Trichy’s International air cargo terminal opens

The much-awaited international cargo terminal which converted the old terminal building at a cost of Rs 1 crore was officially commissioned at the Trichy airport on Monday, after twice missing its deadline.

Though the infrastructure at the airport to export all kinds of cargo is ready, it would still take some time for the airport to get a truly international character due to many unresolved issues, chiefly the expansion of the runway. Moreover, the cargo custodianship to the Airport Authority of India (AAI) is likely to be issued by the customs in a day or two, said D Devaraj, Regional Executive Director, AAI soon after the inauguration

The inauguration itself was a low-key affair, with only airport director S Dharmarajan, and the manager of the cargo complex, S Subramaniam among other low-rung officers in attendance. Devaraj told TOI that he wanted to inaugurate the cargo complex while he was in the city to meet district collector Jayashree Muralidharan, to resolve the stalemate over land acquisition needed for expanding Trichy airport's present 8,136 feet runway to 12,000 feet. This would enable jumbo aircrafts to land and facilitate cargo movement globally. "We are looking forward to the state government to resolve the issue as quickly as possible," Devaraj explained.

Sources close to the airport operations told TOI that another 500-odd acres of land is required for the much-needed expansion of the airport runway. Of these, 305 acres are patta land, 40 acres are 'poromboke' land and the rest 160 acres belongs to the military establishment. Though the airport authority had given the district administration the land plan schedule as early as January 2010, and the state too had invoked the 'inevitability clause,' the land acquisition process could not take off smoothly as expected because the military laid conditions for providing it with alternative land at a different site prior to acquiring its land, sources explained.

Meanwhile, the new international cargo terminal will have two wings, one for export, spread over a total area of 2200 sq m, and another for import with 1750 sq m built-up area. The export wing is fitted with a sterile area and additional facilities include cold storage for perishable cargo, a shed for hazardous cargo, a room for valuable cargo, and an embedded electronic weighing scale for weighing up to 5 tonnes at a time. In the absence of a direct flight service to western countries upon the non-availability of a longer runway, the cargo would be at present carried to either Chennai, or Mumbai, and then to the desired overseas destination.

However, once the terminal is fully operational for cargo handling, it would serve the trade needs of districts such as Trichy, Karur, Namakkal, Madurai, Erode, Pudukottai, Thanjavur for various non-perishable export items, and also serve coastal areas like Nagapattinam, Karaikkal, and Ramanathapuram for marine products.

As of now, the one-time holding capacity of the terminal is 250 metric tonnes, and the AAI plans to add additional facilities in keeping with the increasing volume of freight traffic, Devaraj said.