Conflict in West Asia hits air cargo movement from Kochi

Kochi: The ongoing conflict in West Asia has affected the movement of air cargo from Kochi that has more than halved now, CIAL officials said on Friday.

Perishables are the worst hit and a special cargo flight from Abu Dhabi is set to land here to clear the consignment, they said.

Authorities of Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) said the situation is expected to improve as more flights have resumed operations in recent days, following disruptions caused by the conflict involving US-Israel and Iran and its impact on the West Asia region.

The special cargo flight from Abu Dhabi is scheduled to arrive at CIAL on Saturday to transport perishable goods.

Around 88 tonnes of goods, a majority of which belong to the Lulu Group, will be moved via the special cargo flight, they said.

Satheesh Kumar Pai, Head of Department of the CIAL cargo section, told PTI that the city airport serves as the hub of air cargo operations in Kerala.

"Before the conflict, we used to send an average of 150 tonnes of goods as cargo per day. That has come down to 60 tonnes a day now," he said.

Around 60 per cent of the cargo sent from the airport consisted of perishable goods, Pai added.

"It was around 90–100 tonnes per day. However, due to the conflict, the movement of perishable goods, including fruits and vegetables, has come down heavily," he said.

Pai said the Gulf region accounts for a major share of cargo movement from Kerala, including transit shipments to Europe and other Western countries.

"The movement to Saudi Arabia is becoming normal with more flights operational now. Also, a few airlines to other Gulf countries have resumed services, which raises hopes that cargo movement will start restoring in the next one or two weeks," Pai added.