INTERNATIONAL6 CARGOTALK S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 5

Fortifying ties between Bahrain and India

QHow many cargoairlines or freighters

does Bahrain have?What is the capacitycarried every year?

The Bahrain InternationalAirport (BIA) hosts 38 airlines carry-ing nine million passengers everyyear to 51 destinations worldwide.The BIA also provides sophisticatedfacilities for logistics operators and isjust 13 km from the Bahrain LogisticsZone (BLZ) and the Khalifa BinSalman Port. In terms of capacity, theairport can currently handle 322,734tonnes of cargo a year and expan-sion of the airport’s facilities is under-way. The airport modernisation proj-ect will see the opening of a terminalin 2019. This will increase the air-port’s passenger capacity to around14 million passengers per year.

Under an agreement with theBahrain Airport Company, MENAAerospace is currently building oneof the Middle East region’s largestprivate and general aviation hangarcomplexes to create an expandedcargo handling facility that wouldtriple Bahrain’s international air cargocapacity to one million tonnes a year– comparable to London’s HeathrowAirport, with the ability to handle 27large cargo planes any time.

QWhat benefits willIndian logistics

companies get withbilateral trade?

Trade between India and the sixeconomies of Gulf CooperationCouncil (GCC) include Bahrain,Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, UAEand Qatar has grown rapidly over thelast decade. GCC exports to Indiahave increased by 43 per cent annu-ally over the last decade, the highestrate with any major trade partner, andimports from India have increased by26 per cent. Trade between India andBahrain is approximately US$1 billionevery year, which is nearly US$1,000for every person living in Bahrain,

making India one of the Kingdom’smost important trading partners.

The GCC is currently worthUS$1.6 trillion and is expected toreach US$2 trillion by 2020. Therapid economic growth within theregion, along with increasing tradebetween GCC countries, means thatthere will be greater demand forlogistics services within the Gulf.Bahrain’s strategic location in theNorthern Gulf and its excellent logis-tics infrastructure make it a logicallocation for firms looking to takeadvantage of this trend.

Indian companies from a vari-ety of industries are using Bahrain asthe headquarters for their Gulf andMiddle East operations to takeadvantage of this fast growth.Logistics companies benefit from

some of the region’s strongest trans-port infrastructure and efficient cus-tom clearing times.

QPlease tell us aboutthe existing and

upcoming Indian andinternational logisticscompanies in Bahrain.

DHL, a leading logisticsprovider, has depended on Bahrain’sstrategic location since setting upoperations in Manama in 1978. Theairport is DHL’s regional distributioncentre for Eastern Europe, MiddleEast and North Africa. In June 2011,DHL signed a contract to maintain itsregional headquarters in Bahrain foreight more years.

Bahrain is also host to FirstFlight Couriers, India’s largestdomestic and international courier

company that launched its Bahrainoffice in 2012. Their Middle Eastoperations now serves more than250 countries and covers 1,800 destinations, with a network of 930own offices and eight internationaloffshoots. Jet Airways and Air Indiaalso provide courier services, whichoperate from BIA. The Bahrain EDBis in discussions with Indian busi-nesses from multiple sectors.

QWhat are yourexpectations from the

Indian logistics market?

Why have you selectedIndia for future tie-upsand investment?

Bahrain is targeting Indianlogistics firms because we believethat due to the Kingdom’s strategiclocation and our excellent regionaltransport connections, we are ideallyplaced to act as a hub for logisticscompanies that work between theGCC and India.

In addition to the BIA, theUS$360 million Khalifa Bin SalmanPort offers world-class services toshipping lines, freight-forwarders andbeneficial cargo owners, supportingsupply chains across the region.According to World EconomicForum’s Global CompetitivenessReport 2014-2015, Bahrain is rankedsecond in the GCC in the quality ofport infrastructure. Both the airport

and the port are also only a shortdrive to the causeway to SaudiArabia, a 25 km road bridge connect-

ing Bahrain to the largest market in the GCC.

Bahrain has worked hard tobuild the ideal environment for Indianlogistics businesses to take advan-tage of growing trade between Indiaand the GCC, including third-partyand fourth-party logistics, specialistwarehousing and inventory manage-ment, labelling and packaging, andvalue addition, as well as packingand repacking.

QWhat is your vision forthe next five years?Bahrain is committed over the

next five years to increasing cargocapacity and improving transportlinks to ensure that the Kingdommaintains its position as a leadinglogistics hub for the region. For exam-ple, BIA modernisation project will

see a new terminal constructed that will increase passenger capacity.The new cargo hangar under construction at the airport by MENA Aerospace will also see cargo capacity grow to one million tonnes a year.

Further, a new road and railcauseway is currently under construction that will provide a sec-ond bridge connection betweenBahrain and Saudi Arabia, reducingcongestion and travel time betweenthe two countries.

CT BUREAU

Trade between Bahrain and India has grown tremendously over the decade and the growth is expected tocontinue. Vivian Jamal, Executive Director-Business Development, Bahrain Economic Development Board(EDB) discusses about the investment opportunities for Indian companies in variety of logistics sub-sectors.

Vivian JamalExecutive Director-Business DevelopmentBahrain Economic Development Board (EDB)

With bonded and non-bonded areas, BLZ is theonly dedicated customs-freevalue-added logistics parkin Bahrain.

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