The Hindu Business Line : 500 t teakwood transhipped to Uzbekistan via Chennai airport

This makes it one of the largest international transhipments handled by the airport in recent times, according to the Chennai Airport Director, Mr Dinesh Kumar.

Indian hired 12 chartered cargo aircraft to carry the teakwood from South Africa, which was first delivered at Tuticorin by sea and then moved to Chennai by road.

At Tuticorin, the wood was polished and some value addition was done for use to construct a mosque in Uzbekistan, he said.

The names of the consignee and the consignor were not available.

The Airports Authority of India (AAI), as a custodian appointed by the Customs, handles import cargo of all airlines.

Cargo handling

AAI, Air India and Indian handle export cargo.

The cargo terminal has four wings for processing export cargo, import cargo and unaccompanied baggage (import), besides a disposal unit for unclaimed and uncleared cargo and transhipment cargo, according to information available at the AAI Web site.

Every month, the Chennai airport also handles around 250 tonnes of transhipment cargoes such as garments from places such as Bangalore and Tirupur.

The cargo comes in containers through road and is loaded onto the aircraft, said a source.

Bird hits

There was only one bird hit in 2006, in December, to an aircraft at the airport.

"This is significant considering that over 7,200 aircraft movements (landing and takeoff) happened," said Mr Kumar.

In 2005, two bird hits were reported; the year saw 6,900 aircraft movements.

In 2004 the airport saw four bird hits with 6,120 aircraft movements, he said. With 20 birds coming in the aircraft path often, firecrackers are used to scare them away.

Reflectors with different colours are also used to distract them.

Besides, insecticides are used along the runway to kill small creatures that would otherwise be eaten by the birds.

Globally, the cost of wildlife strikes, including bird hits, is estimated at $2 billion - in the US alone it is around $850 million.

In addition to the losses in terms of aircraft repairs, some collisions have resulted in loss of human life, according to information available on the Web.

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