The Dwell From Hell

     A battle royale between freight forwarders and the Delhi airport administrators is on the cards.
     The issue: cargo dwell time at the airport.
     Starting this month (October), cargo dwell time at Delhi and other metro airports in the country has been reduced effectively from 5 days to 3 days.
     The move follows a notification from the Ministry of Civil Aviation restricting the free dwell time of cargo at airports.      The dwell time or free time allowed for cargo to be parked in any of the metro airports free of any charges, has been reduced and according to people we talked to has hurt importers.
     “The clearing processes at most of India’s airports for the most part is beyond our control,” a source told Air Cargo News/FlyingTypers.
     “At Delhi, for example, importers complain that on any normal working day, it takes about eight hours for an airline to hand over the cargo to the ground handling agents.
     “The agents in turn, take the cargo to the Airports Authority of India (the custodian of cargo at the airport), appointed by the Customs department to hold the cargo until all duties are paid.”
     Importers we spoke to confirm that it is very tough to clear cargo in the three days stipulated.
     Consensus amongst that group is that from the time cargo lands at an airport to the time it is delivered to
the consignee, the time limit of three days is too little.
     To add to their problems, the importers feel that the calculation of dwell time is not proper.
One importers told ACN/FT:
     “If cargo lands say at 11 pm, a day will pass as midnight is reached barely an hour away.
     “As example Air India, which is the ground handling agent in Chennai, does not work between 10 pm and 8 am.
     “So who loses?”

     Amidst the dwell time imbroglio, DIAL's achievement in the cargo sector almost went unnoticed. DIAL's cargo operations has won the e-Asia 2007 Award at the Asia Pacific Council for Trade Facilitation & Electronic Business (AFACT) recently in Thailand for its implementation of e-Commerce/Electronic Data Interchange in the air cargo sector.
     Over 30 contestants from 18 different countries had made presentations on their e-operations and DIAL's entry, was judged the best by the Evaluation Committee of AFACT.
     The award is the second recognition that DIAL has received this year.
     Sometime ago, it was awarded the ISO 9001:2000 quality certificate by the Lloyd's Register in recognition of its efforts to improve customer service, quality control and efficiency.
     Air cargo traffic is growing rapidly in the country.
     Currently, Delhi Airport handles more than 0.4 million tonnes of cargo per annum and the figure is expected to grow to 2.0 million tonnes by 2025.

     In any case back down on the ground in Delhi, the airport authority, Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL), is finding it very difficult to enforce the government's decision to reduce the dwell time.
     With goods not being cleared in the three days and storage charges piling up, regular clashes are being
witnessed.
     The All India Garment Exporters' Common Cause Guild (AIGECCG) and the Delhi Exporters Association – Delhi is incidentally the hub of the garment export trade -- have been protesting the dwell time reduction move.
     According to AIGECCG President Chand K Anand, the processing of any consignment remains with the Customs department.
     “Unless the rules are changed, there is little that an importer could do,” Mr. Chan said.
     Putting the onus on the civil aviation ministry and the government, the Delhi Exporters Association said that instead of penalising the exporters, there should be more efficiency to reduce the dwell time at airports.
Tirthankar Ghosh