SriLankan Cargo took a giant step towards becoming the air cargo hub between the East, West and the Subcontinent, by recording its highest ever trans shipment of freight through Colombo in 2010, the airline said this week.
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| Picture shows the new cargo terminal building |
“The new record for trans shipment cargo handled in a year at the SriLankan Cargo Centre at Bandaranaike International Airport is 26,445 metric tonnes. The earlier record was 25,928 metric tonnes in 2006. The total trans shipment cargo handled in 2010 is an impressive 43% increase over the previous year,” the airline said.
SriLankan’s Head of Worldwide Sales Mohamed Fazeel was quoted in the statement as saying that, “SriLankan Cargo is perfectly positioned to serve the booming economies of South Asia - including India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives - with our ‘Hub in the Ocean’ concept. With our global route network we link Europe and the Middle East in the West, Southeast Asia and the Far East in the East, and the Subcontinent.”
The 156,142 tonnes of all types of cargo in 2010 – Imports, Exports, and Trans shipments – is the third highest ever total handled at BIA in a single year, and is a tremendous 23% increase over year 2009, the airline said.
Janaka Munasinghe, Manager Cargo Operations, said: “SriLankan Cargo is the sole ground handler at BIA and serves all airlines, charters, freighters, and private aircraft. In 2010 we doubled the handling capacity at our Cargo Centre by commissioning a new Exports Terminal, and we are now perfectly placed to serve as a cargo hub for South Asia far into the future. We now have capacity to handle up to of 300,000 metric tones of cargo in a year.” |
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