Officially opened by Sri. R.V. Deshpande, Minister for Large & Medium Industries & Infrastructure Development for the Government of Karnataka, the 11,000 square metre facility cost a total of INR 48 crores to construct.
Developed to meet the growing handling requirements of perishable cargo, including pharmaceuticals, flowers, fruit and vegetables, and meat and fish, the Coolport has the capacity to handle 40,000 tonnes of cargo each year. Featuring 17 dedicated cold storage rooms, the facility can accommodate temperature requirements ranging from -25 to 250˚C. Additional cold storage solutions include Refrigerated Queue Lanes, with a temperature range of 2 to 80˚C for unitised shipments, a refrigerated trucking service, cool trolley and thermal blanket, alongside temperature controlled container handling.
Mike Chew, CEO, AISATS said: “As India aims to become the world’s third largest aviation market by 2020, we believe that the cargo industry will play a crucial role in achieving this objective… The COOLPORT addresses the need for specialised infrastructure amenities catering to cold-chain processes, operations and logistics and we at AISATS partner the Government of Karnataka’s vision of turning the Kempegowda International Airport into a preferred air cargo hub in Southern India.”
Commenting on the long term promise of the new facility, Hari Marar, President, Airport Operations, Bengaluru International airport, concluded: “We aim to be the engine of economic growth for the region by connecting Bengaluru to the world and positioning the city as the Gateway to South India not only for passenger traffic but also for cargo.”
