'BIA to handle over 180,000 MT of cargo'

Dharma Sri Abeyratne

SriLankan Cargo has projected that the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) Cargo Centre will handle over 180,000 metric tonnes of cargo this year, surpassing the existing record, a Civil Aviation Ministry official said.

SriLankan Cargo has taken a firm step towards positioning the BIA, Colombo as a regional hub for air freight, by handling the highest ever volumes of both total cargo and transshipment cargo in a single month.

SriLankan Cargo is the sole handling agent for cargo of all airlines that operate through the BIA. It doubled its handling capacity two years ago by commissioning a new Exports Terminal.

"The SriLankan Cargo Centre has in almost every month this year, surpassed the previous records for those months. Total tonnage handled in the first seven months of 2012 recorded a 12.5 percent increase, while total transshipment cargo registered an 11 percent increase" the official said.

As a result of this progress, July 2012 witnessed a single-month record of 16,136 metric tonnes, surpassing the 16,033 tonnes set in March 2006, he added.

He said the total transshipment of 3,387 metric tonnes in July 2012 was also a single-month record.

Total transshipment cargo over the first seven months of this year was the highest ever as 19,909 tonnes.

SriLankan Cargo operates to link Europe and the Middle East in the West, South east Asia and the Far East in the East, and the Subcontinent.

The Airline's own route network spans 59 cities in 33 countries.