Trichy airport gets cold storage facility, exports may look up
A cold storage for vegetables and perishable goods was
commissioned at the cargo terminal of the Tiruchirapalli International
Airport on Friday.
The five-tonne cold storage
chamber was established with financial assistance from the Agricultural
and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) to
provide storage facility for perishables exported from the airport.
With
perishables such as vegetables, fruits, and flowers constituting nearly
90 per cent of the volume of exports from the airport, the
establishment of the cold storage is expected to fulfil the requirements
of exporters.
The chamber would help store
consignments held up because of flight delays, cancellation, and
offloading or cargo booked in advance.
It is
equipped with a digital temperature controller to maintain the
temperature between two and eight degree Celsius. However, it cannot be
used for storing meat which requires a much lower temperature, airport
officials said.
About 2,920 tonnes of cargo were
exported through the air cargo terminal at the airport in 2012-13 and 40
per cent growth in volumes is expected this financial year.
In July this year, the terminal handled 438 tonnes of cargo, the highest ever monthly average.
Airport
Director S. Dharmaraj, who declared open the cold chamber in the
presence of Dinesh Kumar Jangid, Assistant Commissioner, Customs, said
the facility would cater to exporters from 14 districts in the central
parts of the State.
Exporters could store their perishable consignments at the cold chamber free of cost.
Mr. Dharmaraj said the airport would soon get the third aerobridge to be installed at a cost of Rs. 3 crore.
The
airport, which was expected to register a passenger growth rate of 15
per cent this financial year, will get an additional departure conveyor
system by October.
A proposal on expanding the
terminal building by 80 metres on departure side and 100 metres on the
arrival side, to double the passenger handling capacity of the airport,
is under the consideration of the AAI.
Source
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