Bridging the distance between Sri Lanka’s produce exporters and a store shelf in the global market, SriLankan Cargo is committed to support growth in the industry.

Sri Lanka’s fruit, vegetable, cut flower and fisheries product exports jumped a massive 34 percent in the first three months of 2007 over the same period a year before.

Combined export proceeds from the four sectors topped Rs. 5.3 billion in the quarter, up from about Rs. 4 billion in 2006.

SriLankan Cargo carries some 60 percent of Sri Lanka’s perishable cargo to over 51, destinations in 28 countries, including to the Maldives and 10 key cities in India.

Head of Cargo at SriLankan Airlines, Mr. Nalin Rodrigo says, “we have had a firm understanding with the local fruit, flower and vegetable growers in a very interdependent business.”

“Perishable cargo exporters, including the smaller exporters have been enjoying extremely preferential rates. Tariffs have also been maintained at the same levels for over a decade and the fuel surcharge adjustments have been extremely moderate and far below the level of fluctuation.”

A number of other specialized services are also available for perishable cargo exporters, including priority processing, cold storage facilities from the airport upto the final point of delivery and dedicated cargo-hold space on all flights.

Perishable exporters cater to two main markets, Male and the Gulf region. Vegetable, fruits and flowers are exported in bulk to the top resorts in Male.

In the Gulf, perishables are sold to supermarket chains and caterers. The boom in the region’s construction sector has increased the demand for perishable cargo and other material, pushing up the region’s demand for air freight services to 10.5 percent by May 2007.

Other significant markets include the EU for plants and cut foliage, while fresh fish exports dominate the Far East routes.

SriLankan Cargo has met the increasing demand for air freight service by redesigning the palates to gain over 15 percent more carrying capacity

The strong growth from the East Asian bloc is also drawing on SriLankan Cargo’s strength in the South Asian region.

As the cargo hub of the India Ocean, Colombo is placed strategically to carry all types of cargo and perishables in particular reaching destinations within an hour to four hours.

“The ‘Hub in the Ocean” is currently operating at near capacity. We are also negotiating with Airport officials to utilize a brand new purpose built cargo warehousing facility. If negotiations are successful our capacity will double.”

For the firth consecutive year, SriLankan Cargo also set a new record for handling of freight at Colombo’s Bandaranaike International Airport in 2006 with a total of 167,289 metric tonnes, an increase of 4.48 percent over the previous calendar year.

SriLankan Cargo has positioned Colombo as the ‘Hub in the Ocean’ linking the fast-growing Indian economy with the rest of the world, both for exports and imports. SriLankan is the largest foreign carrier into India, with 94 flights to 10 Indian cities - New Delhi, Bombay, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Madras, Trichy, Trivandrum, Calicut, Goa and Kochi - flying on a daily or more frequent basis to each of them except for Goa, where services were launched just last year.

September 05th, 2007