Cargo handling comes to a standstill at Chennai airport

Cargo handling at Chennai airport has come to a standstill since Tuesday night due to non-cooperation by Airports Authority of India (AAI) staff. Senior airport officials estimate that incoming cargo from more than 25 flights was yet to be taken over by custodians and moved to the warehouses.

According to industry sources, the airport authorities are focusing only on passengers and neglecting the cargo movement.

Meanwhile, manufacturing units in and around Chennai are likely to be hit, since the materials for their production are right now stuck inside the airport. It is estimated that around 70 tonnes of cargoes, especially meant for special economic zones (SEZs) in and around Chennai had been piled up inside the airport as of Wednesday afternoon.

Incoming flights all of Wednesday and Thursday added to the backlog. Rains in Chennai since Thursday have compounded the problem. Cargoes unloaded from aircraft have not been moved to the warehouses and are left lying in the rain.

Airport sources added that the authorities had given 70 gate passes, compared with 900-1,000 earlier. As it is, importers are neither able to take delivery of their goods nor produce the goods for customs examination. They are also unable to pay delivery charges.

Siva Subramaniam, chairman "� southern region, Air Cargo Agents Association of India (ACAAI), said if the strike continued for one more day, manufacturing units would be severely hit.

Authorities had no contingency plan in place to meet the crisis, he said, adding that no data entry personnel "� all AAI employees -- are available at the airport to process and clear goods, and the number of officers on hand for crisis management was inadequate.

S Raghavan, secretary, Southern India Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SICCI), said the industry had been following a "just-in-time" concept of importing materials for their production needs on the basis of immediate requirement, and the delay will impact not just production, but the entire supply chain, besides causing huge financial burdens on corporates.

"AAI should draw up a contingency plan to handle cargo movement in times of stress. At the same time, all additional/penal charges for delays in clearance should not be levied to the account of the trade. Such charges should be automatically waived without recourse to refund," Raghavan said.