Regional Pulse: India capacity supported by Gulf carrier connectivity

Freight forwarders with operations in India report that the rise in conversions from ocean to air transport has added pressure to the country’s already tight freight capacity. Despite the delayed return of belly space from passenger operations, inbound and outbound capacity is improving. [caption id="attachment_94829" align="alignright" width="391"] Photo: Saudia Cargo[/caption] Specifically, Gulf and Middle Eastern carriers like Saudia Airlines are providing and maintaining capacity in and out of the country, Govindasamy Ethiraj, general manager at aerospace logistics company AGXIndia, told Air Cargo World . While AGXIndia utilizes other carriers like Silk Way West as well as Chinese airlines, Gulf airlines provide reasonable rates, he added. SpiceJet, Singapore Airlines and Lufthansa have also played a major role in providing capacity to and from the country, Yashpal Sharma, managing director of Delhi-based freight forwarder Skyways Group, told Air Cargo World. “We are generally able to generate enough capacity from the scheduled operators and whenever we want to add capacity on the outbound or inbound, there are many charter companies available all around the world,” Sharma said. “We do charters regularly from China, Hong Kong, Germany and Vietnam as well.” While capacity for inbound and outbound shipments remain relatively available, India’s domestic market remains strained due to the lack of full freight and widebody operations, Sharma added. “Things have improved, we are roughly around 75% to 80% of the pre-COVID levels in terms of capacity, but obviously the demand is more so we definitely need more capacity in India to operate,” Sharma said. “It's going to remain tight [because] carriers do or are under pressure to operate most of their freighters from bigger markets like China, Singapore, Hong Kong, etc., so they're always going to fly in new capacities there and India will definitely get slightly less.” Prior to the pandemic, textiles made up nearly 50% of Skyways Group’s export demand, Sharma said. Since then, demand for products like readymade garments, yarn and fabric has come down and been replaced by heavy inbound demand for e-commerce and electronics like cell phones. "Over the last five to seven years, [e-commerce] has gained a lot of traction, and not just in the main metros, but also in the tier two, tier three cities," Sharma said. “In the last year, almost 90% of incremental business in e-commerce came from the tier two [and] tier three cities.” In addition to e-commerce and electronics, inbound demand for pharmaceutical, automotive-related commodities and perishables is also strong, Sharma added. A Silk Way West spokesperson also confirmed the growing demand from the pharma and automotive industries, which they expect will continue to grow over time. To accommodate the rising demand, the Azerbaijan-based carrier launched a weekly cargo service between Baku (GYD) and Mumbai (BOM) in July to aid in the transport of pharma, automotive and other machinery-related commodities. Meanwhile, Activair Airfreight India, a local subsidiary of U.K.-based freight forwarding company Activair Airfreight, has been catering to the recent logistics demands of the publishing trade. “Even though printed books [have] lost out to Kindle and e-books, during the COVID lockdown people started having physical books in their hands, which resulted in catering to the book trade and managing movement of the same after a majority of the airlines stopped operating due to government restrictions,” Chandra Kant Govil, director at Activair Airfreight India, told Air Cargo World.

Regional Pulse: India capacity supported by Gulf carrier connectivity

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