GERMAN Global forwarder DB Schenker believes India presents opportunities for air cargo growth, as Covid has driven growth in pharmaceuticals and manufacturing, reports London's Loadstar.
'There is a growing opportunity for charter services in India as it helps in keeping the movement of commodities stable, especially during critical times like this pandemic,' said Vivek Chopra, acting CEO of the cluster India and Indian subcontinent at DB Schenker.
But capacity remained a major concern because of the uncertainty created by Covid-related events, he said.
The return of long-haul passenger travel to pre-pandemic levels is unlikely any time soon, truncating cargo capacity available to scheduled freighters and ad-hoc or regular charters, Mr Chopra said.
While the peak season delivered record volumes for DB Schenker India in Q4 21, Mr Chopra said the company saw a substantial drop in its regular capacity levels - ranging from 20-40 per cent - from major gateways in the country.
'Strict Covid restrictions across various countries warrant additional crew positioning or double crewing, which makes it more complicated for scheduled freighter operations,' he said.
At the height of Covid lockdowns, the company faced serious challenges meeting customer demands, especially those engaged in the pharmaceutical and healthcare verticals, prompting it to beef up its global weekly charter connections from India.
'Passenger capacity was reduced to zero, as well as the industry experiencing widespread schedule cancellations of cargo freighters during the time,' Mr Chopra explained. 'We also continued to experience abrupt disruption to freighters out of China, which impacted our capacity ex-China to India.'
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'There is a growing opportunity for charter services in India as it helps in keeping the movement of commodities stable, especially during critical times like this pandemic,' said Vivek Chopra, acting CEO of the cluster India and Indian subcontinent at DB Schenker.
But capacity remained a major concern because of the uncertainty created by Covid-related events, he said.
The return of long-haul passenger travel to pre-pandemic levels is unlikely any time soon, truncating cargo capacity available to scheduled freighters and ad-hoc or regular charters, Mr Chopra said.
While the peak season delivered record volumes for DB Schenker India in Q4 21, Mr Chopra said the company saw a substantial drop in its regular capacity levels - ranging from 20-40 per cent - from major gateways in the country.
'Strict Covid restrictions across various countries warrant additional crew positioning or double crewing, which makes it more complicated for scheduled freighter operations,' he said.
At the height of Covid lockdowns, the company faced serious challenges meeting customer demands, especially those engaged in the pharmaceutical and healthcare verticals, prompting it to beef up its global weekly charter connections from India.
'Passenger capacity was reduced to zero, as well as the industry experiencing widespread schedule cancellations of cargo freighters during the time,' Mr Chopra explained. 'We also continued to experience abrupt disruption to freighters out of China, which impacted our capacity ex-China to India.'
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