Navi Mumbai, Feb 18 (IANS) Express transportation company FedEx announced on Wednesday that it will invest over Rs 2,500 crore in setting up a fully automated cargo hub at Navi Mumbai International Airport in partnership with the Adani Group.
“The Rs 2,500 crore long-term investment by FedEx will support the proposed 300,000 sq. ft. facility, designed as a regional consolidation and redistribution hub and developed in partnership with Adani Airport Holdings Ltd. (AAHL),” according to a FedEx statement.
The hub leverages the NMIA’s multimodal infrastructure to strengthen Western India’s international trade corridor. Once operational, the hub is expected to create more than 6,000 direct and indirect employment opportunities across logistics, warehousing, transportation and allied services, the statement said.
The ground-breaking ceremony for the facility was held at the cargo terminal site of the Navi Mumbai International Airport in the presence of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, AAHL Director Jeet Adani, FedEx President and CEO Raj Subramaniam, and FedEx CEO, Airline and COO, International, Richard Smith.
In his remarks on the occasion, Jeet Adani said: “This development reflects NMIA’s long-term vision of building integrated infrastructure that strengthens India’s trade competitiveness. With its proximity to Jawaharlal Nehru Port, industrial corridors and multimodal transport networks, NMIA is uniquely positioned to support high-growth export sectors and enhance Maharashtra’s role as a global logistics gateway.”
FedEx MEISA President Kami Viswanathan said: “India’s competitiveness in global trade will increasingly depend on the reliability and speed of its logistics infrastructure. Establishing this hub at NMIA allows us to integrate global network strength with India’s fastest-growing trade corridor, providing greater certainty, speed and efficiency to customers.”
The development will support trade flows across Southeast Asia, West Asia, Europe, and the United States, embedding global network connectivity directly within India’s primary trade corridor. Equipped with advanced automated sorting systems, dimensional scanning, high-speed screening technology and dedicated aircraft parking bays, it will enable simultaneous processing of inbound and outbound shipments and enhance routing flexibility and transit time predictability, particularly for high-value and time-sensitive sectors such as electronics, engineering goods, pharmaceuticals and perishables. The improved reliability is also expected to strengthen export-import capabilities for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) while contributing to lower logistics costs and faster turnaround times, the company statement said.
The NMIA’s cargo infrastructure is planned to commence with an initial handling capacity of approximately 0.5 million metric tonnes (MMT) annually, scaling in phases to around 3.25 MMT in its final development stage. This calibrated capacity expansion supports the airport’s long-term strategy of positioning the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) as one of India’s most advanced air freight and logistics gateways.
Building on nearly three decades of operations in India, the hub expands FedEx’s dedicated presence while supporting NMIA’s role as an integrated aviation and multimodal trade platform in global supply chains, the statement added.
–IANS
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