Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry {KCCI} organizes Seminar on Introduction to Air Services and Air Cargo
Mangaluru: Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), Mangaluru has been supporting to promote Trade and Export for the last 78 years. Mangaluru is the only city in India to be connected with Air, Sea and Road facility and has lots of potential of Air Cargo on daily basis. Therefore KCCI supporting the movement of Air Cargo through Mangalore Airport and with their persistent efforts, the Air Cargo Complex was set up at Mangaluru during the year 2013. The KCCI is glad to inform that almost 10-12 tones of Air Cargo is moving from Mangalore Airport on daily basis. In their endeavour to support and promote Air Cargo from Mangaluru, KCCI members think it is imperative that they also need to have more qualified Air Cargo Agents at Mangaluru to provide efficient and prompt services to our EXIM trade.
It is learnt that at present there are only 2-3 Air Cargo Agents here at Mangaluru, and as the air cargo volume increases, it is likely that most of the leading air cargo agency companies would like to set up their office at Mangaluru to cater to the growing demand from the trade. However, KCCI has been informed by these companies that they find it difficult to get qualified Air Cargo staff at Mangaluru and to get the staff from other cities works out expensive. Hence, KCCI decided to host this seminar on Introduction to Air Services & Air Cargo on August 25, 2018, at KCCI Hall to envisage and to give basic training for the youth of Mangaluru, thereby creating a workforce for the reputed Air Cargo handling companies to open their offices here in the City. Quite a few eminent resource persons in the industry spoke on a variety of subjects concerning the Air Cargo Industry during this seminar.
The programme began with a welcome address by Ms Vathika Pai-President of KCCI, where she also outlined the basic concept in having this seminar to benefit students in the Airlines Career field and other citizens. The programme was inaugurated by lighting the lamp by chief guest Sasikanth Senthil S-the DC of DK, along with other dignitaries on the dais- Ms Vathika Pai, Capt John Prasad Menezes- Former KCCI President and present Chairman of Airline Services and Airport Sub Committee of KCCI, Abdul Hameed- Vice President, Shridhar Pai Maroor- Hon Secretary and Prashanth C G-Hon Secretary, all of KCCI.
After the introduction of the chief guest by Abdul Hameed, DC Sasikanth Senthil addressing gathering said, “Being here in Mangaluru as a DC for less than a year, I feel happy and overwhelmed about Mangaluru and people. I feel really blessed to be the DC of DK, where Mangaluru has been a gateway to the other cities in India, through rail, sea and air. Mangaluru is an important trade city, and also the City State of the Country. Even though we have lots of trade going on in this City, more has to be done. And seminars like this one will surely benefit the students and others in trade business. KCCI has been very instrumental in City’s development and has been always forefront in many developmental issues, and I wish KCCI continues doing so in future too”.
The inaugural session ended with vote of thanks by Prashanth C G, followed by various sessions on different topics for the day by eminent speakers, like – “Understanding Civil Aviation Sector/ National Civil Aviation Policy” by M R Vasudeva -Retd Mangaluru Airport Director; “Stake Holders of Civil aviation” with various subjects by Sreenivasan Manager, Airport Authority of India Cargo Logistics; Nagesh Shetty- Rtd Area Manager, Air India, Mangaluru; “Cargo Documentation” with various subjects it by Capt John Prasad Menezes, Satyajit Bhattacharjee- Secretary, Goa Air cargo Association, Gangadhar Shetty-President, Customs House Brokers Association, Mangaluru; “Role of Government Agencies” with various subjects by Pravin Vinod-Deputy Commissioner of Customs, Mangaluru, and Mohan S M- Plant Protection Officer, Mangaluru.
The Chairman’s in charge of all the above sessions were Ms Vathika Pai, Iqbal Yousuf-Aviation Consultant; M R Vasudeva- and Ms Reena Shetty- Additional Commissioner of Customs, Mangaluru. The Valedictory Session and distribution of participation certificates will be held at 5 pm, with V V Rao-Mangalore International Airport Director. Nearly 200 people participated in the seminar, including a bunch of students.