[vc_row]Air India SATS Airport Services Pvt. Ltd (AISATS), India’s premier airport services company, has launched “AISATS COOLPORT”, India’s first integrated on-airport perishable cargo handling centre, at Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru (KIAB). The 11,000 sq. metre state-of-the-art facility, built at a total project cost of Rs 48 crore, was inaugurated by Mr R. V. Deshpande, Minister for Large and Medium Industries and Infrastructure Development, Karnataka.
In the past few years, the Indian air cargo industry has seen tremendous demand for handling of perishable cargo products. The launch of AISATS COOLPORT will meet the extensive handling requirements of perishable cargo products such as pharmaceuticals, fruits, vegetables, flowers, meat and seafood through its future-ready infrastructure with capability to handle 40,000 tonnes per annum, customised cold storage solutions comprising 17 dedicated cold rooms with temperature ranging from -25 to 250C, Refrigerated Queue Lanes with a temperature range of 2 to 80C for unitised shipments and end-to-end cold chain solutions including refrigerated trucking service, indigenously developed cool trolley and thermal blanket, as well as temperature-controlled container handling.
The trial operations of the AISATS COOLPORT, from October 2016 through January 2017, witnessed a 27 per cent growth in perishable tonnage in comparison to the same period last year. During the tenure of the trial operations, 4,653 tonnes (import and export) of varied temperature-sensitive and perishable cargo was effectively handled by the AISATS COOLPORT.
Apart from being a specialised warehousing unit, AISATS COOLPORT is also a one-stop-shop comprising Customs clearance, state-of-the-art Drug Controller lab and Plant Quarantine Inspection and Certification office, to expedite the import and export procedures.
AISATS COOLPORT recently obtained its Good Distribution Practices (GDP) certification for receiving, handling, storage and despatch of pharmaceutical and perishable cargo as per WHO standards. It also aims to achieve HACCP and IATA CEIV certifications in the near future, which will promote better trade facilitation and enhance Karnataka’s position as a pharmaceutical and perishable hub of India, stressed a release.[/vc_column_text][/vc_row]
