New industrial park woos airfreight - related business Building has started on the first phase of a R63-m Aero Industrial Park development next to the Port Elizabeth airport.
Situated between the airport and a narrow-gauge railway line running to the harbour, the development will cover 25 000 square metres under roof once phase three has been completed. Zoning permission has been given for the park to include airport facilities, industries and warehousing, business, a licensed hotel and restaurants, public garages and retail outlets. Speaking at the launch of the development regional general manager (Port Elizabeth and National Airports) Connie MŸller said it was probably the only industrial park in the country to have ready access to a harbour, railway connection and airport. An additional attraction was the availability of accommodation for all levels of staff and management within a five to ten-minute drive. The airport itself is ten minutes from the harbour and city centre and a maximum of 15 minutes from other nodal office developments. I believe that Port Elizabeth has the potential for industrial growth and that the airport can play a major part in such growth, said MŸller. Freight tonnage has grown by 6% between 1995 and 1997, from 350 to 450 tons a month. Over the same period passenger traffic grew by 20 %, from 628 517 a year to 798 111. The airport facilities are being expanded to accommodate the extra traffic. One office block for staff previously housed in the terminal building has been completed and a second is nearly finished. Tenders have now gone out for the first phase of the terminal upgrade. The ground handling companies are also being moved to dedicated buildings at a cost of R1,5-m. Another R1,5-m is being spent on upgrading the runway lights. This, together with the recent modernisation of the air traffic control systems, will make Port Elizabeth one of the safest airports in Africa, says MŸller. He says the existing airport facilities can cater for far more freight, but added that the company is obliged in terms of the sale of adjacent land by the municipality to lengthen the runway to take direct international traffic of Boeing 747-sized aircraft within the next seven years.
Developments like the Aero Industrial Park and adjacent Jet Park should attract airfreight-related business that would make use of the spare capacity.
The anchor tenant for the industrial park is an Engen service station. By Ed Richardson
