Africa’s thriving project
cargo sector is ratcheting
up airfreight demand –
particularly in the express
sector, says Iain Clark,
managing director of Chapman
Freeborn Airchartering South
Africa.
“Many of Africa’s remote
locations can often only be
accessed by air, and we are
dealing more and more with
an increase in short lead time
requests to get equipment to or
from sites.”
The oil and gas, and often
mining as well, sectors are by
their very nature unpredictable
and can often require the
movement of cargo with very
little forewarning. At the same
time the locations are remote
and accessing by road is often
difficult due to the lack of
infrastructure in Africa.
According to Clark, this
is one of the reasons for the
steady growth in volumes.
“Poor road and other
infrastructure does impact
on projects, especially if it is
time-sensitive cargo that has to
move quickly.”
Clark said while Africa
had traditionally always been
a difficult market due to the
lack of infrastructure, it was
the lack of harmonisation
of regulations in various
countries that continued to be
challenging. This is despite
some improvements in recent
years.
Regional organisations such
as Comesa, SADC and the
EAC – along with the African
Union – have been calling
for more harmonisation in an
effort not only to increase trade
between African countries but
also to make doing business
easier.
“Finding ways of
overcoming these challenges
is part and parcel of the job,”
said Clark. “One of our key
strengths is having the right
personnel on board so that
we are in a position to deploy
specialist project managers
to oversee operations on the
ground across Africa.”
He said many of the
Chapman Freeborn staff had
obtained the highest level
of military and government
security clearance and
processes through years of
operational experience.
“If you want to operate in
Africa successfully then you
need people of this calibre on
the ground who are familiar
with a specific country and its
regulations.”
According to Clark, one of
the reasons why air chartering
is also gaining ground is its
ability to handle specialist
equipment and take it
directly to a site.
“Both from a logistics and
security point of view it
outweighs the cost factor.”
The company last month
secured a new strategic
cooperation agreement
with Lufthansa Cargo and
handles all of its third-party
chartering requirements
– allowing the
airline to
focus on
marketing
charter
capacity
on its own fleet, he said.
The agreement gives
Lufthansa Cargo’s
international sales force
and client base access to
the full range of charter
aircraft through Chapman
Freeborn’s global
network – from
helicopters and
light aircraft to
giant Antonov
AN-225
aircraft.
CAPTION
Iain Clark ... ‘an increase in short lead time
requests to get equipment to or from sites.’
