Blue Dart to make seven warehouses in East

Blue Dart Express Limited, an air express courier and package distribution company, is planning to build seven warehouses in the east by 2010, which will add close to 90,000 square feet warehouse area to its existing space of 50,000 square feet.

With this, the company aims to cover all major locations in the region.

The new warehouses would come up at Bohoragora in Bengal, Orissa and Assam border, Kona Express highway and Guwahati highway, said Amod Dasgupta, vice president, east region, Blue Dart Express Limited.

The expansion is a part of Blue Dart's pan-India expansion plan, which includes Rs 1,000 crore investment in the next five to seven years. According to Tulsi Mirchandaney, senior vice-president, marketing and projects, Blue Dart, the East accounts for nearly 6 per cent of inbound revenue of the company.

About 25 per cent of the revenue in the region comes from intraregional goods movement.

Also one of its Boeing 757 freighters is stationed in Kolkata.

Last year the company handled 28 tonnes of freight from the region. The company plans to add one more 757 freighter aircraft to its fleet by the end of this year.

With a market share of 41.7 per cent, Blue Dart is looking at an average 20 per cent growth rate in the coming years.

Recently, it forayed into ground express service under the brand name 'Surfaceline'.

With surface transport accounting for 10 per cent of Blue Dart's revenue, the company targeted nearly 33 per cent of its revenue from the segment.

In 2005, DHL Express (Singapore) Pte. Ltd completed the acquisition of 81.03 per cent equity capital in Blue Dart Express Limited.