both coasts of Indian.   These modern loading facilities ensure that time of loading is reduced and more and more ships can be served. The coal loading facilities at Vishakhapatnam ports, installed in initial more than a decade ago has considerably reduced coal loading time with improved efficiency.

After the liberalization, International Excess Baggage shipping the government has encouraged private sector to increase investment in shipping and port building operations. Many ports are now being operated by the private companies. The government wants private companies to build and operate new ports along the costal line of Indian to increase the trade and create jobs for growing population .The role of these private companies is increasing in the foreign trade of India   .

Role of seaborne trade in overall trade in India

India has long coast line of more than 7 thousand kilometers, from west to east. This long sea shore makes it the 16^th largest maritime power in the world. The foreign trade of the country moves through ships to different parts of the world. The volume wise about 96 % and value wise about 75 % of trade is done by ships. And this role is going to increase in future. The development of economy is closely linked with the growth of sea trade of a nation .Many foreign companies have Indian seaman operating their ships and containers. 

The government also wants to encourage the growth of shipping industry by give single window clearance to the 100 percent investment in ports and harbor construction and maintenance projects .The government also gives 10 year tax holiday to companies to come and invest in harbor and inland water transport development. The sea trade plays in major role in the prosperity of a nation.

The companies involved in international parcel service take the goods from interior of the country and put them at port for international movement.  The movement to ports is done by road transports. The companies involved in transport of good have their own fleet or they have linked with transporters to help them in parceling service. The international trade in commodities, raw material, vehicles, heavy engineering goods, and agriculture products is conducted through ships. Only few perishable vegetables, horticulture items, and some medicines are transported through air.

The goods are shipped through 12 big ports and 187 non major ports.  The kind of ship, which will be used for the trade, also depends on the nature of product involved in trade. For example, for petroleum products, mostly the chemical tankers are used. These ships have tanker like space for liquid petroleum products. Cargo ships are used for cargo and agriculture products. Containers are used to take containers. Each container may be containing many single items from various parties or companies.

Generally, the International Parcel Service in Kandivali eastern cost is used for trading with south East Asian countries. The west ports are use for petroleum imports from west Asia countries.  The most of the oil importing countries are in the west Asia and separated by only Arabia Sea. The shipping is the only cost effective transport mode to take the energy supply to India.

An important role that shipping trades plays is that it creates job opportunity for millions in direct or indirect form.  The cargo handling at ports is done by freight forward companies, which employ International Movers in Kandivali many people to handle different aspect of cargo handling like import and expert documentations, resupplying the ships with kitchen items, and clearing goods for inland movement to different cities in India.  At every stage in delivery of cargo from a port to a door many persons are involved and all of them depend on sea trade directly or indirectly.