COLOMBO: Sri Lankan Cargo, the freight handling arm of Sri Lankan Airlines, set a new record for the amount of cargo handled at the Cargo Centre of Colombo’s Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) with a massive total of 239,636 tons in 2016 which is a remarkable growth of 12.88% over the 212,277 of the previous year.
Sri Lankan Cargo handles cargo of all airlines that operate to Sri Lanka’s main international airport, including imports, exports and transshipments. The total in 2016 included 39,842 tons of transshipment cargo, a rapid increase over the 35,877 tons handled during the previous year.
Chief Commercial Officer Sri Lankan Airlines Siva Ramachandran said:
“We are extremely pleased to announce the achievement of yet another milestone by the National Carrier. Congratulations to the team at SriLankan Cargo who continuously strive for excellence and innovative methods in serving our customers.”
General Manager Airport & Ground Services Sri Lankan Airlines Bandula Weragama said:
“SriLankan Cargo takes pride in being an extremely reliable contributor to the bottom-line of SriLankan Airlines by generating a significant amount of revenue, which has recorded a consistent growth every year. All indications are that 2017 will be another record-breaking year and we are looking at fast-tracking our expansion plans to meet the expected growth in demand.”
The 25,000 square meter Cargo Centre has dedicated areas for imports, exports and transshipments, and sophisticated facilities for cold storage, animal handling, dangerous goods handling, CCTV facilities to secure all goods, a high-security area for valuables, and a 24-hour customer care centre. On-line tracking through SkyChain allows customers to track their shipments in real time right up to their destinations.
Senior Manager Worldwide Cargo Operations Janaka Munasinghe added that “We have achieved this performance through the sustained teamwork of our hardworking team at Sri Lankan Cargo, which regularly comes up with new innovations to enhance productivity and efficiency and provide an even better service experience for our customers.”
The sole cargo handler at BIA, Sri Lankan Cargo is now fast approaching the maximum annual capacity of the BIA Cargo Centre, which was last expanded in 2008, and expects to surpass the designed capacity in 2017.
During 2016 Sri Lankan Cargo also set the single-month record for cargo handled at BIA with 21,743 tons in the month of March, which surpassed the previous high of 20,040 tons in March 2015.
Sri Lankan Cargo operates to all of Sri Lankan Airlines’ 101 destinations in 47 countries on its sophisticated all-Airbus fleet of A320, A321 and A330 aircraft.
