TheIndonesia.id - State-owned airport operators PT Angkasa Pura II (AP II) will establish a cargo village area at Soekarno-Hatta Airport, Banten Province, and Kertajati Airport, West Java Province, in 2022 to improve their e-commerce shipments service.
President Director of AP II Muhammad Awaluddin said that his office is currently preparing a tendering process for a strategic partnership with the cargo village development at Soekarno-Hatta Airport and the Indonesia Investment Authority (INA).
"The cargo village will result in the transformation of cargo services in Indonesia. It will help to increase the competitiveness of Soekarno-Hatta Airport at regional and global levels," he noted in a statement on Monday.
He has announced that the development of the cargo village will be carried in an area of 90-hectares. The figure is three times larger than the current cargo terminal. The facility can handle 1.5 to 2.2 million tons of cargo per year. Meanwhile, the existing cargo terminal’s capacity is only 700,000 tons per year.
Furthermore, digitization will be put in place at the facility to simplify and expedite various processes regarding cargo shipment.
"Cargo village of Soekarno-Hatta Airport will be equipped with various supporting technologies. It will be the start of a new and modern era of Indonesian air cargo services," the president director stated.
Meanwhile, the cargo village at Kertajati Airport aims to make the airport a cargo service center and aircraft maintenance, repair, and overhaul/MRO center. Considering the positive performance of cargo services throughout 2021, the company is optimistic that the service will expand in 2022.
Officials project that the number of cargo shipments in 2022 will be more than 1 million tons -- an increase of about 23 percent compared to those shipped in 2021, which reached 859,330 tons.
"To achieve the target, we must ensure the reliability of our services and facilities in handling the cargoes, as well as strengthen our collaboration with all stakeholders," Awaluddin added.